ArborText to offer breakthrough technology for virtual document creation and delivery on paper, CD-ROM, and the Web.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 1996--There's a new solution coming for organizations that want to break up their documents into reusable objects, store those objects in a database, assemble those objects into virtual documents, deliver those virtual documents on paper, CD-ROM, and the Web, and control revisions and workflow through a document management system.

That new solution will be delivered by the end of the year as the result of an initiative named "Willow" that involves select vendors of document management systems working in partnership with ArborText, the world's leading supplier of SGML-based editing and composition tools.

The Willow initiative delivers this new solution by adding "object awareness" to the company's flagship ADEPT-Editor tool and by adding an unprecedented level of tight integration to document management systems.

Through object awareness, ADEPT-Editor will allow teams of authors to collaborate simultaneously on virtual documents as easily and as naturally as they edit single documents today. ADEPT-Editor will allow authors to create an object of any size and containing any number of other objects, all the while providing a simple document view. Authors will be able to create new objects by simply selecting a section of a document and pressing a key.

Several document management systems vendors who support virtual documents have agreed to partner with ArborText on the Willow initiative. Among these partners are Computer Resources International, Documentum, InfoDesign, Texcel, and Xyvision. These partnerships, which involve significant technical commitments in addition to cooperation in sales and marketing efforts, represent relationships of strategic importance to all involved.

Each of the Willow partners will support the development of a layer of interface software that connects their document management system to ADEPT-Editor. Through this software layer, ADEPT-Editor will have high-performance access to the contents and properties of all the document objects available.

Because of this access, much of the revision control, workflow, and search capabilities of the underlying document management system will be available via the ADEPT-Editor user interface. In addition to all the standard editing functions, authors will be able to browse and search existing objects, save new objects, retrieve specific versions of objects, share objects, and more.

Jim Sterken, president of ArborText, summed up by saying, "As a result of Willow, authors will enjoy a seamless, comfortable, and responsive set of tools with a nearly instant learning curve. And their employers will reap the benefits of higher quality, greater flexibility, faster time-to-market, and lower operating costs."

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"We are very excited about the cooperation we see between ArborText and the document management providers on the Willow project. We believe this level of integration can be the key to success for many SGML applications." -- Sharon Nowling, National Semiconductor

"To fully leverage our technical information, we feel it is vital to incorporate an EDMS system and workflow manager into our authoring environment. Willow looks like it will take this idea to the next level by integrating the authors' environment (ADEPT-Editor) into the data management environment. We are very excited about the potential productivity increases that Willow brings to the table." -- Myron Bries, John Deere & Co.

"Lucent Technologies is seeking ways to constantly improve its information development and delivery processes, and also to minimize the cost of introducing and supporting the needed tools and technologies. To this end, we have adopted a philosophy that emphasizes reusable assets and standard development platforms comprised of commercial off-the-shelf tools.

"It has been clear for some time that SGML represents a critical foundation technology for information reuse, and that component management is necessary to reap many of the potential benefits. What has not been clear is how to reconcile an off-the-shelf philosophy with the major effort that's typically required to gracefully integrate authoring with document management.

"After listening to Willow presentations and talking with a number of your Willow Partners, I have become convinced that Willow has the potential to represent a breakthrough in this area." -- Russ Rauhauser, Lucent Technologies

"Documentum is very excited about the combination of ArborText's breakthrough Willow technology and our world class Enterprise Document Management System (EDMS). Willow leverages Documentum's object-oriented repository and our Virtual Document Manager, enabling us to meet key customer requirements in SGML-intensive applications in aerospace, automotive, and electronics companies." -- Jeffrey A. Miller, President and CEO, Documentum.

"As an ArborText partner for nearly five years, we welcome this next stage of ADEPT development. In providing a more intelligent interface between our SGML repository and the ADEPT series, ArborText continues to distinguish itself as a leading provider of SGML authoring tools. As a document management vendor, Texcel focuses on repository development and application reengineering. In minimizing the effort to integrate ADEPT, Willow will allow us to provide broader solutions to the document management marketplace." -- Bruce Wolman, Founder, Texcel.

"Xyvision is enthusiastic about becoming part of ArborText's Willow Project. ADEPT-Editor has been part of our Parlance Document Manager SGML solution set for several years. The combination of ADEPT's SGML capabilities and extensibility with PDM's support for information objects and virtual document assembly has provided our mutual customers with an SGML document management system that is unmatched in its flexibility, reusability, and output options. The Willow environment will allow us to further enhance our PDM/ADEPT solution set." -- Kevin Duffy, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Xyvision, Inc.

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Running on Windows, OS/2 and UNIX workstations, ArborText's SGML-based authoring and publishing tools form the key component of document management systems at many of the world's largest telecommunications, automotive, aerospace, trucking, petrochemical, publishing, heavy equipment, computer hardware, software, and semiconductor companies. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, ArborText distributes its products through field sales offices across North America and through distributors in Europe and Asia.

For information about ArborText's products, consulting services and training programs, please contact ArborText, Inc., 1000 Victors Way, Suite 100, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108-2700 USA; phone [phone]; fax [phone]; email: [e-mail]; Website: http://www.arbortext.com

ADEPT and ADEPT-Editor are trademarks of ArborText, Inc. All other products or service names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

NOTE: The hyphen which appears in "ADEPT-Editor" should be a

bullet. It appears as a hyphen for transmission purposes

only.

The Website address in this release contains a double

slash after "http:"

The email addresses each contain an "at" sign,

the first between "info" and "arbortext.com"

and the second between "pg" and "arbortext.com"

These symbols may not appear properly in some systems.

CONTACT: ArborText

PG Bartlett, 313/996-3566

fax: [phone]

email: [e-mail]