ATTENTION VENDORS:
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE YOUR COMPANY NEWS INCLUDED HERE, PLEASE REFER TO THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN OUR 2000 MEDIA KIT, LOCATED IN THE "ABOUT" SECTION, or CALL 480-502-2285, or EMAIL docmanage@aol.com

Industry News

 

Informative Graphics Corp.'s Brava! Technology to Power Viewing and Collaboration for Weidlinger Associates’ OnlineBuildings.com Construction Solution
 
Informative Graphics Corp., a leading developer of Web-based visualization software for the emergent business-to-business collaboration marketplace, proudly announces a major agreement with OnlineBuildings.com, a division of Weidlinger Associates, to deliver enterprise-wide project management solutions for the Architectural, Engineering & Construction (AEC) industry. Weidlinger Associates has agreed to purchase Brava! Java-based viewing and collaboration software from Informative Graphics to empower viewing, redlining and collaboration on its Onlinebuildings.com site.  Brava! will provide the visual bridge between project owners, architects, engineers, contractors and consultants via Weidlinger’s e-projectmanager software.  E-projectmanager provides a mechanism to manage and collaborate on construction projects over the Internet, allowing for the exchange of documents, drawings, images and the coordination of workflow processes, including requests for information (RFIs), project status, change orders, etc. The combination of Brava! and e-projectmanager brings anytime global access to all project details by authorized users, provides online viewing and redlining to review and approve design information and contributes to the reduction of project communication costs and errors.
 
Informative Graphics first released Brava! under the name jMYRIAD – the first Java-based view and redline visualization tool – in 1998.  With Brava!, no software is installed on users’ systems; it is launched via the Web browser.  In addition, original files are not transferred to the desktop, ensuring desktop simplification and intellectual property protection.  Redlines are saved back to the server over the Web and made available to other project members to review and comment against.  Brava! represents the current apex of IGC’s efforts to develop and deploy web-centric visualization technology.
 
“We are quite pleased to have reached this agreement with onlinebuildings.com,” said Gary Heath, CEO and President of Informative Graphics.  “With this partnership, we continue to see the validation of our vision for online viewing in the construction industry over the Internet and Intranets.   Given the fact that Weidlinger Associates was established nearly 50 years ago and has been an industry leader much of that time, we’re thrilled to be able to provide them with an important tool for their continued success and technological expansion.”
"Informative Graphics will provide OnlineBuildings.com with a superb web-based viewer and red-lining solution for posting CAD drawings to the internet using our state of the art e-projectmanager", said Jeremy Isenberg, CEO of Weidlinger Associates, Inc.  "Informative Graphics is a leading player in the CAD collaboration market, and their Brava! technology offers a Java based visualization tool that is efficient, reliable and easy to use.  It will allow e-projectmanager team members to view and mark-up drawings in real time using nothing more than a browser on the desktop."
 
In another release, the company announced the formation of a new ASP License Program for Brava!, the award winning Web-centric visualization suite.  The licensing program is designed to offer the flexibility and affordability required by Application Service Providers (ASP), Project Web Site portals and similar Web-based offerings with a better fit to their unique business models. Informative Graphics has enjoyed significant ASP wins with several portal sites for construction, engineering and supply chain collaboration.  This licensing program is a formalization and commitment on the part of IGC for this business model. Brava! allows a variety of collaborators – from contractors to suppliers - to share information and exchange ideas without requiring the same hardware platform, native software application or browser. With Brava!’s power and flexibility, users can now view and share ideas using drawings and image documents over intranets and the Internet.
 
Brava! is equipped with a unique on-board licensing mechanism that is well positioned for extranet ASP applications.  In addition, the Brava! server can track usage by user and by document.  With Brava! V2.1 a full Java Bean API interface is provided to allow the technology to be customized – and either application or Web page embedded – and fully integrated.  The business goal of many of the ASPs is to put as much value as possible into their service as quickly as possible to attract a user or project volume.  Because Brava! can be integrated so quickly and provides a significant visualization value, it offers a very attractive solution when drawings and documents are involved.
 
Existing licensees have been able to integrate 2D viewing and redlining using Brava! into their portal sites within days.  Once integrated with the HTTP server, the client-side view and redline application (a Java Applet or Bean) is delivered (served) to the browser when a file is requested for viewing and/or redline collaboration. Since Brava! executes on the Java Virtual Machine that already comes with either Netscape 4.x or IE 4.x, there is no need for the ASP customers to upload and install any other software at all to take advantage of the value.
An example of Brava! in action is provided at www.drawingroom.net, a free Web portal operated by Informative Graphics that allows users to upload up to ten drawings for sharing and redline collaborating over the Web.
 
