Asymetrix to Receive Equity Investment from SOFTBANK.SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 23, 1996--Asymetrix Corporation, a leading supplier of easy-to-use Internet authoring and development tools, today announced that Asymetrix will receive an equity investment from SOFTBANK, the world's largest publisher of computer-related magazines and books, and the leading producer of technology-related trade shows and expositions. SOFTBANK will also take a seat on the board of directors at Asymetrix. "SOFTBANK is clearly targeting the Internet and related opportunities as it seeks to evolve the global infrastructure for information," said Vern Raburn, chairman of the board of Asymetrix. Their strategy of investing in entertainment, education and other content aligns with Paul Allen's vision of a `wired world.'" As the world's leading publisher of computer-related magazines and books, and the largest producer of technology-related trade shows and expositions, SOFTBANK is making a series of strategic infrastructure investments in a variety of high-technology and media industries. SOFTBANK's operating company operating company A business that engages in transactions with outsiders. acquisitions include Ziff-Davis Publishing Company; Kingston Technology Kingston Technology Co. is an American producer of memory products. It is located in Fountain Valley, California with manufacturing and logistics facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Malaysia, China and Taiwan. Corporation; Phoenix Publishing Systems, Inc.; SOFTBANK Exposition & Conference Co., Inc.; SOFTBANK COMDEX See COMDEX. Inc.; and SOFTBANK Services (previously known as UCA&L). The company has also made a variety of strategic investments in a select group of Internet infrastructure companies, including: Agents, Inc.; CyberCash, Inc.; I/Pro; OnLive! Technologies; USWeb; and Yahoo!. "The leading products that Asymetrix produces will help to ensure that the emerging information infrastructure incorporates the required for the rapidly expanding Internet market," said Gary Rieschel, senior vice president, SOFTBANK Holdings Inc., the U.S.-based operating company responsible for all of SOFTBANK's interests outside of Japan. "Asymetrix's new ToolBook II family of Computer-Based Training See CBT. (application) Computer-Based Training - (CBT) Training (of humans) done by interaction with a computer. The programs and data used in CBT are known as "courseware." solutions and their SuperCede Verb 1. supercede - take the place or move into the position of; "Smith replaced Miller as CEO after Miller left"; "the computer has supplanted the slide rule"; "Mary replaced Susan as the team's captain and the highest-ranked player in the school" Internet development environment are uniquely positioned to serve the current and future needs for Internet development, deployment and application management." "SOFTBANK has a history of making smart investments," said Jim Billmaier, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Asymetrix. "We appreciate the strategic value a company like SOFTBANK brings to Asymetrix, and look forward to having a representative from SOFTBANK join our board of directors." Recent product announcements from Asymetrix are capturing the imaginations of developers and industry analysts worldwide. The ToolBook II family of products is the most complete and versatile set of distance learning authoring tools available on the market today. Designed for the different skill levels of subject matter, experts, professional trainers, and professional CD Rom CD ROM Compact Disk Read Only Memory Producers, ToolBook II is the only product line today that delivers interactive training content in native Internet, HTML HTML in full HyperText Markup Language Markup language derived from SGML that is used to prepare hypertext documents. Relatively easy for nonprogrammers to master, HTML is the language used for documents on the World Wide Web. & Java, format with just one command. The National Software Testing Laboratories National Software Testing Laboratories, or NSTL, is an American company, established in 1983, which tests computer hardware and software. The company provides certification (such as WHQL and Microsoft Windows Mobile certification), quality assurance, and benchmarking (NSTL (National Software Testing Lab, Blue Bell, PA, www.nstl.com) An independent organization established in 1983 that evaluates computer hardware and software in the PC, mobile and gaming markets. It adheres to controlled testing methods to ensure objective results. ) published the Software Digest Review in August 1996 and said that ToolBook II Instructor is the environment of choice for creating courseware -- the easiest to learn and the easiest to use. The user profile for the tests conducted by the NSTL showed that an employee with no experience in writing program code in a programming language like C or BASIC, but had a basic functional knowledge of standard business application software, was able to be productive with ToolBook. Asymetrix's SuperCede is the world's first and only ActiveX and Java development environment which allows developers to modify running applications. This can increase a developer's productivity up to five times. The first SuperCede product, SuperCede for Java, is a visual, interactive development environment that enables developers to rapidly construct high-speed Java applets and applications. A beta version A pre-shipping release of hardware or software that has gone through alpha test. A beta version of software is supposed to be very close to the final product, but, in practice, it is more a way of getting users to test the software in the first place under real conditions. will be available from Asymetrix web site (www.asymetrix.com) in early October. A combined ActiveX and Java version will be available early in 1997. About Asymetrix Corporation Asymetrix Corporation is a leading supplier of easy-to-use Internet authoring and development tools for distributed learning Distributed Learning means a method of instruction that relies primarily on indirect communication between students and teachers, including internet or other electronic-based delivery, teleconferencing or correspondence; (British Columbia, School Act, 2006). , web publishing Creating a Web site and placing it on the Web server. A Web site is a collection of HTML pages with the home page typically named INDEX.HTML. Web sites are designed using Web authoring software which provides a graphical layout capability or by hand coding in HTML or both. and Internet applications. The company also produces easy-to-use digital media content creation. Asymetrix products include Asymetrix Digital Video Producer, Asymetrix 3D F/X F/X Effects , Asymetrix Web 3D, Asymetrix Web Publisher, ToolBook II, and SuperCede. Asymetrix, a privately held software company based in Bellevue, Wash., markets to customers and clients around the world including leading corporate, government, and educational institutions. Asymetrix Corp., 110-110th Avenue NE, Bellevue, WA, 98004-5840. About SOFTBANK Corporation SOFTBANK Corporation is the world's largest publisher of computer-related magazines and books, and is the world's largest producer of technology-related trade shows and expositions. In Japan, SOFTBANK is the largest distributor of computer software, peripherals, and systems. SOFTBANK, whose stock is traded over-the counter in Tokyo, had revenues of $1.5 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 1996. SOFTBANK has approximately 6,000 employees worldwide. -0- Note to Editors: Asymetrix, ToolBook, Asymetrix 3D F/X, and Digital Video Producer are registered trademarks and Asymetrix Web 3D, Asymetrix WebPublisher, SuperCede, and ToolBook II, are trademarks of Asymetrix Corporation, Inc. All other company and/or product names are the property of their respective owners. SOFTBANK is a trademark of SOFTBANK Corporation. CONTACT: Asymetrix Corporation Dennis L. Sullivan, 206/637-2458 denniss@asymetrix.com Ann Bagley, 206/637-5859 annb@asymetrix.com or Catapult Partners Carl Furry, 415/524-1720 or 415/344-6193 furry@catapultinc.com |
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