Eliminates Financial, Operational, and Training Risks of
    Adopting Proprietary NoSQL Solutions, Allows Enterprises to
     Leverage Versant's NoSQL Scale and Performance Prowess to
                     Solve Big Data Challenges

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 2, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Versant
Corporation (Nasdaq:VSNT), a worldwide leader in developing data
management software infrastructure for complex, mission-critical
applications, announced today the availability of version 0.9 of its
Versant Java Persistence API (JPA), allowing organizations to leverage
the benefits of an enterprise-grade NoSQL solution via the Java
industry standard database programming interface. By using Versant JPA
to lower the barriers to NoSQL adoption, enterprises can tackle volume,
variety, and velocity challenges presented by Big Data management, and
derive value from gaining more insights into information models faster
and more easily.

Emerging NoSQL technologies typically require the use of proprietary
APIs and query languages to leverage their scale and performance
advantages, raising financial risks to adoption as enterprises must
educate staff with the proprietary interfaces. By embracing the
standard programmatic JPA approach and providing vendor extensions to
support Versant's NoSQL's scale-out topology, Versant JPA eliminates
training costs, enabling enterprise-class developers to utilize NoSQL
with existing application development practices.

"Many benefits of NoSQL architecture are widely understood. But with
Versant JPA, we are removing the significant risks that enterprises
face in adopting proprietary NoSQL systems," said Dirk Bartels, VP,
strategic product management. "Unlike JPA products that are basically
'object to relational mapping' (ORM) tools with a JPA driver for a
relational database, Versant JPA connects directly to Versant's NoSQL
database and therefore supports critical needs for information model
richness, system reliability, and data variety, in addition to simple
scale-out."

Versant JPA version 0.9 represents the first feature complete version
of the API binding since the release of a Technology Preview in
December 2011. And as one user of the JPA Technology Preview version
testified, "the pre-release of Versant JPA is already stable and fast
enough to be useful. Once fully released, it will likely be a serious
competitor in the JPA space."

Versant JPA includes many key JPA-specific functions, including JSE
support, annotations, an entity manager API, support for JPQL, and
entity lifecycle callbacks. In addition to the JPA industry standard,
the product also includes a generic API, which creates an easy
extension point for developers to use other virtual machine (VM)-based
languages, such as Scala and JRuby, to leverage Versant's NoSQL
database, and further broadens Versant JPA's usefulness.

The new version also features key Versant technology-specific
extensions, such as supporting Eclipse plugins, index definitions,
distributed database support, cursor query, and generic API extensions.
The full Versant JPA version 0.9 software development kit is bundled
with extensive programming examples, tutorials, and comprehensive
documentation.

For more information on Versant JPA version 0.9, visit the Versant JPA
product page. To read how Versant technology users have already been
successful in using the Versant JPA technical preview API, visit the
Versant Developer Community JPA section at
http://community.versant.com/Forums/tabid/98/aff/56/Default.aspx.

About Versant

Versant Corporation (Nasdaq:VSNT) is an industry leader in building
specialized NoSQL data management systems to enable the real-time
enterprise. Using the Versant Database Engine, enterprises can handle
complex information in environments that demand high performance,
concurrency, and availability, significantly cut hardware and
administration costs, speed and simplify development, and deliver
products with a strong competitive edge. Versant's solutions are
deployed in over 150,000 installations across a wide array of
industries, including telecommunications, energy, financial services,
transportation, manufacturing, and defense. For more than 20 years,
Versant has been a trusted partner of Global 2000 companies such as
Ericsson, Verizon, Siemens, and Financial Times, as well as the U.S.
Government. For more information, call 650-232-2400 or visit
www.versant.com.


CONTACT: Media Contact(s):
         Versant Corporation
         Dirk Bartels
         dbartels@versant.com
         Tel. 650.232.2432
         
         March Communications
         Nate Hubbell
         versant@marchpr.com
         Tel. 671.960.9857