Web delivery of information has rapidly become the de facto methodology for business-to-business collaboration. Informative Graphics is committed to the development of graphical viewing technologies over the World Wide Web, with Java-based Brava!, browser plug-ins for MYRIAD and the Active X application inViso. For an interactive demonstration, visit: www.infograph.com/brava
 
About Informative Graphics
Informative Graphics Corp., based in Phoenix, Ariz., is the leading manufacturer of commercial software products for the information viewing process. The company has been developing software for national and international end-users, OEMs and systems integrators since 1986. Informative Graphics maintains a home page on the World Wide Web at www.infograph.com.
 
 
AFS Launches New Division Aimed At Enterprise Document Management
 
Advanced Financial Solutions (AFS)announced a new Division which will focus exclusively on the imaging, archiving and retrieval needs of financial institutions for file folder and other page-sized document processing applications.  This new Division will be based at AFS’s corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City, OK.  The division is based on the Image Depot suite of solutions which include AFS’s traditional client-server solutions for capture, indexing, archive and retrieval, as well as Internet-based and Intranet-based solutions and data server outsourcing.  The General Manager of the division is Jeff Vetterick.  Mr. Vetterick is a 15-year veteran of financial document imaging and was formerly President of Panini North America.
AFS is a developer and provider of check imaging, document imaging, data archival and Internet technology to institutions of all sizes.  AFS products are used by over 4,500 institutions around the world.
 
 
InfoIMAGE Selects WorkOut Software From Alysis
 
Alysis Technologies (Nasdaq: ALYS), a global provider of Electronic Bill Payment and Presentment (EBPP) and Internet statement delivery software, today announced an agreement to install its WorkOut(tm) Internet Billing and Statement Distribution System for InfoIMAGE of California, Inc., a leading print and mail service bureau in Northern California. Located in South San Francisco, InfoIMAGE prints and mails bills and account statements for community banks and credit unions as well as for utilities and health services organizations.  The company serves more than 40 financial institutions and generates approximately four million bills and statements per month. Electronic statement distribution using WorkOut will significantly reduce the costs associated with printing, handling and mailing paper statements.  InfoIMAGE currently plans to have its new system in operation by the end the first quarter of this year. According to Howard Lee, CEO of InfoIMAGE, the company will use WorkOut to deliver e-mail notifications of statements and billings to these customers.  Customers can then view and download these documents at designated websites.
 
The WorkOut server utilizes patent-pending technology to transform legacy data into Extensible Markup Language (XML), which is quickly becoming the standard format for the business documents used in electronic commerce.  XML documents are stored in WorkOut's high-performance repository, enabling organizations to mine and analyze the data and convert it into personalized messaging that can be used to gain competitive advantage.  WorkOut enables companies to realize the Web's full potential by tapping into legacy databases and extracting the information customers and companies value most.  WorkOut is unique in that it offers comprehensive EBPP functionality in a single, flexible package.  This functionality includes enrollment processing, e-mail notification and payment scheduling, as well as visual tools for dynamic statement design and customization.  In addition, WorkOut has received high praise from industry analysts for its outstanding scalability and strong support of industry standards.
 
 
ARMA Conference Concludes on a High Note
 
As of the close of the first full day of the three-day event held October 18-20, 1999, over 4,100 people had attended, half of whom attended the conference.  The expo featured more than 170 exhibitors displaying hardware and software for managing records and information. Records and information management has become one of the top technology concerns of management.  "Businesspeople are coming to terms with the fact that electronic records, including web pages and e-mail, can be used as evidence in court," said Peter R. Hermann, CAE, executive director and CEO of ARMA.  "The explosion of electronic commerce has also triggered an explosion of interest in maintaining secure records."
 
