Texcel Announces General Availability of Texcel Information Manager
Release 2.0 and the Information Manager Web Application

Leading XML Content Management Solution Delivers Updated Environment for End Users and Ease of Integration through ActiveX

Cambridge, Mass. -Texcel International, the leader in collaborative content management and a pioneer of the new XML standard for the Web, today announced general availability of Texcel Information Manager* Release 2.0. Also available is the Information Manager Web Application, which allows remote users the power to view, edit and comment on any level of information in a remote document database.

"Our customers create and update their most valuable information using Texcel Information Manager Release 2.0 in order to increase the intelligence and reusability of that information across multiple deliverables," states Texcel CEO, Bruce Wolman. "Release 2.0 is a major advance with its Microsoft Explorer-based user interface and out of the box integration with popular content creation tools through ActiveX. Now it's even easier to incorporate the Texcel Information Manager content management system into a standard end user environment."

Also new in the release is tight integration with Adobe Framemaker+SGML, which complements support for ArborText's SGML/XML ADEPT·Editor. Release 2.0 has been designed to integrate with additional editing, publishing, and data management tools adopted by customers.

Other new features include the ability to create personalized views of an Information Manager repository by simply dragging and dropping links into a specialized area on the Desktop or user interface. From the Desktop, users can browse and check information in and out of multiple repositories using a Microsoft Explorer paradigm. The Desktop will also display an instant preview of any type of information. For example, by selecting on an individual element in a well-formed XML document structure, the contents can be displayed in a readable screen version according to the user's preferred style. Selecting a PowerPoint file from the hierarchy automatically displays its contents in the PowerPoint viewer. Other characteristic information objects such as metadata or attributes are also viewable with a simple tab selection in the Desktop. Metadata may be added and modified through the user interface as well.

Texcel Information Manager Release 2.0 tracks and manages the information components that make up a structured document, unlike other products that simply store and retrieve document files. Groups of knowledge workers can use Information Manager's collaborative tools to find, edit, review, reuse and assemble information managed in a secure database. With Information Manager, users can maintain and access document objects that are independent of delivery format and reusable across multiple documents and applications. New documents can be assembled "on-the-fly" from document components in the repository, then easily distributed to the Web or an Intranet as part of an Intranet or Extranet application, on CD-ROM, or as printed documents.

Also shipping is the Texcel Information Manager Web Application. This Web-based client lets widely distributed groups of authors, reviewers and other knowledge workers fully collaborate in the information lifecycle. Using only a Web browser, remote authors and editors can view, review, and check in and out any document content. The Web Application is compatible with Web browsers from Microsoft and Netscape, and it is highly secure, scalable and easy to maintain.

System Support

Texcel Information Manager Release 2.0 is a client/server system. Supported server platforms include Windows NT servers and UNIX servers from Hewlett Packard and Sun Microsystems. The initial release of Information Manager Release 2.0 supports Windows NT/95 clients. The Texcel Information Manager Web Application supports Microsoft and Netscape Web browsers.

About Texcel International

Texcel International, the leader in collaborative content management, provides document systems to corporations and government who depend on information access and efficient reuse for competitive advantage. Texcel's customers use the system to create intelligent content-driven applications such as interactive electronic technical manuals, Web- and CDROM-based reference materials, and on-demand research reports, as well as printed product and maintenance documentation. Content managed in Texcel Information Manager can be as easily used for Intranet/Extranet delivery, as paper or CD-ROM. The system has industry-leading support for structured information such as that tagged in XML or the related SGML standard.

Founded in 1991, Texcel International has offices throughout Europe and the United States. NTT DATA represents Texcel in Japan. Among its customers are Deere and Company, Diebold Incorporated, Ericsson Telecom, Boeing Helicopter Systems, Philips Corporation, Thomson Corporation, Wolters Kluwer, and the U.S. Navy and Departments of Defense and Commerce.

Texcel can be contacted at its U.S. offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts by calling 617-621-7004.

The Texcel Web site is located at http://www.texcel.no.