EBT announces end-to-end online publishing solutions for corporate & commercial, CD-ROM & Web publishers; Major new version of DynaText offers integrated 'Web-Aware' and CD-ROM viewing solutions; New DynaWeb licensing options aimed at high volume professional Web publishers.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 27, 1995 --Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. (EBT, Booth #1137) today announced at the Seybold San Francisco conference, a major new version of the DynaText(TM) online publishing system that is capable of integrated CD-ROM and World-Wide Web (Web) browsing.

In addition, EBT unveiled new licensing options for its highly acclaimed DynaWeb(TM) Web server software. The new DynaWeb options address current and future needs of professional corporate and commercial publishers who wish to fully exploit the emerging "Hypermedia/Multimedia Publishing" environment that encompasses CD-ROM, Web, and commercial print publishing.

The new version of DynaText, code-named Matterhorn, represents the next-generation in online information browsing. Matterhorn, now in beta testing and scheduled for release in the first quarter of 1996, is a completely re-architected version of EBT's industry-leading DynaText SGML-based publishing system. Major new capabilities include: integrated Web and CD-ROM browsing; Unicode support; a plug-in architecture that includes support for OLE(Object Linking and Embedding); a DSSSL(Document Style and Semantics Specification Language)-compliant renderer; and graphics support for CGM, Thumbnails and hot-spot navigation.

At Seybold, EBT showcased the flexibility of Matterhorn's new design by browsing-from a single user interface-HTML documents over the Web, unprocessed SGML, DynaText CD-based electronic books, and in-process documents directly from EBT's DynaBase(TM) SGML repository and document management system.

"DynaText now becomes a universal information browser for viewing everything from simple HTML documents via HTTP servers, to complex, large-scale SGML documents that reside either on CD or LAN file systems, to dynamic in-process documents stored in DynaBase," said Louis R. Reynolds, president and CEO, Electronic Book Technologies. "DynaText Matterhorn provides a single place on the desktop through which people can access on-line information without regard to its location and format," continued Reynolds.

Corporate publishers currently utilizing DynaText include Autodesk, Convex Computer, Cray Research, Digital, Novell, Phoenix Publishing Systems, Silicon Graphics, SunSoft, and Sybase. Utilizing Matterhorn in conjunction with DynaWeb, this class of publisher will be empowered to create CD-ROM publications that include hyperlinks back to a DynaWeb server for incremental updates to information. This new process is extremely important for delivery of frequently updated information such as hardware and software manuals.

DynaWeb is commercial grade Web server software that currently serves large SGML documents to HTML Web browsers for rapid navigating and searching. DynaWeb provides important benefits to both DynaText publishers and to Web end-users by enabling remote Web browsers to fully exploit DynaText-like functionality on the Web, at the same time requiring minimal effort on the part of publishers to set up and maintain.

EBT has developed a new DynaWeb licensing package that provides commercial publishers with royalty-free Web servers for deployment to their customers. Commercial publishers currently using DynaText, such as British Standards Institute (BSI), Information Handling Services (IHS), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Lexi-comp and Lightbinders, can now take advantage of the DynaText/DynaWeb publishing process to provide customers with two pricing options for information dissemination. One option revolves around the current DynaText licensing scheme for corporate-wide distribution of information via CD-ROM and/or corporate LAN/workgroup. With the advent of EBT-provided royalty-free Web servers, an alternative pricing model can now be developed by EBT's commercial publishing customers for information delivery via Web server or corporate WAN.

In addition, EBT has developed a separate DynaWeb publishing model, termed WebPac(TM), that is targeted at commercial publishers primarily interested in Web publishing. WebPac provides a turnkey solution that includes word processing file format conversion, Web publishing and management tools. The WebPac production tools are completely standards-based providing professional publishers in high-volume production environments with a long term Web publishing solution, as well as the foundation for future CD-ROM production. WebPac pricing starts at $10,000.

"Matterhorn coupled with new DynaWeb licensing options truly reflect EBT's commitment to listen closely to customers' requests and build an advanced online publishing solution with the performance and features needed today, and the flexibility to enable EBT and our customers to stay one step ahead of the competition into the future," said Reynolds.

DynaWeb currently enables Web browsers with the full functionality of the DynaText search engine, including support for fulltext, wildcard, Boolean, proximity, context, and complex searching. End users can quickly locate relevant information with searches that span multiple electronic book collections. The number of search hits are displayed alongside an interactive table of contents (TOC). DynaWeb has been shipped to corporate and commercial publishers including Ameritech, Chadwyck Healey, Control Data Corp., EMC, General Motors, IHS, ISO, JYACC, Motorola, Novell, R.R. Donnelley, Semiconductor Research, Siemens Nixdorf, Silicon Graphics, SunSoft, Sybase, UNISYS, and VISA.

DynaText, introduced in 1990, is the world's leading standards-based online publishing system. DynaText accepts any valid SGML document and automatically builds a dynamic electronic book that enables users to quickly browse, search and annotate large documents. DynaText electronic books can include an interactive table of contents, hyperlinks, tables, equations, graphics, audio, video and animation. DynaText electronic books can be shared on heterogeneous client/server networks or placed on standalone workstations, PCs or PDAs. DynaText runs on Microsoft(R) Windows(TM) and Apple Macintosh(R) systems, as well as all major UNIX(R) platforms.

Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. (EBT) provides corporate and commercial publishers with the industry's most comprehensive standards-based online publishing solution. 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 SGML. 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 from its home page on the Web at http://www.ebt.com/. EBT is privately held and headquartered in Providence, RI.

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Editors Note: Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) is an international ISO standard for document markup. SGML has been adopted by industries with large amounts 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 an application of SGML used for marking up and rendering documents within the World-Wide Web environment on the Internet.

DynaText, DynaWeb, DynaBase, EBT, and WebPac are trademarks of Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. 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

401/421-9550 x241

or

Aly Reynders, Craig Librett

Miller Communications/Shandwick Technologies

[phone]