The conference was kicked off by futurist Daniel Burrus, president of Burrus Research, Inc. "Society is now transitioning out of the Information Age, with an emphasis on informing, into the Communication Age, with an emphasis on the two-way exchange of ideas to create action," he said.  "The biggest challenge facing companies now is how to integrate Communications Age thinking into their current information orientation."  Burrus suggested a value-added hierarchy for our age that ascends from data, to information, to knowledge, to wisdom.
Several speakers observed that the issues of what information to keep, and for how long, have been exacerbated by the profusion of document-creating technologies like e-mail. Employees are creating documents at a record pace (one estimate is 1.1 billion per day), and little thought is given to their long-term impact. Many of the conference sessions also stressed the need to elevate the role of records management in organizations' approach to business.  Records management, said many speakers, needs to become a strategic rather than a tactical priority. Risk avoidance is just one of many reasons to implement strong records and information management.
 
ARMA International is an association that advances the cause of Records and Information Management to the benefit of its 10,300 members in 30 countries, and the RIM industry in general. On-line information about ARMA International is available at www.arma.org.
 
 
Emerson Electric Goes Live with First Stage of Material Information Network

Aspect Development, Inc., a provider of e-Business solutions for Inbound Supply Chain Management, announced that Aspect and Emerson Electric, a global industrial and electronics manufacturer with $13B in sales, have successfully deployed the Aspect eSource solution at six different Emerson divisions.  Emerson's long term goals are to complete the implementation of eSource - part of Aspect's eProcurement suite - at more than 60+ divisions around the world.  Aspect's eContent part and supplier information databases used in tandem with eSource are enabling Emerson to perform global roll-ups of spend at the part and commodity level by time, division, and world area to establish an enterprise-wide strategic sourcing program that leverages long term value price agreements.
 
Emerson operates its global sourcing business with 60+ divisions with subsidiaries, over 380 manufacturing sites, over 100 procurement sites and several different MRP systems.  According to Larry Kremer, vice president of materials for Emerson, "Aspect's eSource is the first solution I've seen that will enable a large, complex organization like Emerson to bridge multiple divisions and subsidiaries with an enterprise database while maintaining individual division systems.  Aspect has given us an integrated corporate view of our Procurement data to facilitate supplier and material consolidation.  In doing this, we anticipate substantial savings over the next five years, and a 22 month payback of our investment in Aspect Development."
 
 
Bell & Howell's New Impact Document Services Takes Experience To Its Customers
 
Bell & Howell Company (NYSE:BHW), a information solutions and services provider, announced the formation of its new IMPACT Document Services group, which will allow customers to enjoy the full benefits of Bell & Howell's experience in the mail and messaging industry. IMPACT Document Services allows customers to have Bell & Howell's expertise onsite in their mailing operations. Under the program, Bell & Howell will assume the management and operation functions of the production mail environment at the customer's site. The program includes Bell & Howell's personnel, equipment, software and service.
 
 
Wise Business Forms Becomes E-Business Enabled Through Collabria
 
Collabria, Inc. and Wise Business Forms announced that Wise Business Forms has chosen Collabria PrintCommerce to enable e-commerce with print resellers and their customers. Wise Business Forms will provide continuous, cut sheet, unit set, and software compatible forms and checks through Collabria PrintCommerce, an integrated e-commerce print solution that allows customers to order printing, proof, approve and track orders on-line. In addition, NextWave Digital Color Printing, a division of Wise Business Forms, will offer marketing collateral such as sales sheets, brochures, business cards and direct mail through PrintCommerce.
 
"Wise Business Forms is an important addition to the growing open network of Collabria  PrintCommerce suppliers," said Dwight Darling, VP Sales, Collabria.  "Adding Wise Business Forms improves our ability to attract print resellers who want Internet access to high-quality business forms and checks and digital color printing products."
 
 
Cypress Manages and Delivers Hesco's Business Critical Documents
 
Cypress Corporation announced that Hesco, Inc., one of the nation's largest discount wholesale distributors of vacuum repair parts, janitorial supplies and equipment, has deployed Cypress®, the company's quick-to-deploy and easy-to-use enterprise document delivery solution.  Cypress captures and warehouses Hesco's business critical documents, customer records, vendor invoices and sales tax information enabling users to easily query information, assemble customized documents and automatically distribute these documents throughout the organization.  By using Cypress to instantly gather the information needed for inventory audits, customer service inquiries, corporate meetings and sales tax reviews, Hesco has saved a tremendous amount of time, labor and financial resources.
 
"Prior to implementing Cypress, we would need a small army of employees to climb through pallets of bankers boxes in search of documents - hoping that they were filed correctly," said Heather Neander, Systems Manager at Hesco.  "Cypress manages our critical business records and enables us to quickly and easily access the entire picture of an order, a customer, an invoice or one of our products, regardless of how the various documents were created.  As a result, we have the confidence and peace of mind that we will be able to immediately access all of our information."
 
