Open Text Corporation Releases Industry's Highest Performance Text Retrieval System.

WATERLOO, Ont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 23, 1995-- Open Text Corporation, a provider of high performance text search and retrieval products, today announced a major upgrade to its client/server-based, scalable data access system. Open Text 5, an integrated suite of components that combines a powerful search engine with GUI-based query and viewing tools, enables users to rapidly locate, access and display full text, individual words and phrases located in multiple databases, across numerous servers and dissimilar file formats.

With Open Text 5, users can index text in more than 40 native file formats, in Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the file format for publishing documents on the Internet. In addition indexed text can be viewed in native formats such as Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel, which eliminates the cost and time associated with text duplication and conversion.

Open Text 5 provides information-intensive organizations, including publishing banking and finance, insurance, universities and government, with a scalable text retrieval environment. The software can be operated by a single user or across multiple client/server, multi-platform systems. Text searches offer consistent response times regardless of database size or configuration.

"Open Text 5 brings high performance, high speed text search capabilities to broader range of information users working on a variety of client/server platforms," said Michael Farrell, executive vice president, Open Text Corporation. "I believe Open Text 5 could easily be the most powerful search engine available anywhere. With the explosive growth in quantities of text, the product's speed and scalability will provide users with a fast and easy way to locate text information no matter where it is located."

High Performance Searching

All text retrieval systems are fast when searching 100 MB-to-200 MB size databases. However, search speeds are greatly reduced when these systems are required to search large databases containing gigabytes of data spread across multiple servers. Open Text 5 incorporates sophisticated parallel distributed searchin capabilities to provide users with a higher level of scalable search performance.

"We have been quite impressed with the speed and flexibility of Open Text 5," said Eddie Correia, systems development specialist, CMP Publications, Inc. "With Open Text 5's indexing and search capabilities, we can search a 1.5 gigabyte database (more than one million pages) in a fraction of a second. Users can pinpoint individual words and phrases quickly without having to page through unnecessary data," Correia said.

Integrated Search Capabilities

Open Text 5 consists of three integrated technologies that provide a complete multi-database, text retrieval system.

o Open TextSearch - contains a high speed database engine based on the companyUs patented PAT string search technology. TextSearch provides users with the ability to search for individual words and phrases across multiple databases and file formats. The product supports distributed and parallel search capabilities to enable customers to efficiently search text distributed among diverse hardware platforms and file formats. TextSearch also contains a new module called the Parallel Execution Monitor (PEM). PEM can broadcast multiple queries across various, distributed heterogeneous servers and collate the responses into a single, unified result. A third component in the TextSearch server is the SGML processor, which allows users to index native SGML and HTML

o Open TextQuery - is a multi-platform graphical user interface (GUI) that adheres to progressive disclosure principles. This functionality allows companies to shield advanced features from beginners to allow them to quickly learn the product, while providing experienced users with sophisticated text retrieval tools. When additional Open Text 5 features are enabled, the GUI expands and reconfigures automatically to reflect the new capabilities.

o Open TextView - is a viewing subsystem that automatically detects if data is to be viewed as "tagged text," such as SGML and HTML, or as one of 40 native file formats. Tagged text is displayed using user defined style sheets, while native files are displayed exactly as they would appear in their original format. Any file can then be printed, e-mailed or faxed.

System Requirements

Open Text 5 runs on a wide variety of client/server platforms. The TextSearc server is available to run on systems from Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Digital Equipment Corp. and Silicon Graphics Inc., and under server software Microsoft Windows NT and SCO UNIX. TextQuery is available on client systems under Microsoft Windows, OSF Motif, Macintosh and ASCII terminals. TextView is available for Microsoft Windows and OSF Motif.

Service and Support

Open Text Corporation operates a series of customer training and business partner support programs to ensure that organizations efficiently deploy and use Open Text 5. In addition to immediate troubleshooting services and e-mail support, the company offers training courses for end users, systems integrator and business partners at its Waterloo, Ontario headquarters as well as at customer sites.

Pricing and Availability

Open Text 5 is currently available. Open Text 5 is a completely open modular system of components. The average cost is under $600 per user based on a 100-user configuration.

Open Text Corporation is headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The company was founded in July 1991, based on technology invented at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Open Text provides a suite of integrated text search and retrieval products to companies in a wide range of industries, with major customers including Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Caterpillar. Open Text Corporation employs more than 35 people and has projected growth of 40 percent in 1995. The company has over 2,500 users worldwide.

-0- All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Photo is available on BW PhotoWire/AP PhotoExpress and Presslink. If you are not receiving BW PhotoWire/AP PhotoExpress photos on your AP Leaf Picture Desk, you may join at no cost by calling Business Wire/NY at 212/575-8822 or 800/221-2462.

CONTACT: Michael F. Farrell Aline Thibault or Phil Landa

Executive Vice President FitzGerald Communications, Inc.

Open Text Corporation [phone]

[phone], ext. 213

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMED COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS REPEATS: New York 212-575-8822 or 800-221-2462; Boston 617-330-5311 or

80