A2i Announces Support for Oracle Application Server Portal; Support for Industry-Leading Portal Platforms Redefines Portal Usability.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 21, 2004

A2i, Inc., the leading provider of solutions for enterprise-wide product content management, today announced full portal support for its xCat system. As a result of today's announcement, xCat will immediately support the JSR 168 portlet interface standard, as well as the industry-leading portal environments, including Oracle Application Server Portal (Nasdaq:ORCL). A2i's approach to the portal framework is indicative of its ongoing commitment to support all major elements of the enterprise software middleware platforms and brings the power of the A2i xCat system into the integrated business portal environment.

Each of the portlets in A2i's comprehensive library provides specific capabilities and user interface for accessing any data stored in the xCat system, is fully adaptive to the schema structure of the xCat catalog repository to which it is connected, and provides a window into the repository by connecting to a particular data source. Portlets can be configured and assembled into portal pages that are both editable and searchable in multiple dimensions without writing a single line of code.

In addition, all of the portlets feature the multidimensional pick-list limiting that is a hallmark of the A2i xCat system, where each portlet is search-state aware and fully collaborative with other A2i portlets on the page, and is dynamically updated with each selection to reflect the current search constraints and corresponding results set.

A2i's suite of portlets also includes support for illustrated parts catalogs with exploded view diagrams and hotspots drill down navigation, capabilities that have already been incorporated into commercially available vertical market solutions from the leading industry players.

Finally, by mixing and matching portlets, the portal administrator can quickly and easily design and configure a collection of specialized portal pages, each targeted for a particular audience and a specific set of user requirements. Each page can then be further customized by individual users to suit their own preferences.

"Customers are seeking efficient ways to manage and access product content generated through multiple applications in a standards-based enterprise portal," said Thomas Kurian, senior vice president, Oracle Application Server Development at Oracle. "The combination of A2i's xCat system and Oracle Application Server will provide customers with a robust, end-to-end, enterprise-wide product content management system."

"A2i's library of fully configurable portlets for both viewing and editing data redefines portal usability," said Paul Weinberg, president of A2i. "Moreover, the portlet library extends the openness and flexibility of the A2i xCat system all the way up to the presentation layer, and allows customers to offer one or more highly tailored interfaces to the same data with no programming effort whatsoever. This complements the schema-level configurability of the xCat system, enabling customers to deploy end-to-end solutions in hours rather than weeks or months."

About A2i, Inc.

A2i develops and markets the xCat system for enterprise-wide product content management. xCat efficiently creates and manages a centralized repository of product content containing from thousands to millions of products, supports both printed and electronic output from a single data source, and delivers performance that is 100-1000 times faster than traditional systems. A2i customers include many of the largest distributors in the United States such as Applied Industrial Technologies and Digi-Key, large manufacturers such as GE Appliances and NIBCO, and others. Founded in 1993, the company has offices in the United States and Israel. For more information about A2i, please visit www.a2i.com.