 
Implementation of Ohio Department of Natural Resources Water-Well Log System One of Largest in US
 
Approximately 800,000 water-well logs will be managed electronically by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) once it fully implements a new Electronic Document Management Solution (EDMS) developed by Dayton-based Document Imaging Solutions, Inc. (DIS) and using the Step2000 software from Cincinnati, Ohio-based Universal Document Management Systems, Inc. (UDMS). This is believed to be the largest state water-well EDMS system developed to date in the United States. Anyone who drills a water well in Ohio for irrigation, industry, private, or other use must file a log with the Division of Water. Logs contain data on the geologic formations, the expected water yield, the types of materials used to construct the well, and other specific information depending on intended water use. The department's EDM solution became necessary when the volume of documents made them increasingly difficult to find, and as original well documents-some 60 to 70 years old-began to fall apart. In December 1999, ODNR turned to DIS to create a permanent archive through an EDMS. The system's Oracle database will harbor an 8-1/2" x 11" page of text about each well. The imaging system also will capture signatures, maps and geographic coordinates. This data will enhance the Division of Water's ability to use geographic information system (GIS) technology when conducting regional mapping studies.
 
The Division of Water receives approximately 10,000 requests for well-log information each year from drilling contractors, builders, Realtors, federal and state agencies, universities and others needing to conduct research or mapping studies, or to find ground water data or other information. By the end of April, ODNR will offer these users much easier and faster access to each well's data, since the system's custom interface allows for an Oracle database search based on any of 50 to 60 fields.
 
 
Documentum Teams With IBM to Power Dynamic Web Content For Ebusiness Sites
 
Documentum, a provider of Internet-scale content management solutions for powering eBusiness applications, (NASDAQ: DCTM), today announced that as part of the IBM (NYSE:IBM) PartnerWorld for Developers Program, Documentum will integrate IBM WebSphere with its Documentum 4i solution and will receive co-marketing support for the solution from IBM.  By offering customers a solution for global content management and eBusiness application delivery, Documentum and IBM will enable easier, faster and more reliable deployment of Web content. Documentum 4i is an open-standards-based content management platform that integrates dynamic content and complex business processes with people everywhere. Documentum 4i provides a secure common repository for serving Web content ranging from HTML text, images, Java applets, graphics and multimedia, such as video, audio and animation. WebSphere Application Servers are Java-based Web application servers that help customers deploy and manage eBusiness applications that support the industry-standard Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) programming model and provide customers with advanced transactional capabilities.
 
 
Eastman Software and Barr Systems Team Up
 
Eastman Software Enterprise Report Management (ERM) business unit announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Barr Systems, a major provider of host communications and print management solutions. Through this collaboration, Barr Systems will resell Eastman Software's enterprise report management technology. As a result, Barr Systems customers can now route and control print jobs from multiple hosts and deliver them directly into Eastman Software's enterprise report management software. By leveraging Barr products, organizations have the ability to easily manage print data and file transfers from multiple mainframe or client/server hosts. By utilizing Eastman Software's ERM product, companies can capture, archive and index the same information, allowing users to access mission critical data on the network or over the Internet within seconds. Used in conjunction, Eastman Software's ERM product and Barr Systems' offerings allow companies that require immediate access to important business data - whether it be for key corporate initiatives such as customer service, document management or e-Business - to fully optimize their internal resources.
 
 
IKON Office Solutions Awarded Multi-Million Dollar Contract by Marconi
 
IKON Office Solutions (NYSE: IKN) announced it has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract by Marconi plc, (the new parent company of The General Electric Company plc, a UK company unrelated to General Electric of the US) to deliver a complete global solution for their document production and management needs. The contract, the term of which could extend to five years, names IKON as a "preferred vendor" for Marconi and its affiliates. The service contract includes all aspects of reprographics services required globally by Marconi, including copying, printing, faxing and scanning, as well as facilities and account management and related staffing and equipment services. Under the terms of the contract, IKON will provide a complete needs analysis for each Marconi location worldwide to determine the exact combination of integrated services and products required at the individual site, and to streamline and enhance operations to maximize savings.
 
