ARBORTEXT ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEWEST E-CONTENT SOFTWARE FOR E-BUSINESS

["Beth Ambaruch" <bea@arbortext.com>]

ARBORTEXT ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEWEST E-CONTENT SOFTWARE FOR E-BUSINESS

Epic 4.0 leverages the power of XML and Oracle 8iFS for e-business advantage

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 30, 2000 -- Arbortext, Inc., a leading provider of
Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based e-content software for e-publishing,
e-commerce, and B2B e-marketplaces, today announced the launch of Epic 4.0.
Principal among Epic’s enhancements is the introduction Epic E-Content
Engine (E3), a server-side system that enables e-businesses to attract and
retain more customers by providing more personalized, dynamic and easily
searchable content for improved pre-sale and post-sale interactions. In
addition, Epic 4.0 adds compatibility with Oracle 8iFS to the extensive list
of repositories that Arbortext supports.

E3 forms the centerpiece of a Web-based system to assemble, process and
personalize business-critical content for delivery to the Web, print,
wireless devices and other media. E3 connects to several repositories,
including Oracle’s recently delivered iFS.

Running under a Web server, E3 offers powerful content processing
capabilities that can be triggered through commands sent over the Web.
Developers can write processing routines in a choice of several programming
and scripting languages including C, C++, Java, TCL and Perl.  Developers
gain access to E3’s capabilities through its support for the Web-standard
Document Object Model (DOM) Application Programming Interface (API).

E3 can convert Microsoft Word, Adobe FrameMaker and Interleaf content to XML
through the Epic Interchange option.  In addition, E3 can capture XML from
Web forms with the Forms Engine option.

E3 is capable of transforming XML for many different purposes, including
HTML for Web browsers, Wireless Markup Language (WML) for cellular phones,
Open Electronic Book (OEB) for eBooks, PostScript and PDF.  Through
stylesheets based on Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL), a Web standard,
E3 adapts content to the capabilities and limitations of each device.  For
example, customers can control the size and font of text, the amount of text
that fits in a single page, and the format of an automatically generated
table of contents.

This latest version of Epic builds on its heritage as the industry’s most
powerful XML-based content management software while enhancing its core
capabilities, such as enabling personalization, improved searching, easy
navigation and large document support.  All of these enhancements are
intended to provide the user with an improved Web experience in support of
e-publishing, e-commerce, and B2B e-marketplace applications.

"Organizations are beginning to demand content management solutions that
bridge printed and electronic publishing as well as B2C and B2B applications
and functionality.  Moreover, organizations with sophisticated document
production needs, particularly those with an SGML heritage, are seeking
appropriate XML-based content management solutions," said David Yockelson,
SVP and Director, Electronic Business Strategies, META Group.  "Content
management solutions with staying power will ultimately provide static and
dynamic publishing, personalization services, acceptance of horizontal and
vertical standards, and the ability to address multiple media and points of
interaction."

“Today it is becoming increasingly important for the enterprise to deliver
more extensive and more useful content via the Web and other media in
support of the entire customer lifecycle: before the sale, during the sale,
and after the sale,” said Jim Sterken, chief executive officer and president
of Arbortext. “With Epic 4.0, we not only continue to provide our customers
with the most comprehensive and powerful XML-based content management
software, but we are also meeting their demands for having the ability to
deliver dynamic content to an intranet, extranet or the Internet.”

“This is a big step in our mission to improve the way companies share
knowledge while enabling them to offer a better Web experience,” said PG
Bartlett, vice president of marketing for Arbortext. “The availability of E3
marks a major enhancement to our product offering because it allows our
customers to easily and quickly deploy a full content management solution
that is standards-based and can readily meet our customers’ most demanding
content requirements.”

Epic 4.0 Product Enhancements

-	Epic E-Content Engine (E3).  E3 is available to companies who require a
server-side system to capture, convert, process, transform and deliver
XML-based e-content.  This system operates under a web server to provide
high-end capabilities for personalizing e-content and transforming it for
multiple formats including Web, wireless, eBooks, CD-ROM, print and PDF.  E3
can also convert various proprietary formats to XML with initial support for
Microsoft Word and HTML forms and September delivery of support for Adobe
FrameMaker and Interleaf.

-	Repository Adapter for Oracle iFS.  Available as a product option,
Arbortext’s  Repository Adapter for Oracle iFS enables customers to connect
Arbortext’s products to Oracle 8iFS, enabling them to easily integrate Epic
Editor and Epic Editor LE (Lite Edition) to use 8i as a content management
system for complex, compound XML documents.

The addition of Arbortext’s adapter to Oracle iFS means users can now take
advantage of Epic’s powerful content management capabilities as well as the
power and reliability of the world’s most popular and powerful database. By
easily integrating with Oracle iFS, customers can deploy a complete set of
products for the entire content lifecycle, on a system that supports
multi-national and multi-platform customers.

-	Graphical DTD Development.  Available as a new standard feature of Epic
Architect, graphical DTD development for XML DTDs is the starting point for
quick development of a DTD.  This feature, along with Arbortext’s free-form
editing, enables rapid prototyping and helps reduce development time
substantially compared to traditional DTD development.

-	Standards Support.  Epic 4.0 adds DOM Level 2 core support to our existing
DOM Level 1 support along with Range interface.  Epic Editor, Epic Editor LE
and E3 may be programmed using C, C++, Java, Perl, TCL and Arbortext Command
Language (ACL).

-	Tag Aliases.  Epic Editor’s “Tag Alias” feature lets customers present
alternate tag names to authors, which allows authors working in different
languages to create content based on the same DTD.

-	Unicode Support.  With this release, all versions of Arbortext software
support 16-bit Unicode, a key requirement for full XML compliance.


Availability

Epic 4.0 will ship in July 2000.  All Arbortext customers on maintenance are
eligible to receive the Epic 4.0 upgrade at no charge.


About Arbortext

Renowned as one of the original creators of XML, Arbortext is the leading
global provider of XML software for content critical to e-business. Shipping
since 1991, Arbortext’s standards-based software enables enterprises to
provide more personalized, dynamic and easily searchable content for
e-publishing, e-commerce and B2B e-marketplaces. Arbortext’s software is
currently deployed at over 300 of the Global 2000 companies, including AT&T,
Audi, Boeing, British Aerospace, Caterpillar, DaimlerChrysler, Ericsson
Telecom, Ford, GM, IBM, Lucent, Nokia, Qantas, Ricoh, Sun Microsystems,
International Thomson Publishing, United Airlines, Volkswagen, Volvo and
West Group. Arbortext is a founding member of the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) and is an active participant in XML activities.  Headquartered in Ann
Arbor, Michigan, USA, Arbortext has offices around the world.

For more information please visit http://www.arbortext.com/.

Contact: 	Kevin Astle					PG Bartlett
	  	Text 100					Arbortext, Inc.
	  	+1 617.399.4902				+1 734.327.6819
	 	kevina@text100.com			pgb@arbortext.com

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