Activ Publishing GmbH and Texcel UK Ltd. Announce VAR Agreement.

MANNHEIM, Germany and CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 26, 1998--

- Activ Publishing To Provide Content Management Systems in

Germany Using Texcel's Information Manager -

Activ Publishing, the newly-formed division of the Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, and Texcel UK Ltd., a subsidiary of Texcel International, have signed an agreement in which Activ Publishing will promote, supply and support Texcel's content management system, Information Manager(tm), as a Value Added Reseller (VAR) and provider. Activ Publishing brings to the partnership a wealth of experience in the publishing market, while Texcel offers the technology to meet the growing demand for media-neutral content management for publishing to multiple media - including the Web - from a single source.

Activ Publishing assists commercial and corporate publishers with services and software for complex publishing or documentation projects. Activ Publishing will host a Texcel Information Manager repositories, or databases, at its site for customers who do not have the technical resources to set up their own system. These customers can get the benefit of being able to produce new information products from their information assets without incurring the IT costs. By using Texcel's Web Application, which requires only a Web browser, customers can view and query the Information Manager repository hosted by Activ Publishing.

Activ Publishing will also resell Texcel Information Manager, and provide implementation services, to those customers who desire an in-house solution. Activ Publishing is currently in the process of implementing Texcel Information Manager for S. Fischer Verlag in Frankfurt, Germany. S. Fischer Verlag is using Information Manager to manage the highly structured content of the Fischer Weltalmanach, an annual publication that is reused in various printed and electronic spin-off products. The Company finds that the system allows easy query and extraction of arbitrary parts of the documents. Information Manager will also be utilized for producing the new release of the collected works of Thomas Mann (Gro(beta)e Kommentierte Frankfurter Ausgabe der Werke von Thomas Mann). S. Fischer Verlag plans to benefit from having local access to Texcel's technology and support infrastructure, as well as access to Activ Publishing's expertise in the issues faced by commercial publishers.

"Because Information Manager manages the individual, configurable modules that make up a publication, the system opens up a host of possibilities for creating innovative information products," stated Peter Pratschke, consultant at Activ Publishing. "Texcel's unique XML/SGML-smart approach to document content management, and the flexible browser-based Web Application client, will make Activ Publishing's vision of media-neutral publishing a reality."

"We are very pleased to join forces with Activ Publishing in providing new Information Manager-based services and products to the German corporate and commercial publishing market," said Gerry Tucker, managing director of Texcel NV. "The Company's insight into the issues that are faced by publishers today, as well as its technical infrastructure, are a winning combination."

About Texcel International

Texcel International, the leader in collaborative content management, provides document systems to corporations and government agencies who depend on information access and efficient reuse for competitive advantage. Texcel's customers use the system to create intelligent content-driven applications such as interactive electronic technical manuals, Web- and CDROM-based reference materials, and on-demand research reports, as well as printed product and maintenance documentation. Content that is managed in Texcel Information Manager can be easily used for Intranet/Extranet delivery, as well as on paper or CD-ROM. The system has industry-leading support for structured information such as that tagged in XML or the related SGML standard.

Founded in 1991, Texcel International has offices throughout Europe and the United States. NTT DATA represents Texcel in Japan. Among its customers are Deere and Company, Diebold Incorporated, Ericsson Telecom, Boeing Helicopter Systems, Philips Corporation, Thomson Corporation, Wolters Kluwer, and the U.S. Navy and Departments of Defense and Commerce.