 
Intellisource Grows Help Desk Capabilities To Support Federal Outsourcing Business
 
Intellisource announced the consolidation and expansion of its computer help desk services for all NASA contracts to better support the growing needs of the outsourcing desktop services it provides the federal government. Currently, Intellisource is providing Help Desk and network infrastructure support for over 14,000 desktop computers under two separate contracts with NASA. According to Intellisource, each month the number of desktop computers for which it provides support at NASA facilities grows as personnel become increasingly familiar and comfortable with the services provided under the Outsourcing Desktop Initiative for NASA (ODIN) program. The IntelliCenter is based at the Intellisource facility that supports its contract at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Intellisource is also providing desktop outsourcing for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
 
 
Intranet Solutions Announces OEM Agreement with Showcase Corporation
 
IntraNet Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: INRS), a provider of Web content management solutions for the enterprise, announced that it has signed an exclusive OEM licensing agreement to port its Xpedio technology to the IBM AS/400 platform for e-Business Intelligence provider, ShowCase Corporation (NASDAQ: SHWC) as part of its new Enterprise Information Portal offering. Under the terms of the agreement ShowCase will have exclusive rights to sell the Xpedio product line on the IBM AS/400 platform as well as non-exclusive rights to sell it on UNIX and NT platforms. Showcase also announced its Enterprise Intelligence Initiative - a comprehensive Web-based solution that extends the ShowCase data warehousing and business intelligence product line and tightly integrates IntraNet Solutions' Xpedio Content Management System. ShowCase STRATEGY combined with Xpedio will provide organizations with the ability to seamlessly capture, manage and deliver any type of content through a personalized Web-based gateway on the IBM AS/400 platform.
 
 
BAe AIRBUS Selects IXOS
 
IXOS SOFTWARE AG, a provider of software solutions for the management of business documents in the SAP R/3 environment, announced that British Aerospace will implement IXOS-ARCHIVE. British Aerospace Airbus (BAe), one of the four partners in the European Airbus Industry consortium, has selected IXOS Software to provide a data archive for its SAP database and to help store legacy documents from nine other systems. Following a major SAP enterprise-wide system implementation, British Aerospace needed to ensure that the business and transactional data produced by this system could be stored in a cost effective yet readily accessible way. IXOS Software was selected because it could provide SAP data archiving and legacy document archiving in the same repository, and because of its close relationship with SAP. British Aerospace will implement IXOS-ARCHIVE to automatically archive 50Gb of data from the core SAP system every month. This will ensure  that the business systems are kept at their most responsive by reducing the data overhead. Archived documents will still be retrievable and are linked into the SAP Workflow and thereby related to the actual transactions within the SAP systems.
 
In addition, BAe will be using IXOS-UniversalARCHIVE to manage the egacy documents within a common archive. Currently, there are individual databases for engineering information, spares, purchase orders and despatch documents among others. The IXOS implementation will allow the storage, management and retrieval of all of these non-SAP documents in a single repository. Users will benefit because they will be able to retrieve these documents through a common interface.
 
 
Embraer Selects DADS from LMS for Commercial Jet Design Simulation
 
One of the main regional jet aircraft manufacturers in the world, EMBRAER - Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica S.A., has purchased multiple licenses of LMS DADS, the mechanical system simulation software from LMS International.  The South American civil and military aircraft manufacturer selected DADS over its competitors due to its tight CATIA integration, control design integration and flexible bodies simulation. The selection of DADS is also due to LMS’ expert engineering services staff and strong references from other aircraft manufacturers. Embraer's purchase of DADS and LMS Engineering Services was part of its preparation for development of the ERJ 170 and ERJ 190 commercial aircraft. By creating Virtual Prototypes with DADS and CATDADS  (simulation software integrated with Dassault’s CATIA solid modeling program), Embraer plans to reduce the need for physical tests, improve collaboration and innovation among design engineers and analysts, and ultimately guarantee the planned design cycle time.
 
In another release, the company announced that Honda R&D Co., Tochigi, Japan and LMS International have announced the mutual agreement of a multi-year technological relationship in the area of future NVH, durability, and motion simulation activities. In the short term, LMS will supply Honda R&D with LMS CADA-X and Roadrunner multichannel testing systems, CAE software including SYSNOISE, FALANCS and DADS for upfront design analysis, and a range of engineering and support services. Honda R&D will take a pro-active interest in future LMS product developments. An official of HONDA R&D Co.’s Tochigi Center commented that "Honda R&D selected LMS because of the fact that the company has state-of-the-art technology and hybrid engineering approaches, which Honda R&D believes the key factors in accelerating automotive design and refinement processes."
 
