Introducing Eclipse

[Nancy Mumford <NMumford@chrystal.com>]

Chrystal Software Announces Eclipse(tm)

Interactive Content Significantly Improves Effectiveness of Business Web
Sites

San Diego, CA - November 30, 1999 - Chrystal Software, a Xerox New
Enterprise Company, today announced Eclipse, an innovative solution
incorporating traditional Web pages and new, interactive content. Eclipse
integrates with leading authoring software, Internet browsers, Web 
servers,
and Web design software, and supports eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
standards. Chrystal Software will be demonstrating Eclipse at XML '99 in
Philadelphia, PA, December 6-9.

"Eclipse solves one of the significant challenges and opportunities facing
Web sites today," commented Carl Frappaolo, Senior Analyst and co-founder 
of
the Delphi Group. "Customer loyalty has not yet translated from the 
physical
marketplace to Web sites. In order to increase this loyalty, Web sites 
must
provide intelligent and personally responsive real-time content.  The Web
provides a fertile ground on which to grow customer relationships based on
one-to-one communication.  Tools such as Eclipse make this task more 
easily
achievable."

With Chrystal Software's Eclipse, businesses that want to add interactive
content to their Web sites can do so rapidly and incrementally. Eclipse
incorporates traditional Web site content, allowing the Webmaster to
continue using familiar HTML editors, file system managers, and other 
tools.
New, interactive content is defined and managed in a complementary 
fashion.

"Eclipse is a natural evolution for Chrystal Software," according to David
Lonsdale, President and CEO of Chrystal Software. "The product enables us 
to
add value to our customers' e-business ventures, and it opens new markets
for us."

Eclipse and XML

XML is enabling a new kind of solution to interactive content. It is used 
to
describe content as well as its structure, meaning, and presentation. XML
content is surrounded with "tags" that identify meaning and relationships.
For example, a medical record might incorporate content tagged as
<PatientName>, <DoctorName>, and <Allergies>. The record might also
incorporate tags for metadata. For delivery to Web browsers, eXtensible
Style Language (XSL) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can be used to
determine how the browser displays the XML content.

Eclipse uses XML in a myriad of ways. As visitors move through the Web 
site,
Eclipse combines XML user profiles and actions to generate interactive
content requests. These requests are fulfilled with XML content, 
determined
by a combination of content and tag searches. The resulting interactive
content is styled and delivered to the visitor in rapid fashion.  Very
often, this interactive content is combined with other Web site content 
such
as HTML and graphics files. The personalization is transparent to the
visitor.

Connection to popular XML editing tools

XML content is easily authored in Eclipse, using common XML editing tools
such as SoftQuad's XMetaL and Arbortext's Adept, as well as in Arbortext's
complete XML-based content management framework, Epic. To assist in
collaboration, authors can check out information to the XML editing tool 
and
be assured that no one else can make edits until it is checked in again.
Authors can also easily determine who is working on pieces of the 
document.
At each check in, revision information indicating time, date, and author 
is
automatically collected, building a version history of changes made.

XMetaL is an advanced XML authoring tool that delivers unprecedented ease 
of
use to authors, while shielding them from the complexities of XML. A
familiar word processor-like environment makes XMetaL a broadly deployable
solution that drastically reduces training and implementation costs. 
Whether
creating content for technical publications, content management, knowledge
management, on-line publishing, or other applications that could benefit
from XML, content creators love XMetaL's ease of use and IT professionals
appreciate its simple deployment capabilities.

"We are excited to be a part of Eclipse," commented Roberto Drassinower,
President and CEO of SoftQuad. "This end-to-end XML solution provides
unprecedented value to Web publishers."

In addition to Arbortext's Adept products, which provide 
industrial-strength
XML and SGML content creation capabilities, Arbortext also offers Epic,
XML-based e-Content software that allows users to create, manage,
personalize, and deliver vital business information to the Web, print, and
CD-ROM media. Arbortext uses XML to accelerate time to market and supports
the complete process of creating, collaborating on, presenting, and
improving the vital business information customers produce in Web, CD-ROM,
and print formats.

 "Arbortext's Epic software provides an industrial strength XML solution 
for
technical and reference publishing," commented Brad Chang, Chrystal 
Software
VP of Strategy. "By supporting both native XML and SGML with MS Word
interchange capability, Arbortext's standards-based solution offers
tremendous functionality."

The integration of Eclipse and XML authoring tools streamlines the 
creation,
management, and maintenance of XML documents. Documents opened from the
authoring tool are automatically checked out of Eclipse. Once changes are
complete, the document is checked in and content is versioned at the 
element
level. Changes are immediately available to others.

"Arbortext and Chrystal Software are long-time partners," commented P.G.
Bartlett, Vice President of Marketing for Arbortext. "The combination of 
our
products provides a very strong end-to-end solution for technical and
reference publishers who deliver content to Web, print, and CD-ROM."

Improving the user experience

Business effectiveness depends on customer loyalty. Repeat business is 
more
profitable. It is more reliable. It presents the opportunity for 
up-selling
and cross-selling. In the typical "brick and mortar" business, loyalty is
fostered by a combination of product selection, pricing, and convenience.
These businesses employ knowledgeable sales people to ensure that 
customers
find products they are likely to purchase. The more personalized the
service, the more likely the business is to engender loyalty.

