Wang advances work management strategy through acquisition of leading document management technology; Continues to expand support for open standards.

BILLERICA, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 20, 1996-- Wang (NASDAQ:WANG) today announced it is acquiring document management technology provider Vantage Technologies, Inc. Wang will use Vantage's software to build a standards-based Integrated Document Architecture that will ensure the highest possible degree of interoperability among Wang's enterprise work management portfolio and with other document repositories.

Through the Integrated Document Architecture, by leveraging open standards, Wang customers will be able to access documents from multiple access Wang and non-Wang repositories, regardless of computing platform, operating system or vendor. As part of this architecture, the acquired technology will be used to enhance the document management capabilities of Wang's production products, and build the document management components of a new family of collaborative work management products scheduled to be introduced in 1997.

"With this acquisition, we continue our commitment to address the document management needs of customers who don't want to be locked into proprietary solutions and closed environments," said David Goulden, senior vice president, Wang Software. "Wang will continue to build flexible, open, standards-based solutions and to partner with other vendors to meet the requirements of our diverse customer base."

Wang's Integrated Document Architecture enhances its support of open document management standards, including ODMA and DMA, and partner initiatives such as the Image & Workflow Workbench from PC DOCS, enabling support of third party repository products. Wang's Service Business Unit will continue to be a PC DOCS Global Enterprise Support Partner, Premier Integrator Partner and Authorized Training Center, providing global enterprise-wide services for DOCS Open customers.

The acquisition furthers Wang Software's strategy to provide its customers with standards-based work management software for the Microsoft Windows platforms. It complements Wang's recent acquisitions of NT-based storage, workflow, and imaging software from Avail Systems Corporation and Sigma Imaging Systems; Wang's development of Imaging for Windows software as a standard feature of Microsoft's Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation operating systems; and Wang's work with Microsoft on the co-development of the MAPI Workflow Framework.

"We are pleased to see Wang continue to expand its Windows NT Server product line," said Mike Nash, director of product marketing, Microsoft Corp. "The document management technology from Vantage further enhances Wang's product strategy, which complements their current imaging and workflow solutions based on Windows NT Server."

Wang's Integrated Document Architecture

Wang's Integrated Document Architecture comprises two major components:

-- A set of standard, fully-featured document management capabilities built into Wang's production and collaborative products

-- An integrating layer of services that provides a uniform and consistent interface between Wang's work management software and the multiple document repositories used by that software

About Vantage

Vantage Technologies, Inc.'s document management software, Impresario Ovation, is a three-tier, client/server product suite designed specifically for the Microsoft NT and BackOffice environment. Its document management capabilities include checkin/checkout, version control, access control and user-defined attributed definition and query facilities. In addition to support for general business objects, its modular, object-oriented architecture is designed to support the unique requirements of image documents, such as support for retrieval and manipulation of single pages within large documents without requiring those documents to be copied to the client workstation.

Vantage Technologies Inc. was formed in July 1994 by GTE Vantage and Ideas Commercial Systems to further develop and market Impresario Ovation, a software product developed by GTE Vantage to provide document and image management tools.

Terms of the Acquisition

The acquisition is expected to be completed by September 1, 1996. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The Vantage team will become part of Wang Software, continuing to work out of Vantage's Washington, D.C. office.

Jim Myers, Vantage president, will work with Wang, its partners and its customers to design and implement the company's enterprise document management strategy.

Diane Entner, Vantage vice president of technology, will continue to direct the development team and will represent Wang in DMA and ODMA initiatives. Diane is currently vice chair of the Document Management Alliance Advisory Committee and a member of the Black Forest Group.

Wang

Wang Laboratories, Inc. is a recognized worldwide leader in workflow, integrated imaging, document management, network storage management and related office software for client/server open systems and a major worldwide provider of integration and support services for office software and networks. Information about Wang and its products and services can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.wang.com.

CONTACT: Lisa Pintchman or Alison Kenney

The Weber Group

617/661-7900

[e-mail] or [e-mail]