 
Minolta Chosen to Meet Firefighter’s Pension Board's Document Management Needs
 
Minolta Information Systems, Inc. (MISI) and its authorized reseller, Minolta Business Systems, of Tukwila, WA, announced that they have received a contract from the Seattle Firefighters Pension Board in Seattle, WA.  The Pension Board is using a Minolta MI3MS 3000 Document Management System to provide quick and easy access to the active pension fund members’ archived pension files and medical forms.  The private pension board has 1300 active members.
 
In another release, the company announced that MISI and its authorized reseller, More Than Micrographics, of Madison, WI, have received a contract from Newell Rubbermaid Inc. in Freeport, IL, for a Doc-X WebServ system.  Newell Rubbermaid Inc. is a manufacturer and full-service marketer of consumer products sold through mass-retailers.  The company is using the Doc-X WebServ system to improve and streamline its accounts payable and accounts receivable processing cycle times.
 
 
PTC i-Series Helps Ferrari Develop Competitive Formula One Racing Cars
 
Parametric Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: PMTC) announced that it has formed a technical partnership with the Ferrari Formula One racing team of Maranello, Italy. Ferrari, which has used Pro/ENGINEER for several years, is the 1999 Formula One Constructors' World Champion. This partnership extends Ferrari's commitment to use PTC's i-Series solutions, including Pro/ENGINEER with PTC's next-generation Behavioral Modeling, for the design and development of its racing engines. Ferrari will expand its use of PTC's i-Series solutions for computer-aided design and manufacturing, structural analysis and information management.
 
"Every year a new car and engine are designed and then continually evolved throughout the Formula One championship season," said Alfonso Mauriello, sytsems IT manager, Ferrari. "The use of PTC i-Series products throughout Ferrari will allow us to communicate and collaborate more effectively as we drive our development productivity forward. The PTC i-Series helps us design and produce the engine with efficiency and precision so that we can put a more competitive and winning car on the track."
 
 
Scan-Optics, Inc. and Maximal Systems Announce Strategic Alliance
 
Scan-Optics, Inc. (Nasdaq National Market: SOCR), and Maximal Systems, Inc., announced a strategic alliance to resell MaxRetriever 4.5, the latest generation of Maximal's popular COLD/ERM document management software, with DocWise, Scan-Optics' document imaging product. A COLD/ERM (Computer Output to Laser Disk/Enterprise Report Management) system captures outgoing documents and stores them on Optical Disk in a very compressed format for ease of viewing and retrieval at a later date. Maximal Systems, Inc., is a privately held software company with headquarters in Clearwater, Florida. Based on an open systems design, Maximal products enable customers to easily store, retrieve, view and export data from any host system - without ever leaving their Windows environment. The benefits include open access to information across the corporation, reduced training costs, and savings on microfiche, computer paper and forms.
 
 
Reed Technology and SoftQuad Software Form Strategic Alliance
 
Reed Technology, a provider of information management solutions, and SoftQuad Software Inc., a developer of standards-based content publishing tools, today announced the formation of a strategic alliance.  The alliance enables Reed Technology to be a value-added reseller (VAR) of XMetaL, SoftQuad’s XML (eXtensible Markup Language) authoring tool.  As an XMetaL VAR, Reed Technology will be able to offer more efficient content management solutions to its clients. The partnership is a mutually beneficial agreement for Reed Technology and SoftQuad.  Reed Technology is experienced in developing comprehensive, XML-enabled systems for professional publishers.  XMetaL allows Reed Technology to provide its clients a best-of-breed approach to content creation.  At the same time, the partnership allows SoftQuad to work closely with a solutions integrator in the publishing market. Reed Technology is deploying XMetaL in its current development of a content management system for Congressional Quarterly, Inc. (CQ).  XMetal allows CQ editors to author and edit full-text documents as well as their associated meta-data.  Used in conjunction with other components developed by Reed Technology, it allows CQ content to be prepared for Web-based and other structured-content publishing platforms.  Reed Technology will integrate XMetaL into future custom publishing solutions for its clients.
 
