America Online's Internet Services Company and Illustra ™ form strategic alliance; Unveil new generation Internet publishing solution; NaviSoft embraces Illustra technology for future cyberspace development efforts

Business Wire, April 11, 1995

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 11, 1995--AOL's Internet Services Company and Illustra Information Technologies today announced a strategic alliance that will deliver sophisticated new products and services to the Internet, as well as other public and private networks. America Online's Internet Services Company has embraced Illustra's media asset management technology for current and future network publishing product development efforts, including the award winning NaviServer product.

David Cole, president of America Online's Internet Services Company said, "ISC's NaviSoft team began working with Illustra's remarkable server architecture several months ago because it had the unique ability to manage and query any kind of information asset. It was the ideal platform upon which to build a rich solution for businesses to create and manage content for the Internet. Illustra and AOL's ISC team shared a common vision about the technologies and services necessary to make cyberspace a richer, more accessible resource. With Illustra's "best of breed" technology embedded, NaviSoft offers companies a level of content development, search and management capabilities that is unprecedented in the industry."

Dick Williams, president and chief executive officer of Illustra, said, "America Online paved the way for end users to gain easy access to the Information Superhighway. With the creation of this new generation of Internet Publishing capabilities, ISC is now poised to become a leading developer of real estate in cyberspace. As such, they were looking for a building, or structure, to house all the content that is being published on these networks -- Illustra serves that role. This partnership establishes Illustra as the database for cyberspace."

Roadmap for Current and Future Product Development

Illustra's media asset management technology, which is capable of handling complex data such as video, graphics, audio, text and time-based data, is part of the core architecture of NaviServer and NaviPress products, unveiled last week at the Seybold Conference in Boston where NaviServer and NaviPress won a product excellence award. America Online's easy-to-use design and development products combined with Illustra's robust data management technology, form a client-server publishing system and extensible information system that makes it easier to create content, manage assets and process information gathered over public and private networks.

The two companies intend to work together to provide additional capabilities and services that take advantage of the Internet, both as it exists today and as it evolves over time. For example, ISC and Illustra will in the future use their own state-of-the-art tools to develop and manage large Worldwide Web sites on behalf of major corporations. The companies are also developing sophisticated capabilities for searching the vast amounts of information found on the Internet, making it easier for end-users to quickly access the information they find most valuable.

About the Companies

America Online, Inc., based in Vienna, Virginia (NASDAQ symbol: AMER) is the largest and fastest growing provider of on-line services in the U.S. with the most active subscriber base. AOL offers its more than 2 million subscribers a wide variety of services, including electronic mail, conferencing, software, computing support, interactive magazines, and newspapers, and online classes, as well as easy and affordable access to the Internet. Founded in 1985, AOL has established strategic alliances with dozens of companies, including Time Warner, ABC, NBC, Knight-Ridder, Tribune, Hachette, IBM and American Express. Personal Computer owners can obtain America Online software at major retailers and bookstores or by calling 800-827-6364.

Headquartered in Oakland, Calif., Illustra Information Technologies, Inc., the Database for Cyberspace (TM) (http://www.illustra.com), is the leading worldwide supplier of media asset management systems and tools for applications in multimedia and entertainment, digital media distribution and financial services. The company's flagship product, the Illustra Server (TM), allows users to store, manage and analyze complex multimedia data, such as audio, video and images, in a single database along with traditional text and numbers. The company was founded in 1992.

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Note to Editors: The new NaviServer and NaviPress products including the Illustra media asset management server is being demonstrated at Internet World this week in San Jose, Calif. in the NaviSoft booth No. 817. NaviSoft is a subsidiary of America Online.

Illustra Information Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. Illustra (TM), Illustra Server (TM), Illustra DataBlade (TM) and DataBlade (TM) are trademarks of Illustra Information Technologies, Inc. All other products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: Eastwick Communications

Elaine Knechtel, 415/306-4191

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Illustra Information Technologies, Inc.