Xyvision Previews Integration of Products With Open Text's Livelink At Seybold San Francisco; Introduces New Class of Knowledge Management System

Business Wire, Sept 1, 1998

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 1, 1998--Xyvision, Inc., a leading provider of information management and document publishing solutions, announced today a major initiative to integrate its two key products, Parlance Document Manager(TM) and Xyvision Production Publisher(TM), with Open Text's Livelink(TM) Intranet.

This strategic integration will enable organizations to leverage the advantages of structured editing (SGML or XML), reusable information objects for multiple documents, and automated document production (print and electronic format) in an enterprise-wide workgroup collaborative environment. The new Parlance application suite is designed for organizations that create and distribute large amounts of frequently-revised information (e.g. technical manuals, financial reports, parts catalogs, and other complex reference materials) and that also want to make that information available on a corporate intranet or extranet. These companies include aerospace, automotive, and other manufacturers, software developers, telecommunications companies, and standards organizations.

"The flexibility and openness of Livelink were key factors in our decision to integrate Livelink with our products," says Kevin Duffy, Xyvision's president. "By combining Livelink's comprehensive workgroup collaboration and Web-based interface with Xyvision's Parlance Document Manager, an industrial strength component management system, our customers will be able to easily manage and re-use structured and unstructured document components under a single unified interface."

"The Parlance integration with Livelink will greatly benefit companies that create and produce large quantities of detailed documentation," said Abe Kleinfeld, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Open Text. "Livelink's enterprise scalability and Web-based architecture will enable Xyvision's powerful structured information management system to be readily deployed across the enterprise, greatly enhancing a company's ability to meet its complex documentation needs and tight production schedules." In addition, as part of the integration plan, Xyvision has become an Open Text Affinity Reseller.

Key Features of the Xyvision Product Integration with Livelink

1. Creating Virtual Documents from Universal Information Objects

The new Parlance suite enables companies to store information as small revisable information modules known as "Universal Information Objects" (UIOs) in a searchable database, rather than as whole documents. When revisions are needed, the writer can easily find and update just the appropriate pieces, rather than searching through, and revising an entire document. Universal Information Objects can be shared with multiple documents in both electronic and traditional format. For example, if boilerplate information, which is published in dozens of documents changes, the writer only needs to update the information once and every document that uses that information will be updated automatically.

Parlance builds virtual documents from the Universal Information Objects, and Livelink enables people to access work-in-process or finished documents over an intranet or extranet. This process improves the efficiency in creating new documents and significantly shortens the cycle-time required to revise time-sensitive information.

2. Collaborative Structured Editing

The new Parlance application suite enables authorized professionals throughout the enterprise to create, review, and revise information in a collaborative knowledge management environment. The information can be structured data (XML, SGML, HTML) or non-structured data (MS Word, graphics, multi-media). Parlance manages structured information and meta-data (related data about the information). Livelink enables organizations to integrate this structured information into a centralized Web-based knowledge repository. Once in the repository, this structured information can be combined with unstructured data on the company intranet to create projects collaboratively, develop project deliverables more quickly, and manage projects and processes more effectively through their various stages and cycles.

3. Livelink Change Agent Notification

When Parlance delivers updated information to Livelink, Livelink Change Agents immediately notify team members that information has changed. Notification takes place through any standard E-mail reader such as Lotus Notes Mail, MS Exchange/Outlook, Netscape Navigator, QUALCOMM Eudora and/or any SMTP mail program. Hypertext links embedded in the E-mail messages provide direct access the changed information.

Livelink and Xyvision Production Publisher

Companies that use Xyvision Production Publisher (XPP) as a high-end automated publishing solution for printed documents will be able to further automate the production process with digital workflow and library management. The integration of Livelink with XPP will enable companies to merge the publishing process with the editorial group, art department and other workgroups, providing an enterprise-wide document production environment. Organizations that use Livelink and need to produce high volume published documents will be able to use XPP as an embedded composition engine to automatically compose and paginate complex documents from data residing in the Livelink repository.