Individual, Inc. and Founding OCPS Committee Members Invite Industry to Join Committee To Define an Open Standard for Electronic Content Publishers; New standard will pave the way for the creation of a cyber market for knowledge.

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 1995-- Individual, Inc. and a group of leading publishers, distributors and technology vendors announced today the formation of an open committee for defining a universal format based on existing industry standards used to deliver electronic information. The committee believes the new standard, called the Open Content Publisher Standard (OCPS), will make information more affordable and accessible to users of a broad variety of electronic services. The committee being formed includes 14 founding members: Business Wire, CMP Publications, COMTEX, Cowles Business Media/SIMBA Information, Folio Corp., Gartner Group, Individual, Inc., International Data Group's (IDG) Reality Factory, Jupiter Communications Company, Los Angeles Times, Netscape Communications Corp., Phillips Business Information, PR Newswire, and Ziff-Davis Interactive. The founders invite representatives from other content publishers, distributors and technology companies to join the OCPS committee to fill the remaining up to four vacancies.

Encompassing not only text, but also multimedia graphics and sound, video, conceptual hypermedia links, multimedia advertising, universal resource locating and more, the OCPS is currently being defined. It will be released royalty-free into the public domain within 90 days of the initial organizational committee meeting.

OCPS committee members believe the work currently required to build bridges between content providers and consumers is prohibitive. As a result, knowledge workers are prevented from full access to relevant information in cyberspace. Through OCPS, one common format will enable publishers to quickly host their content on numerous distribution channels. It will also open new revenue opportunities and increase brand exposure through flexible pricing and relevance-based advertising opportunities. Multimedia advertisements may include pointers to the advertiser's home site where prospects can receive additional information and transact business thus shortening the cycle time from customer awareness to purchase.

What Founding Members Say

"It's an important opportunity for Business Wire to serve on this committee as our commitment is to continuously create new global distribution channels for our client's news releases. The new frontier is the Internet. It is certainly a key lifetime opportunity to partner with the leading information distributors that create and define the new information community of the future," said Deborah Pickering, vice president of Business Wire.

"We look forward to a day in which all of our information can be produced once and repurposed in every conceivable media and venue, without the high costs associated with reformatting and translations required today," said Michael Schroeder, manager of publishing technology at CMP Publications.

"As an integrator of real-time newswires from around the world, COMTEX understands and has successfully dealt with many of the issues sure to face the committee," said Charles W. Terry, COMTEX president. "We are enthusiastic about participating and supporting this important standard."

"As electronic content providers with many outlets, Cowles and SIMBA are all too familiar with the difficulties of formatting in multiple standards," said Alan Brigish, president, SIMBA Information. "We welcome the opportunity to work with Individual and other publishers and system operators to achieve a common data standard. We encourage all content providers to band together in the development of such standards which will accelerate the acceptance, the growth and ultimately the profitability of interactive publishing."

"Our work with more than 500 commercial publishers makes it impossible to ignore the need for standard information exchange formats," said Bruce Brown, vice president of Software Development for Folio Corp. "Folio's `Author Once' strategy, allowing information from multiple formats to be distributed on a variety of media and platforms, will only be enhanced by the adoption of a universal interchange standard based on existing SGML and HTML specifications."

"Gartner Group clients want direct and immediate access to quality IT research and advisory services," said Drew Seath, vice president of Interactive Services at Gartner Group. "OCPS will offer the opportunity to be more efficient in how we accomplish that goal."

"Here at the Reality Factory we are attempting to find tools and technologies that will help us create common text, graphics and other data formats for use by IDG companies venturing onto the Internet and other networks using similar technologies. Given that IDG has over 230 publications worldwide including various flavors of Computerworld, InfoWorld, PC World and MacWorld, this is an incredible challenge. Consequently, we are eager to investigate new approaches to the standardization of data for not only our companies, but all companies joining IDG as it blazes trails in electronic publishing. The time for standardized data formats is certainly due and we look forward to working with others to define those standards," said Amanda Hixson, Vice President, Technology and Platform Development.

"As an electronic distributor of information we currently must develop a special interface for each new content provider. This cost limits our ability to integrate small specialized sources which may be of interest to a small number of individuals," said Yosi Amram, Individual's chairman and CEO. "The combination of OCPS with advanced agent technologies will create an exploding virtual market for specialized knowledge."

"Open standards, protocols and publisher tools remain the missing link in the new media industry. One of our goals at Jupiter Communications has always been to find new synergies in the distribution and presentation of our newsletters, research reports, Web pages and conferences. We are very excited by the degree to which the mandate of OCPS dovetails with Jupiter's vision," said Gene DeRose, president and publisher of Jupiter Communications.