One of the keys to more effective Web sites is fostering customer loyalty
through the use of interactive content. Interactive content can help
corporations improve their business in a wide variety of ways.  Marketing
departments need to enhance the visitor's online experience, creating an
interactive e-presence with their Web site. In the e-commerce arena,
visitors need better navigation and search capabilities to help in
decision-making. In training, visitors need individualized information 
based
on their needs, level, and progress. In customer service, visitors need
extremely flexible access to knowledge bases and support information.

Significantly improving the user experience requires truly interactive
content. It is not enough to personalize static pages. Nor is predictable
dynamic content enough. Content must be highly configurable, assembled in
real time based on a combination of characteristics known about the 
visitor
and the content. Eclipse provides all of this.

Connection to e-commerce

In the mid-1990s companies were beginning to recognize the potential for
commerce, and several emerged as leaders in business-to-consumer (B2C) Web
sites, including eBay, Amazon.com and eToys. The number of users accessing
the Internet is now expected to grow to 320 million by 2003, attracting
tremendous attention to opportunities for Web-based commerce. And while 
B2C
will be big, business-to-business (B2B) will be even bigger. Forrester
Research has been widely quoted in its estimates that B2B e-commerce will
account for $1.3 trillion in 2003, while B2C will reach (just) $108 
billion.

There are many B2B transactions that will transfer very well to the
Internet, including the purchase of Maintenance, Repair, and Operations
(MRO) supplies and office equipment. These will be the first to be 
automated
as it is generally a straightforward transaction and cost savings can be
very large. Behind this wave is another just as big, related to the
identification, selection, and purchase of components for manufacturing.
Communicating rich, interactive content between trading partners will be
especially critical in this next wave.

Traditional processes such as manufacturing systems, ordering systems, and
product information will be the source of much of the rich content. For
instance, these systems provide the basis for e-catalogs, supplying
descriptive and ordering information. Languages such as CBL from 
CommerceOne
and cXML from Ariba enable the connection of this rich content to 
e-commerce
transaction systems. Traditional processes also provide critical 
information
for interactive training, customer support, marketing, and other 
publishing
functions.


Key features

Eclipse is a powerful environment for developing, maintaining, and
delivering effective business Web sites. Key features of its design are:

. Adding real-time interactive content to traditional Web site content
without disrupting the existing environment.
. Migrating traditional Web site content into the interactive content as
desired.
. Importing content in a variety of formats, including Word and 
FrameMaker,
and managing the content in XML form when needed for interactive content.
. Creating and editing XML data using popular XML editors.
. Applying metadata to content, which enables precise searching.
. Profiling users and assembling content, based on prediction, tracking
reaction to buyer behavior, and other business rules.
. Connecting to e-commerce systems for completion of a purchase 
transaction.

. Connecting to business systems for business rules.
. Providing a simple, scalable implementation that enables fast
time-to-eyeballs(tm) and reduces implementation risk.

Version 1.0 will be available in early 2000.

About SoftQuad Software Inc.

SoftQuad Software Inc. is a leading provider of award-winning,
standards-based Web publishing solutions targeting electronic publishing,
e-commerce and knowledge management applications for corporations and Web
professionals. XMetaL 1.2 is an advanced, simple-to-deploy XML content
authoring solution that delivers a familiar word processing-like 
interface,
allowing mainstream users to easily create XML Web content. HoTMetaL PRO 
6.0
enables users to quickly and easily create, publish, and manage
sophisticated web sites.

Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with European operations based in 
London,
SoftQuad is a founding member and active participant in the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C), the Organization for the Advancement of Structured
Information Standards (OASIS), and XML.org.

About Arbortext

Arbortext is the leading provider of XML-based e-content management
solutions that enable companies to create, manage, and deliver their vital
business information automatically to web, CD-ROM, or paper media. Global
5000 organizations such as AT&T, The Boeing Company, Caterpillar Inc.,
Compaq, Ericsson, Ford Motor Company, Grolier's Encyclopedia, Guidant,
Lockheed Martin, Lucent Technologies, National Semiconductor, Sun
Microsystems, Inc., and West Group use Arbortext solutions to reduce 
costs,
accelerate time-to-market, improve the accuracy and timeliness of their
vital business information, and more. The company maintains corporate
offices in Ann Arbor, Mich., and additional offices in Waltham, Mass.; San
Jose, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; London; Paris; and Tokyo. The company has 
more
than 150 employees worldwide.

About Chrystal Software

Chrystal is a member of Xerox Technology Enterprises, a business 
development
arm of Xerox Corporation chartered with the identification, development, 
and
successful commercialization of new technologies. The company has a
worldwide presence with partners in key markets and customers in 
automotive,
aerospace, telecommunications equipment, publishing and other industries.
Headquartered in San Diego, Chrystal Software has offices worldwide to
support customers and increase market share. We have offices throughout
North America, Europe, and Asia.

# # #

CONTACT
Nancy Mumford, Chrystal Software (858) 676-7791, nmumford@chrystal.com

Jonathan Sachs, SoftQuad Software (416) 544-9000, jonsa@softquad.com

PG Bartlett, Arbortext, Inc. (734) 327-6819, pbartlett@arbortext.com

Copyright 1999, Chrystal Software, Incorporated. All rights reserved. All
brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective companies.