"Focusing on real business applications of XML has enabled the ICE initiative to gain the support of an unprecedented group of businesses worldwide," said Brad Husick, vice president of business development for Vignette. "These companies will help ensure that the ICE protocol becomes a driving force behind content driven commerce on the Internet."

"We are interested in participating in the evolving Internet standards for content syndication, commerce and electronic publishing to ensure they are as easy-to-use and as globally-minded as possible," said Craig Forman, vice president-interactive at CNNfn.com in New York and a member of the ICE Advisory Council. "This process is intended to make certain that the industry is constantly pushing for more open, and more powerful standards."

The ICE initiative has also gained the support of the analyst community. "CAP Ventures predicts that XML adoption will be driven this year by large-scale Web publishing and electronic commerce applications. If ICE delivers on its promise, it has the potential to provide developers of these applications with standard protocols for exchanging content and business rules. Vendors and users who support ICE can create real competitive advantage for their organizations," said Mary Laplante, director in the Document Software Strategies Group at CAP Ventures, Inc.

Members of the ICE Advisory Council include: 3Com; @Work Technologies, Inc; Abilon, Inc; Allaire Corp; Andromedia; Cascade Systems; ChannelWare; CKS; CNNfn; CSC; Current Analysis, Inc; Eggheads GmbH; Engage Technologies; Fujitsu Limited; Helsinki University of Technology; Hewlett-Packard; Hoover's Inc.; I-3 Telecom, Inc; iCat Corp; Inteco, GmbH; Interactive Bureau; International Reading Assc; Intershop Comunications, Inc; Junglee Corp; Look Smart; Media Asset Management Group; OnDisplay; Paper Space Publishing Technologies; Perspecta, Inc; Pointcast, Inc; Random House, Inc; REMAP Corp; Renaissance Engineering, Inc; Samsung Info Systems America; Softcom, Inc; TestDrive, Inc; USWeb Corp; VEO Systems; Verano; Vertical Holdings, Inc; Vtopia, Inc; Web Concepts LLC; WebMethods, Inc and Xenosys Corp.

Members of the ICE Authoring Group include: Adobe; CNET; Firefly; Hollinger International; Microsoft; National Semiconductor; Net Perceptions; News Internet Services; Preview Travel; Sun Microsystems (Javasoft); Tribune Media Services; Vignette Corporation and Ziff Davis.

About ICE

Vignette Corporation, Firefly Network, Microsoft and other Internet leaders are developing Information & Content Exchange (ICE), a proposed protocol designed to significantly reduce the cost of doing business online and increase the value of business relationships by facilitating the controlled exchange and management of electronic assets between networked partners and affiliates. The proposed ICE specification provides businesses with an XML-based common language and architecture that will facilitate the process of automatically exchanging, updating, supplying and controlling assets in a trusted fashion (building on OPS/P3P) without manual packaging or knowledge of remote Web site structures. For consumer Web sites, end users benefit from more complete and easier to use Web destinations that reduce the frustration of having to surf through many inadequate, narrowly-focused Web sites in order to find what they need.

For more information, please see press release, "Leading Companies to Propose Web Standard to Facilitate Business-to-Business Electronic Asset Exchange" dated February 2, 1998. It can be found on Vignette’s Web site.

About Vignette Corporation

Vignette Corporation, the worldwide leader in Web content application systems, delivers solutions for companies that are building highly successful businesses on the World Wide Web. Vignette’s flagship product, StoryServer 3, enables companies to build, manage and deliver service-based applications such as online publishing, knowledge management and sophisticated e-commerce systems, resulting in accelerated and enhanced customer loyalty and retention. More than 50 premier companies, including Ziff-Davis’ ZDNet, First Chicago NBD, Bay Networks and CNET, use StoryServer 3 to serve a combined 25 million page views per day. StoryServer 3 has received five industry awards, including Seybold Publication’s 1997 Market Pioneer Editors Choice Award. The company partners with 13 leading vendors in ad management, electronic commerce, personalization and personalization to provide comprehensive solutions for its customers.