"If we can stop worrying about formats we can worry a lot more about what stories we have to tell," said Terry Schwadron, Deputy Managing Editor of the Los Angeles Times.

"Netscape is committed to open standards that enable commerce and the exchange of information on the Internet," said Hugh Hempel, director of electronic marketing at Netscape Communications. "We will actively pursue extensions to existing document standards, such as HTML, that will allow publishers and distributors to utilize our tools more effectively. Once adopted, OCPS could facilitate more efficient distribution and re-use of information."

"PBI (Phillips Business Information) currently uploads their 70+ newsletters in as many as 8 different formats depending upon platform and application," said Gene Fuller, director, Phillips Business Information. "We think that in the age of SGML and HTML the time is right for an industry standard that will ease the burden for the information provider, the information delivery service and eventually for the customer as the customer begins to manipulate and blend data from different channels and platforms."

"This OCPS standard matches our long term objective of providing seamless multimedia exposure for our clients' news around the globe. We look forward to active participation in its formulation," said PR Newswire president, Ian Capps.

"For over a decade, Ziff-Davis and Ziff-Davis Interactive have been dedicated to delivering dynamic computing information services to our readers electronically. We look forward to the establishment of an open standard which will serve both to greatly expedite our ability to grow our current services and to allow ZDI to seize new opportunities," said Alan Phillips, ZDI's Internet product manager.

The OCPS Advantage

One clear advantage offered by OCPS is flexibility. Based on existing standards such as standard generalized markup language (SGML) and hypertext markup language (HTML), OCPS opens up new multimedia publishing opportunities. This includes interactive "relevance-based" advertising where a publisher can "attach" advertising to each content element. This advertising can be multimedia in nature pointing users to the advertiser site for online transactions thus shortening the cycle from awareness to purchase. Concept-based hyperlinks are also supported which connect various parts of a publication together or to content provided by other publishers. In addition, publishers will be able to control the look and feel of their services, as well as set the pricing of intellectual property.

Electronic distributors of information will also realize a cost savings from receiving content in a single format. As a result of OCPS, distributors will be able to add content more easily to their services and increase the accessibility of the information consumers need.

Technology companies pursuing the e-mail and groupware markets stand to benefit as well. OCPS will bring a wealth of new content quickly to these platforms, potentially serving to increase market size overall.

The OCPS committee is looking for feedback from interested parties. For more information write to [e-mail] or call Ted Eveleth at [phone] X325.

About The Founders

Business Wire is the nation's premier media relations wire services used by more than 17,000 organizations - including a significant number of Fortune 500 companies - to accurately and effectively disseminate full-text news releases to the news media and information and investment community worldwide. Additionally, Business Wire reaches twice as many computer/electronic trade publications, key high-tech writers and industry analysts than anyone else. The company's Strategic Information Services Division - featuring IndustryTrak, CompetitorTrak, BW DataSearch and BW Fax-On-Demand - provides relevant information to public relations and investor relations professionals enabling them to make authoritative decisions in a complex, highly competitive American and global business environment.

CMP Publications publishes 16 magazines and newspapers on paper, including Information Week, Windows Magazine and Computer Reseller News. The company is also a leader in electronic publishing, with the introduction of TechWeb on the World Wide Web, HomePC and Windows on America on Line, Computer Reseller News and Electronic Engineering Times on Compuserve, and MAX, the CD-ROM supplement of Computer Reseller News.

Established in 1981, COMTEX is one of the early pioneers to integrate, enhance, and distribute hundreds of real-time news sources from around the world into customized newswire products for specific end-user markets. Specializing in serving the reseller marketplace, COMTEX offers news distributors, online services and large corporate networks a sole source solution for computer enhanced worldwide news coverage.

Cowles Business Media, Stamford, Conn., and SIMBA Information Inc., Wilton, Conn., publish magazines, newsletters, research reports and directories and host conferences on the media, information, marketing and advertising industries. Cowles and SIMBA publications and products include the Cowles/SIMBA Media Daily; the Cowles/SIMBA Media Information Network and Inside Media Online on America Online; Inside Media, Folio:, Cable World, Directory World, Catalog Age and Direct magazines; and Folio:First Day, NewsInc., Multimedia Business Report, Electronic Information Report, Electronic Marketplace Report and Book Publishing Report newsletters. Cowles Business Media and SIMBA Information are units of Cowles Media Company, Minneapolis, which also publishes the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis.

