Arbortext Announces DITA Support

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

Arbortext Announces DITA Support
Enables Information-Architected Topic-Based Authoring

Ann Arbor, Mich., April 13, 2004 – Arbortext, the leading global provider
of enterprise publishing software, today announced the next release of
Arbortext 5 will include support for Darwin Information Typing
Architecture (DITA), an IBM-created, OASIS-sponsored initiative that is an
XML-based, end-to-end architecture for authoring, producing, and
delivering technical information. This architecture consists of a set of
design principles for creating "information-typed" modules at a topic
level and using that content in delivery modes such as online help and
product support portals.

DITA is an innovative open standards initiative to develop specialized
data models for XML publishing applications that can readily adapt to the
requirements of diverse applications while retaining both information and
application compatibility. Starting with the DITA ‘topic’ data model,
different groups can modify it to support their unique requirements
without fear of breaking enterprise publishing software applications or
creating incompatibilities with other groups or divisions that would
prevent information sharing.  DITA specializations can be "snapped on" as
deltas to the base support, preventing the need to create or update
massive DTDs. The core of DITA provides rich set of semantics for creating
architected information.

”We are excited to be among the first to include support for DITA in our
software,” said PG Bartlett, Vice President of Product Marketing at
Arbortext. “We believe this is a very important initiative because it
addresses the ‘brittleness’ of traditional data models, thereby
alleviating much of the expense of creating and updating them. Arbortext
is the first to include provisions for DITA specialization in our core
product. This allows DITA customizations to be programmed once and then
used in all specialized DITA documents."

”Arbortext continues to be a leader in the industry with its support for
standards,” said David Schell, Corporate Lead for Technical Publications
and User Assistance for IBM.  “Because they are building support for DITA
into the core of their software, organizations that use Arbortext software
will be able to build highly customized applications while taking full
advantage of the benefits that DITA has to offer.”

About Arbortext
Arbortext is the leading global provider of enterprise publishing software
that enables organizations to provide more personalized, dynamic and
easily searchable content for Web, mobile and print usage. Arbortext’s
software is installed at over 1,400 organizations worldwide.

Current customers include American Express Financial Services, Audi,
Boeing, Bombardier, British Aerospace, Caterpillar, DaimlerChrysler,
Ericsson Telecom, Ford, General Electric, GM, IBM, International Thomson
Publishing, Lucent, Nokia, Nortel Networks, PeopleSoft, Pfizer, Ricoh, Sun
Microsystems, Toyota, United Airlines, Volkswagen and Volvo. Arbortext is
a founding member and active participant in the XML Activity of the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA,
Arbortext has offices around the world. For more information, please visit
www.arbortext.com.

Contacts: 	Beth Ambaruch, APR				David Stone
		Arbortext, Inc.					Ketchum
		+1 734.327.6014				+1 312.228.6967
		bea@arbortext.com				david.stone@ketchum.com

		Press room:  http://www.arbortext.com/html/press_room.html