SGML: ArborText's Willow

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ArborText to Offer Breakthrough Technology
for Virtual Document Creation and Delivery on
Paper, CD-ROM, and the Web

June 17, 1996

Ann Arbor, MI -- There's a new solution coming for organizations that
want to break up their documents into reusable objects, store those objects
in a database, assemble those objects into virtual documents, deliver those
virtual documents on paper, CD-ROM, and the Web, and control revisions
and workflow through a document management system.

That new solution will be delivered by the end of the year as the result of an
initiative named "Willow" that involves select vendors of document
management systems working in partnership with ArborText, the world's
leading supplier of SGML-based editing and composition tools.

The Willow initiative delivers this new solution by adding "object
awareness" to the company's flagship ADEPT*Editor tool and by adding
an unprecedented level of tight integration to document management
systems.

Through object awareness, ADEPT*Editor will allow teams of authors to
collaborate simultaneously on virtual documents as easily and as naturally
as they edit single documents today. ADEPT*Editor will allow authors to
create an object of any size and containing any number of other objects, all
the while providing a simple document view. Authors will be able to create
new objects by simply selecting a section of a document and pressing a key.

Several document management systems vendors who support virtual
documents have agreed to partner with ArborText on the Willow initiative.
Among these partners are Computer Resources International,
Documentum, InfoDesign, Texcel, and Xyvision. These partnerships, which
involve significant technical commitments in addition to cooperation in sales
and marketing efforts, represent relationships of strategic importance to all
involved.
Each of the Willow partners will support the development of a layer of
interface software that connects their document management system to
ADEPT*Editor. Through this software layer, ADEPT*Editor will have
high-performance access to the contents and properties of all the document
objects available.

Because of this access, much of the revision control, workflow, and search
capabilities of the underlying document management system will be
available via the ADEPT*Editor user interface. In addition to all the
standard editing functions, authors will be able to browse and search
existing objects, save new objects, retrieve specific versions of objects,
share objects, and more.

Jim Sterken, president of ArborText, summed up by saying, "As a result of
Willow, authors will enjoy a seamless, comfortable, and responsive set of
tools with a nearly instant learning curve. And their employers will reap the
benefits of higher quality, greater flexibility, faster time-to-market, and
lower operating costs."



"We are very excited about the cooperation we see between ArborText and
the document management providers on the Willow project. We believe this
level of integration can be the key to success for many SGML applications."
-- Sharon Nowling, National Semiconductor

"To fully leverage our technical information, we feel it is vital to incorporate
an EDMS system and workflow manager into our authoring environment.
Willow looks like it will take this idea to the next level by integrating the
authors' environment (ADEPT*Editor) into the data management
environment. We are very excited about the potential productivity increases
that Willow brings to the table." -- Myron Bries, John Deere & Co.

"Lucent Technologies is seeking ways to constantly improve its information
development and delivery processes, and also to minimize the cost of
introducing and supporting the needed tools and technologies. To this end,
we have adopted a philosophy that emphasizes reusable assets and
standard development platforms comprised of commercial off-the-shelf
tools. It has been clear for some time that SGML represents a critical
foundation technology for information reuse, and that component
management is necessary to reap many of the potential benefits. What has
not been clear is how to reconcile an off-the-shelf philosophy with the
major effort that's typically required to gracefully integrate authoring with
document management. After listening to Willow presentations and talking
with a number of your Willow Partners, I have become convinced that
Willow has the potential to represent a breakthrough in this area." --
Russ Rauhauser, Lucent Technologies

"Documentum is very excited about the combination of ArborText's
breakthrough Willow technology and our world class Enterprise Document
Management System (EDMS). Willow leverages Documentum's
object-oriented repository and our Virtual Document Manager, enabling us
to meet key customer requirements in SGML-intensive applications in
aerospace, automotive, and electronics companies." -- Jeffrey A. Miller,
President and CEO, Documentum

"As an ArborText partner for nearly five years, we welcome this next stage
of ADEPT development. In providing a more intelligent interface between
our SGML repository and the ADEPT series, ArborText continues to
distinguish itself as a leading provider of SGML authoring tools. As a
document management vendor, Texcel focuses on repository development
and application reengineering. In minimizing the effort to integrate ADEPT,
Willow will allow us to provide broader solutions to the document
management marketplace." -- Bruce Wolman, Founder, Texcel

"Xyvision is enthusiastic about becoming part of ArborText's Willow
Project. ADEPT*Editor has been part of our Parlance Document Manager
SGML solution set for several years. The combination of ADEPT's SGML
capabilities and extensibility with PDM's support for information objects
and virtual document assembly has provided our mutual customers with an
SGML document management system that is unmatched in its flexibility,
reusability, and output options. The Willow environment will allow us to
further enhance our PDM/ADEPT solution set." -- Kevin Duffy, Executive
Vice President and General Manager, Xyvision, Inc.