Ascential Software and USoft Deliver Combined Digital Rights Management and Enterprise Media Asset Management Solution.

Business/Technology Editors

WESTBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2001

- Breakthrough Solution Improves Management and Profitability of

Copyrighted Media Assets in Broadcast, Entertainment, and Publishing

Markets -

Ascential(TM) Software, the leading provider of Information Asset Management solutions, has partnered with USoft Group, the market leader in rights contracts management systems, to deliver an end-to-end integrated media asset management solution. By combining Ascential Media360(TM) with USoft iRights(R), this integrated platform will deliver broadcast, entertainment, and publishing companies an improved solution to track digital media assets and associated contract rights and payments across the enterprise.

Ascential Software is the first company to integrate a media asset management solution with USoft's iRights. Through this partnership, Ascential is now offering customers a complete media asset management platform with integrated support for rights management. Media asset rights and royalties can now be captured as a natural part of cataloguing assets, and intellectual property management can be built directly into the asset life-cycle workflow process.

Increasingly, broadcasters are implementing media asset management systems to more effectively manage valuable copyrighted media asset investments and grow new revenue channels. Digital rights management solutions, which are designed to help companies track and control the use of these assets, have consequently become increasingly important to the entertainment industry.

"Ascential Software's partnership with USoft demonstrates our commitment to seek out the best industry leaders and build powerful partnerships that benefit our customers," said Pamela Vitale, director, media partners worldwide, Ascential Software. "USoft has consistently led the market in digital rights management solutions geared towards broadcasters and we are pleased to be able to offer our customers a solution that integrates Media360 with iRights."

USoft is the recognized market leader in media back-office solutions. USoft iRights was developed based on experience gained while working with some of the leading broadcasters and publishers in the UK. It enables the construction of a hierarchical asset structure to describe the assets of an organization. Rights properties are then defined based on contract details. Normal rights properties such as territory, media type and term are specified along with other organization-specific rights. iRights navigates the asset structure and rights properties to determine the validity and the expected royalty payments of the usage of the asset.

"In today's digital age, companies deal with a growing amount of media assets," said Erik-Jan Kool, director, indirect channels, USoft Group. "This partnership leverages the strengths of Ascential Software and USoft to provide media companies a single end-to-end solution for complete control of all media assets from any desktop across the enterprise."

Media360 is an end-to-end solution for collecting, organizing, and delivering any type of content, including video, audio, images, maps, 3-D images, blueprints and diagrams, digital special effects, and Web pages. As the market's leading media content management solution, Media360 helps organizations worldwide save money by reducing the time needed to digitize and manage assets, and by providing those assets for use and reuse in a highly flexible and scalable format.

Ascential Software is showcasing USoft's iRights solution in booth i6457 at the National Association of Broadcasters' (NAB) convention this week at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas.

About Ascential Software

Ascential Software, Inc. is the leading provider of Information Asset Management solutions to the Global 2000. Customers use Ascential products to turn vast amounts of disparate, unrefined data into reusable information assets that drive business success. Ascential's unique framework for Information Asset Management enables customers to easily collect, validate, organize, administer and deliver information assets to realize more value from their enterprise data, reduce costs and increase profitability. Headquartered in Westboro, Mass., Ascential has offices worldwide and supports more than 1,700 customers in such industries as telecommunications, insurance, financial services, healthcare, media/entertainment and retail. Ascential is an independent operating company of Informix Corporation (NASDAQ:IFMX) and can be found on the Web at http://www.ascentialsoftware.com.

About USoft

USoft Group, the Business Rules Automation Company, are based in Naarden outside of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. With regional offices in the UK and USA they employ some 120 permanent staff. USoft Group are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ness Technologies, a global systems integrator based in Israel. All USoft solutions, including iRights, are developed using the underlying Rules Engine software, USoft Developer. USoft Group provide support, education, R&D, pre-sales and marketing for all solutions and products. For further information visit www.usoft.com

(c)2001 Informix Corporation. All rights reserved. Ascential is a trademark of Ascential Software, Inc. and may be registered in other jurisdictions. The following are trademarks of Informix Corporation or its affiliates, one or more of which may be registered in the U.S. or other jurisdictions: Informix(R), Media360(TM).