EBT Previews DynaText Netscape Navigator Plug-In Capability; Netscape Navigator Plug-Ins Run Inline Within the DynaText 3.0 Integrated CD/Web Browser.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 1996--Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. (EBT) today demonstrated at Internet Expo (booth no. 334) the new capability of the DynaText 3.0 integrated CD/Web browser to work with any plug-in developed for the Netscape Navigator 2.0 Web browser. EBT is the first browser vendor after Netscape to implement plug-ins developed for the Netscape client API (Application Programmers Interface).

Due to DynaText's flexible, open architecture, DynaText 3.0 publishers will be empowered to utilize Netscape plug-ins to enhance the multimedia experience of end-users viewing DynaText electronic books within CD-ROM, LAN or Web environments.

At Internet Expo, EBT demonstrated the following Netscape plug-ins, inline within the DynaText 3.0 browser: Adobe's Acrobat Amber Reader; InterVU's PreVU MPEG video player; Macromedia's Shockwave for Director (animation, video, sound); Microsoft Word Viewer Plug-In by Inso Corporation; VREAM's WIRL virtual reality 3D browser; and EBT's FIGleaf Inline that supports viewing and zooming of a variety of graphics formats including JPEG, TIFF and CGM.

DynaText's new capability enables developers that have a significant investment in building applications for the Netscape API to now have access to another browser and another market--very large compound documents for integrated CD/Web delivery--without any additional effort. Netscape developers now join Microsoft OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) developers in taking advantage of the capabilities of DynaText 3.0. EBT previously demonstrated an OLE plug-in for DynaText 3.0 at Seybold San Francisco '95.

The new Navigator plug-in capability will be shipped as a standard feature within the forthcoming Microsoft Windows version of the DynaText 3.0 browser, which is slated for general availability at the end of the first quarter of 1996. UNIX availability is dependent upon Netscape's plug-in development for UNIX.

"We believe that, at this early stage of growth in the Web, providing a universal interface and development platform for extending client browser capabilities represents the single most significant contribution to the Web development community," said Kent Summers, EBT director of marketing. "The problem for developers is, which horse to ride? Netscape has their solution and Microsoft has their own standard, OLE. We are providing a choice to our development community to use a variety of APIs, from either the Microsoft or the Netscape developer communities. This is also significant because our Universal Inline Management Architecture further extends the capabilities available to the professional CD-ROM publishing market. Our customers and their end users can now immediately leverage investments from both Microsoft and Netscape development community efforts and enjoy the best of both worlds -- CD-ROM and Web delivery -- without placing a bet."

EBT previously announced DynaText's plug-in architecture at Seybold San Francisco '94. DynaText 3.0 now adds a Universal Inline Management Architecture (UIMA), that supports multiple plug-ins within the DynaText browser. EBT has developed a DynaText plug-in that manages all Netscape plug-ins installed on an end-user's PC. The DynaText plug-in points to the Netscape plug-in directory on an end-user's hard drive so no additional installation is required.

EBT's next-generation DynaText 3.0 Professional Publishing System provides a true SGML-based integrated CD/Web publishing environment. DynaText 3.0 directly browses standard HTML documents over the Web, as well as SGML-based DynaText electronic books from CD/LAN environments. DynaText 3.0 technology also enables browsing of raw SGML documents over the Internet and large-scale DynaText electronic books from a remote DynaWeb Server, using enhanced standard HTTP, TCP/IP protocols.

EBT's publishing tools provide professional publishers with a standards-based solution for the next-generation of integrated CD/Web publishing. EBT's cross platform products enable publishers to develop information once, to deliver the information via multiple electronic delivery media (CD-ROM, LAN/WAN, and WWW), and to optimize the viewing, navigation, searching and presentation of the information based upon the capabilities of the browser used to access the information.

EBT, a founding member of SGML Open and the MIT World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C), develops and markets a product suite engineered from the ground up around standards such as SGML and HyTime. EBT's cross-platform software tools enable customers to manage and publish information to CD-ROM, World-Wide Web, LAN, and print from a single, standards-based source. EBT information can be accessed on the Web at http://www.ebt.com. EBT is privately held and headquartered in Providence, RI, USA. -0-

Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) is the international ISO standard for document markup. SGML has been adopted by industries with large volumes of in-house publishing including aircraft, airlines, automotive, computer, defense, electronics, pharmaceuticals, securities, telecommunications and transportation, as well as government systems integrators, publishing companies, and academic research centers.

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a simple application of SGML used for marking up and rendering documents within the World-Wide Web environment on the Internet.

DynaText, DynaWeb, EBT, and FIGleaf are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. Netscape and Netscape Navigator are trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company Ltd. All other company, product, or service names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of respective holders.

CONTACT: Paul Lamoureux ([e-mail])

EBT

[phone] x241

or

Aly Reynders, Craig Librett

Miller Communications/Shandwick Technologies

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