 
Standard Register Invests $52 Million In Enterprise Resource Planning System
 
Keeping pace with the business challenges of the next millennium, Standard Register recently began the long-term strategic implementation of a PeopleSoft enterprise resource planning system. The $52 million initiative - named emPOWER for its ability to enhance employee access to the information they need to serve and support customers - is geared toward streamlining Standard Register's delivery of products and services, lowering operational costs and offering customers greater value. "This is the most significant transformation of our business processes we've ever undertaken," states Donna Beladi, Standard Register Associate Vice President - Corporate Planning and Development. "Over the next two and a half years, members of the emPOWER team will be looking at everything from our human resources functions to the format of our customer invoices to the software we use in manufacturing our products." A cross-section of Standard Register employees are participating in emPOWER, examining each and every business process and migrating to best-in-class processes to eliminate redundancies, consolidate fragmented functions and standardize systems corporate-wide.  The new highly integrated business infrastructure translates to important opportunities for Standard Register such as providing increasingly sophisticated electronic commerce capabilities to customers, comfortably handling the constantly growing volume of customer transactions, and quickly integrating acquired companies.
 
"By March, 2002, all of our major business processes will have changed-and improved-in one way or another," adds Beladi. "Our software systems will provide faster access to information enterprise-wide for more effective decision making, and we'll improve our manufacturing and delivery efficiency through a highly coordinated supply chain from the raw-materials stage through to the customer. We're empowering ourselves to improve every aspect of business performance and ultimately establishing greater ease in doing business with Standard Register."
 
 
Top Image Establishes e-Mobilis Subsidiary in Rapid Growth Personal Mobile Device Market
 
Top Image Systems, Ltd., (NASDAQ: TISA), a provider of digital information recognition and data capture solutions, announced that it has established a new subsidiary, e-Mobilis, to develop advanced software solutions for the rapidly expanding personal mobile devices market. “e-Mobilis is developing a crucial middleware solution, which combines mobile devices, cellular communications and the Internet, to provide companies with the most efficient method for transferring information from remote locations to the central data centers that drive business enterprises,” said Izhak Nakar, Chairman of TiS. “The e-Mobilis solution will enable businesses to provide their remote locations and staff with a solution that saves money and other resources, increases data sharing and provides quicker access to more accurate data. The integration of cellular communications with the Internet places these businesses in a strong position to provide their customers with the products and services they require faster and more efficiently.”
 
Recent market research by International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts rapid growth in the worldwide market for handheld devices, including a 44.5 percent increase during 2000 to approximately 13 million units. In Japan, IDC also forecasts 40 percent annual market growth over the next several years, with the user universe reaching nearly 10 million units by 2003. In the rest of Asia/Pacific, the forecast is for more than 3 million personal mobile units in use by 2003. Sales are gaining in Europe and Latin America as well. By 2003, the market is expected to be valued at $11.6 billion.
 
 
XESystems Reveals Major Expansion into Wide-Format Inkjet Market
 
XESystems, Inc. (XES), a subsidiary of Xerox Corporation focused on the technical documents market, announced a major expansion into the wide-format inkjet market with the acquisition of ColorgrafX, a fellow Xerox Corp. subsidiary.  ColorgrafX is a San Jose, Calif.-based pioneer in wide-format full process color technology.  The acquisition will significantly strengthen Stamford, Conn.-based XESystems' presence in the inkjet market. The integration of ColorgrafX products and services enhances XESystems' ability to sell wide-format inkjet product to the high-growth graphic arts market through the Xerox sales organization worldwide. According to C.K. Associates, color printing is a growth area for CAD and graphic arts environments with unit forecasts to exceed 300,000 installs per year by 2003.
 
"There are fundamental synergies between the two businesses. We believe the acquisition will strengthen Xerox Corporation's ability to offer wide-format solutions to our graphic arts customers," said Tom Vacchiano, XESystems chief executive officer and president. "It also presents XES with significant market, product, revenue and profit opportunities. We are committed to delivering products, support and services that simplify the work processes of our customers.  The addition of the ColorgrafX inkjet product line will enable us to extend these benefits to a broader range of customers."
 
XES will initiate a communications program with customers and partners in the first quarter of 2000 to guide the integration of the two businesses. "We anticipate there will be changes in the manufacturing and support of ColorgrafX's products," said Vacchiano.  "These details will be clarified during our discussions in the first quarter of 2000, but we remain committed to providing ColorgrafX's customers and partners exceptional products with the highest level of support."
 
 
ATTENTION VENDORS:
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE YOUR COMPANY NEWS INCLUDED HERE, PLEASE REFER TO THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN OUR 2000 MEDIA KIT, LOCATED IN THE "ABOUT" SECTION, or CALL 480-502-2285, or EMAIL docmanage@aol.com!