Open Market Ships WebReporter™ for Market Analysis in Cyberspace; Customizable reporting software creates profile of Web site activity

Business Wire, July 24, 1995

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 24, 1995--Open Market, Inc., a pioneer in the development of business solutions for the World Wide Web, today announced shipment of the Open Market WebReporter(TM), the first commercially supported software that allows users to easily measure trends and tailor content at their Web sites.

"Traditionally, reporting tools were designed by engineers primarily for Web server maintenance," said Pierre Bouchard, VP of Server Products for Open Market. "As business moves to the Internet, companies need information that will help them successfully re-invent themselves for the electronic age. The Open Market WebReporter responds to these needs by translating data about a Web site into meaningful demographics for business managers and system administrators alike."

While most freeware Web reporting software simply counts the number of accesses to specific URLs on a Web site, the Open Market WebReporter can group categories of URLs together, such as product information, company information or pricing, to create a picture of the most frequently traveled areas on the Web site. The Open Market WebReporter generates reports from log files stored in the Common Log Format recorded by most Web servers, including the Open Market, NCSA, CERN and Netscape servers. For more powerful insight, the Open Market WebReporter extracts valuable usage data from the Extended Log Format, an option with the Open Market WebServer products, and generates more comprehensive reports. Included in the Extended Log Format are:

* browser type

* Web site from which a request originated

* start time and end time of a request

Using the Open Market WebReporter, the user can create customized reports incorporating up to 18 different fields. Reports can be output in a variety of file formats including plain text, HTML or comma-delimited data which is useful for importing into spreadsheet applications.

Users of the Open Market WebReporter can also create fully extendible reports, building cumulative reports without re-reading log files. While it could take 30 hours to compile an end-of-the-month report of Web site activity by reading all of the log files covering that period, the Open Market WebReporter can generate daily reports that are added together to form a cumulative report. Also, reports from multiple "mirrored" servers with the same Web site content can be merged in a similar fashion without transmitting lengthy log files to a central site for reprocessing in order to present a collective report.

The Open Market WebReporter can generate reports of Web site access by country and geographic region or by the types of cyber travelers visiting a site (e.g., people from educational, commercial, organizational or governmental domains). The Open Market WebReporter can also cross correlate data. For example, users can compile information such as which types of visitors (e.g., loyal customers, prospective customers or competitors) are accessing what types of information on a Web site (e.g., home page, product information or company information), providing valuable marketing information.

The suggested list price for the Open Market WebReporter is $495. It is available for Sun Solaris, SunOS, Digital Unix, and BSD/386 operating systems. Soon to follow are: Silicon Graphics, Inc. IRIX, Hewlett Packard HP-UX, IBM AIX and operating systems. WebReporter product information, documentation, interactive demonstration, and a free 30-day no-risk evaluation copy can be accessed at: http://www.openmarket.com/Products/WebReporter/.>About Open Market

Founded in 1994, Open Market, Inc. is the leading provider of business solutions for open networks. The company develops and markets software, services and industry-specific solutions for business systems on the Internet and World Wide Web. It is the only vendor offering a complete electronic infrastructure for establishing and managing a business on the Internet, ranging from online store creation for small companies to custom enterprise solutions for large businesses. Major companies who have chosen Open Market's technology to establish Internet businesses include Time, Inc., Tribune Co., Advanced Publications, Inc., Lexis-Nexis, Conde Nast, Banc One and First Union Corp.

Open Market can be reached on the World Wide Web at: http://www.openmarket.com. -0-

The Open Market WebReporter is a registered trademark of Open Market, Inc. All other products are identified by the trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: Dana Harris or Shirley Macbeth

Schwartz Communications

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