Folio Corp., a unit of Reed Elsevier, plc, is the world's leading provider of infobase software with its products installed on an estimated 30 million desktops in the form of Folio VIEWS, on-line help for various software products, and as the delivery mechanism for some 2,000 electronic titles from nearly 500 commercial publishers. Folio excels in providing the software needed to empower front-line service providers with instant access to information and the ability to adapt information to the unique needs of their enterprise.

Gartner Group is uniquely qualified to help executives effectively manage their information technology resources. For more than 14 years, Gartner Group has provided unparalleled research, analysis and insight on the information technology industry. Our analysis is built on a proven research methodology based on the largest network of users, vendors and investors in the information technology industry. Gartner Group has more than 30 offices worldwide and is headquartered in Stamford, CT.

Headquartered in San Mateo California, the Reality Factory is part of Electronic Marketplace Systems (EMS), a unit dedicated to providing TCP/IP, Internet and HTTP-related tools, technology and buying services for use by IDG companies throughout the world. EMS is a wholly owned subsidiary of International Data Group, publisher of over 230 information technology publications in more than 54 countries worldwide. International Data Group's headquarters are in Boston, MA.

Formed in 1989, Individual's mission is to spread the power of knowledge by intelligently connecting people with information and uniquely relevant ideas. As an Open SMART Information Exchange (sm), the company offers business professionals the smartest, easiest and most cost-effective way of gaining current awareness in a rapidly changing world. Its interactive, customized services include First! for corporate workgroups and enterprises, HeadsUp and iNews for single subscribers, and NewsPage on the World-Wide Web. Individual has established alliances with many prominent industry leaders including Knight-Ridder, Lotus, Motorola, Apple, PRODIGY, Gartner Group, and AT&T. Formed in 1989, the company is headquartered in Burlington, MA with offices in Burlingame, CA, New York City, and the U.K.

Jupiter Communications, LLC, is a New York City-based research, consulting and publishing firm specializing in emerging consumer online and interactive technologies. Our research reports, newsletters, multi-client studies and industry seminars provide clients and customers with focused research and strategic planning support as they develop interactive products and services. Jupiter clients typically include major global companies from across several converging industries, including media, entertainment, technology, communications, and consumer marketing. Jupiter's research mandate is to provide a comprehensive strategic view of the emerging consumer interactive world.

Los Angeles Times is one of the largest papers in the country. Owned by the Times Mirror Corporation, it is distributed to 1.1 million readers daily and 1.6 million on Sunday. The newspaper is experimenting with a variety of new business efforts including online, fax, audio, and a multimedia lab, and has a joint venture with Pacific Telesis for an electronic shopping service in California.

Netscape Communications Corp. is a premier provider of open software to enable people and companies to exchange information and conduct commerce over the Internet and other global networks. The company was founded in April 1994 by Dr. James H. Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics, Inc., a Fortune 500 computer systems company, and Marc Andressen, creator of the NCSA Mosaic research prototype for the Internet. Privately held, Netscape Communications Corp. is based in Mountain View, CA.

Headquartered in Potomac, MD, PBI provides a broad range of business-to-business information resources including newsletters (both print and electronic), magazines, directories, and conferences in the communications, media, financial services, defense and aviation marketplace. PBI is a subsidiary of Phillips Publishing International, Inc., the largest newsletter publisher in the U.S. with annual sales of more than $150 million.

PR Newswire is the world's acknowledged leader in the electronic distribution of full text corporate, association, agency and institutional news releases to the media and the financial community. After founding the industry 40 years ago, PR Newswire has been its innovating force, providing a constant stream of enhanced services to professional communicators. Through expanded newswire services, broadcast fax and fax-on-demand products, and electronic bulletin board systems, PR Newswire continues to establish new benchmarks in the industry.

Ziff-Davis Interactive creates electronic computing content products that are centered on information about buying, using, supporting and understanding computers, and that are distributed through multiple online services and other media. ZiffNet, with more than 275,000 paying subscribers on Compuserve, Prodigy and eWorld, ranks as the Number One special-interest online information service in the world. Interchange Computing, developed by Ziff-Davis Interactive, will be one of two premiere special services on the AT&T Interchange Online Network when it becomes commercially available in mid-1995. ZD Net, the Ziff-Davis site on the World-Wide Web, has doubled in usage every month for the past seven months to become one of the top five publisher-based sites on the Internet. Formed in 1991, Ziff-Davis Interactive is a division of Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., the leading publisher of information about computers and computing.

CONTACT: Ted Eveleth

Individual, Inc.

[phone], ext. 325

or

Beth Winkowski

WTM, Inc.

[phone]