LANovation Announces Support for Open Software Description Format; PictureTaker Product is OSD Ready Today.

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 21, 1997--LANovation today announces details of its support for the newly proposed Open Software Description Format (OSD). LANovation's PictureTaker(TM) software, available today, distributes and updates Windows 95 and NT software across corporate intranets, LANs, WANs, and the Internet. PictureTaker is OSD-ready now. OSD functionality can be added to PictureTaker through ActiveX technology, Netscape plugins, or future OSD compliant browsers.

PictureTaker uses Portable Windows Format(TM)(PWF) technology to let people easily manage Windows 95 and NT software. It captures Windows 95, NT and application configuration information in Pictures. A Picture is a compressed image of the software and system settings on a PC. By comparing, editing and distributing Pictures, software can be quickly distributed to a new PC, application problems can be fixed, customizations can be backed up or reinstalled, and more. PictureTaker goes beyond delivering the typical content to actually update a target PC's registry, INI files, autoexec.bat file, etc., as well as create new directories and files. And any software applied with PictureTaker can be easily unapplied.

PictureTaker is designed to deploy across any network, including corporate intranets and the Internet, using existing and future push and pull technologies.

Proposed by Microsoft Corp. and Marimba Inc. to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the OSD specification provides a data format or vocabulary to describe software components, their versions, their underlying structure and their relationships to other components. It provides an open, industry standard data description format that will help to automate software distribution over the Internet. OSD is based on the eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML), which is an emerging standard in process at the W3C that is used to describe data on the Internet, complementing HTML. The proposed OSD specification is available at http://www.microsoft.com/standards/osd/.

Automated software distribution consists of four processes:

1) Deciding what software is to be distributed.

2) Determining who should receive the software.

3) Transporting the software to the desktop.

4) Applying the software.

PictureTaker excels at quickly and accurately finding what should be distributed by comparing two Pictures to extract the registry keys, INI settings, files and directories to include in a distribution package (known as a Change File). And PictureTaker's Portable Windows technology makes it simple to apply software to Win32 workstations, even those that are set up differently. Because of its portable nature, PictureTaker is able to forego using proprietary methods of determining who receives and how to transport software updates. Rather, it leverages industry standards and third party products such as web browsers that corporations already have installed to accomplish these two tasks.

"PictureTaker's use of the Portable Windows technology provides excellent investment protection to our customers", said LANovation Director of Marketing, Joan Linck. "Customers can use PictureTaker to slash desktop administration costs today safe in the knowledge that the product is ready to seamlessly take advantage of tomorrow's open Internet standards."

The OSD vocabulary can be used in an XML document on a corporation's Web site or intranet to provide instructions on requirements that must be met in order to download and install a PictureTaker Picture or Change file (for example, what processor the target PC must have). When used in combination with one of the standard push techniques such as Microsoft's Channel Definition Format (CDF) or Netscape's Netcaster, corporations can implement high function, hands-off application distribution over the web today for a very low cost. Any OSD-aware browser or application can take advantage of PictureTaker's software update capabilities.

Founded in 1985, LANovation is a leading provider of networking products both directly through LANovation and through embedded technology. Portable Windows files are used in LANovation's PictureTaker(TM) and LAN Escort products. Information about LANovation products and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.lanovation.com.

PictureTaker and Portable Windows Format are Trademarks of LANovation. All other companies and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Contact: Valerie Peterson

LANovation

[phone]

1313 Fifth Street SE

Minneapolis, MN 55414

Internet: [e-mail]

http://www.lanovation.com