NOAA Partners With Xerox Engineering Systems to Simplify Nationwide Document Management.

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 27, 1999--

XES Saves National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Time and Money

and Simplifies Work Process

Port engineers for the ocean-going National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ships now turn to the internet when their vessels are far from home port and need repairs. In a successful partnership with Xerox Corporation's (NYSE:XRX) Xerox Engineering Systems subsidiary, NOAA, a U.S. Department of Commerce agency, can now provide marine centers and ports offices throughout the U.S with access to more than 10,000 large format engineering drawings of its research ships.

Recent budget cuts forced NOAA to reduce the number of ships in its fleet while its engineers struggled to find a way to improve productivity working with fewer resources. NOAA partnered with Xerox Engineering Systems (XES) to simplify the document distribution process the organization used for major ship repairs and modifications.

Xerox Engineering Systems' Intranet Docs(TM) software enables NOAA to provide its port engineers and contractors instant access to ship drawings, using only a web browser. Users are able to view drawings online or print them on demand, eliminating costly production work and expensive shipping.

Typical preparation for a repair bid involved several hours of collecting, copying and shipping drawings to contractors. With Intranet Docs, NOAA can mail contractors a URL address with the bid request and contractors can then access the Intranet Docs database for drawings references required to provide an accurate bid.

"NOAA chose to partner with Xerox Engineering Systems for its large-format, engineering document expertise and its established reputation," said George Ringstad, supervisory general engineer, NOAA. "The XES solution provides our engineers and contractors with a smarter way of doing things. Increased accessibility to the ship plan files is key to our improved productivity. Intranet Docs effectively meets our requirements within the current budget constraints."

Intranet Docs allows users to index, search, view, and print documents directly from their desktops. Viewing options not only include actual size and thumbnail selections, but also the ability to zoom in with multiple ratios on specific areas of the document to view complex detail or fine lines.

Xerox Engineering Systems, legally established as XESystems, Inc., provides wide-format hardware, software, supplies and service tailored to the engineering market.

NOTE TO EDITORS: XEROX(R), The Document Company(R) and the stylized X are trademarks of Xerox Corporation. Product and service names profiled herein are trademarks of Xerox Corporation. Xerox Engineering Systems, XES and the XES digitized box are trademarks of Xerox Corporation, licensed for use by XESystems, Inc. Intranet Docs is a registered trademark of Digital Paper. Any other named products profiled herein are trademarks of their respective companies.