SANTA MONICA, Calif., October 31, 1996 - Unni Warrier, President and CEO of CyberMedia, Inc., the leading developer of automated service and support software for PCs, was selected by the Southern California Software Industry Council as Entrepreneur of the Year. The award was presented October 17 at an awards banquet in Long Beach.

Mr. Warrier and a team of five other high-tech pioneers founded CyberMedia in 1991, bound by their vision to give PC users freedom from their dependency on tech support hotlines by fixing most common PC problems. Not only did the team accomplish their mission, but in the process their cutting-edge products and services promise to play an important role in resolving the industry's dilemma of how to reduce ever-increasing tech support costs; according to Dataquest, the PC industry is expected to spend almost $4 billion annually on customer support.

"Warrier is one of this country's real success stories," said Bill Manassero, executive director of the Software Council of Southern California, the non-profit software industry trade association for the region. "His efforts reflect the entrepreneurial spirit of this country."

Warrier began CyberMedia on his kitchen table five years ago, funding the business with a grant from ICICI (the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India). The company is now the 15th largest software developer in Metropolitan Los Angeles and has 120 employees.

Its award-winning First Aid product has consistently ranked on the top ten best-selling business software lists for the past year, and has sold over 1.5 million copies. CyberMedia's latest product, Oil Change, is the first subscription-based service to use the Internet to update all software applications and hardware drivers on a user's PC.

Also honored this year were Disney Interactive for Multimedia Company of the Year, EarthLink Network for Internet Company of the Year, Duane Maxwell of Gryphon Software Corp. for Developer of the Year and Robert Davidson, Chairman of Davidson and Associates, for CEO of the Year.

"Southern California is home to more than 4,200 software and multimedia companies, representing sales of more than $16 billion annually, and employing tens of thousands of employees," said Manassero. "These awards help spotlight the talent and creativity that have made Southern California one of the major international software centers," he added.

Judging was based on various factors, including sales and revenue growth, team building, job creation in Southern California, innovative products, product visibility and marketing innovation, creative financing of the business, and civic and community involvement, among other things.

About The Software Council of Southern California
The Software Council of Southern California (SCSC) is a nonprofit, membership-only trade association, comprised of software development organizations, as well as those companies that provide support and services to the local software industry. The organization voices the concerns of the software industry in Southern California and serves as a clearinghouse of industry information.

About CyberMedia
CyberMedia's mission is to empower computer users to fix computer problems on their own, before they need to call technical support hotlines for help. The company's Active Help products include First Aid, the Tech Support Yellow Pages and Oil Change. Founded in 1991, CyberMedia (NASDAQ; CYBR) is publicly held with company headquarters at: 3000 Ocean Park Boulevard, Suite 2001, Santa Monica, CA. Phone: 310/581-4700. To order, call 800-PC-1ST-AID (800/721-7824) or visit the CyberMedia web site at http://www.cybermedia.com.

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