Fulcrum Announces Searchserver Version 3.0.

OTTAWA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 1996--FULCRUM TECH. INC. (NASDAQ: FULCF TSE: FUL )

Significant New Features Enhance Ease-Of-Use, Effectiveness Of Market-Leading Information Retrieval Software

Fulcrum Technologies Inc., the leading provider of information-retrieval software for the client/server market, today announced a significant update to its flagship product, Fulcrum(R) SearchServer(tm). Improvements include more effective searching, enhanced support for an increased number of foreign languages, access to a broader array of file formats, improved support for word wheels, and a revised, modular approach to packaging and pricing that will lower the cost of entry. The enhancements made to SearchServer, the core of Fulcrum's product family, will also be seen in Fulcrum's other products, like Fulcrum Surfboard(tm), the search engine customized for Internet deployment.

Most notable among the enhancements are new linguistic tools that provide easier and more effective natural-language searching. The linguistic tools -- based on Intelliscope(tm) technology licensed from Inso Corporation -- add value to Fulcrum's exclusive Intuitive Searching(tm) feature, as well as to the more standard Boolean searching, by extending the powerful statistical analysis inherent in Fulcrum's product with thesaurus and word analysis capabilities. For many users, this means that the results of searches will better reflect the meaning of key words in their queries. Intuitive Searching has been a popular feature of Fulcrum's software, because it allows users to refine their searches by selecting a passage of text or a complete document of interest and ask the search engine to retrieve "more information like this."

"Intuitive Searching has always been an extremely valuable feature of Fulcrum's software," said Terry Bergen, vice president of operations at IHS Environmental Information, Inc. "Our users are not experts in how to structure elaborate queries, and so it's important that Fulcrum complements SearchServer's Boolean functionality with a sophisticated natural-language feature; we want to give our customers the most powerful searching available, but with a simple interface. We have already seen that Intuitive Searching is a huge benefit in dealing with our users' unanticipated queries against a large document database, by making it simple for them to refine their searches to get something they can really use. Fulcrum is now delivering enhancements that will make the next version of our ENFLEX(tm) environmental regulatory database on CD-ROM even more powerful, but it will be as easy-to-use as ever."

"Fulcrum's products are crucial in helping users drink from the fire hose of information coming at them," said Linda Myers-Tierney, director of Electronic Workplace Technologies for International Data Corporation. "With the enhancements in version 3.0, and the expanded European language support, Fulcrum is poised to maintain its global leadership in full-text retrieval."

New features

- Enhanced European language support -- SearchServer 3.0 also benefits from enhanced support for an expanded set of European languages, and the new linguistic tools will be available for multiple languages.

- Additional file formats -- The new version of SearchServer also greatly extends the broad array of file formats Fulcrum supports. SearchServer 3.0 supports over 60 file formats including Microsoft Office formats -- PowerPoint and Excel in addition to Word -popular text and database formats, all the major word processing formats, Sybase and Oracle databases, as well as any information store accessible through Microsoft's Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) standard. Support for Adobe PDF files will be delivered in Q1 1996.

- Enhanced support for "word wheels" -- In addition to the new linguistic tools, SearchServer 3.0 gains enhanced support for "word wheels," a feature that lets users scroll backwards and forwards through a complete list of indexed words. With Version 3.0, separate word wheels can be triggered for each pre-defined field, making it much easier for users to identify relevant terms. In addition, users can manually browse a general word wheel, so that they can get a sense of the scope of the database.

- Administration tools -- SearchServer 3.0 also includes SearchServer Administrator, an administration tool that allows system administrators to create and administer SearchServer tables and data repositories from a central location, using a straightforward graphical interface. In addition, Microsoft Windows NT administrators will have access to Service Administrator, a tool that also that allows additional ease of configuration for client/server installations.

In addition, Fulcrum has invested significant resources in performance enhancements, and has focused significant development effort on optimizing products for the Windows NT platform.

"Mainstream users need software like ours that can bridge the islands of information that exist across an enterprise," said Peter Eddison, Fulcrum's vice president of marketing. "Users want powerful and scalable software, but it absolutely must be easy and intuitive to use, and it must be simple and cost-effective to install and administer. SearchServer 3.0 meets these requirements." Pricing, platforms, and availability

Fulcrum also announced new modular pricing for the SearchServer 3.0 product family, which goes into effect immediately, and is expected to lower the cost of entry for a typical installation. North American pricing for SearchServer (English-language functionality) begins at US$5000 per server and at US$295 for a full-featured desktop license. Volume discounting is available. SearchServer 3.0 is available immediately on Microsoft Windows 3.1, Microsoft Windows NT, Sun Solaris, and, later in February, HP-UX.

The SearchServer Product Family

At the core of Fulcrum's product family is Fulcrum SearchServer, robust, multi-platform indexing and retrieval software for the enterprise. While invisible to the end user, compliance with de facto standards, like Structured Query Language (SQL) and Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), means that SearchServer can be employed in information-retrieval applications that combine seamlessly with customers' existing information systems. As companion products, Fulcrum SearchBuilder(tm) toolkits integrate with popular graphical tools -- like Visual Basic, Visual C++, and PowerBuilder -- so that developers can work in familiar environments to quickly and easily build information-retrieval applications that access Fulcrum SearchServer.

About Fulcrum

Fulcrum provides information-retrieval software for the entire enterprise. This software can be used on computer networks, on CD-ROMs and on Internet and World Wide Web sites. Fulcrum counts major corporations and industry leaders like Compaq, Microsoft, CompuServe, and Novell among its customers. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, Fulcrum has offices throughout the United States and Europe. Fulcrum is publicly traded on the NASDAQ National Market ("FULCF") and on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("FUL"). Visit Fulcrum's home page on the Web: http://www.fulcrum.com -0- Fulcrum is a registered trademark of Fulcrum Technologies Inc. and SearchServer, Surfboard, SearchBuilder , and Intuitive Searching are trademarks of Fulcrum. Intelliscope is a trademark of Inso Corporation. ENFLEX is a trademark of IHS Environmental Information, Inc. Other trademarks used throughout this document are trademarks of their respective owners.

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Rourke & Co.

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