Open Text Announces ASP Strategy to Extend Market Reach

Business Wire, April 27, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

WATERLOO, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 2000

Company to create global network of ASPs to meet growing customer

demand for the delivery of e-business applications through hosted

services model

Open Text(TM) Corporation (Nasdaq:OTEX)(TSE:OTC), the leading provider of collaborative intranet, extranet and e-business applications, today announced an Application Services Provider (ASP) strategy to create a worldwide network of ASP partners. The Affinity ASP program will extend the Company's market reach, targeting small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) through its ASP partners. SMEs, are now investing in the development of e-business applications by using the hosted services model to accelerate delivery, minimize risk and reduce overall cost of ownership.

Last month, Open Text announced the first ASP partnership. Open Text signed a joint services agreement with KPNQwest,, the leading pan-European data-communications company created from a joint venture between Qwest Communications International Inc. and KPN Telecom BV. The agreement enables Open Text to provide and jointly market Livelink(R) through KPNQwest's pan-European macro-capacity fibre-optic network and European CyberCentres to the SME sector across Europe.

Built as a true Web-based application, Livelink is the ideal platform for an ASP model. By establishing a worldwide, partner-based ASP channel for collaborative e-business applications, Open Text will create a go-to-market strategy that will compliment and extend the Company's core product business while providing new recurring and incremental revenue streams. In addition to offering Open Text's Livelink via a network of global ASPs, b2bScene.com instant intranet applications and the content services (including BusinessWeb) will also be available through the ASP partner network.

"The ASP market is exploding as more and more companies are demanding cost effective ways to deploy and support their mission critical e-business applications," said Tom Jenkins, CEO, Open Text. "The completely Web-based nature of Livelink enables Open Text to provide a unique group of on-line products and make them available to both our emerging ASP and established installed base of customers. This is a natural extension of our overall e-business strategy."

Bill Forquer, formerly President of Information Dimensions, Inc., will head up the ASP initiative, bringing more than 15 years experience in document management to the program. The ASP initiative will leverage more than a year of work the Company has been doing in the online services market. Over the past several months, Forquer and his team have been piloting Livelink OnLine, the Company's first hosted service, with a number of Livelink customers, including Hewlett-Packard, GE Information Services, and Shell Services.

"The ASP market is one of the fastest growing segments of the e-business market today," said Steve McClure, Research Vice President at IDC. "By establishing a global network of ASPs, Open Text gives small and medium-sized companies the opportunity to realize the same business efficiencies the Global 2000 have been enjoying for years, by deploying cost-effective, collaborative, e-business applications."

Pricing and Availability

Open Text is receiving applications from prospective ASP partners effective immediately by visiting www.opentext.com/affinity or emailing affinity@opentext.com. ASP partners make volume purchases of Livelink on a per user per month basis and then resell that access packaged as a collaborative e-business application service.

About Livelink

Livelink is a highly scaleable e-business application. Its richly-featured enterprise services include virtual team collaboration, business process automation, enterprise group scheduling and information retrieval services, all tightly integrated into a solution that is easily customized and extended. Livelink is essential to the effective management and development of communities of interest that span organizations and industries. For everything from the creation of complex e-community relationships to the automation of simple e-business processes, Livelink delivers true dynamic collaboration between individuals, organizations, and large trading communities. Livelink servers are fully Web-based and open-architected to ensure rapid deployment and easy access to its full functionality through a standard Web browser.

About Open Text

Open Text has pioneered the development of innovative intranet, extranet and e-Business applications. Since creating one of the first search engines to index the World Wide Web, the Company has remained at the forefront of Internet-based technologies. Today, Open Text solutions allow individuals, teams, organizations, and global trading communities to collaborate on projects, share ideas and accelerate innovation to the fastest possible speed. We call it HyperInnovation(TM) and it is already a major factor in the success of leading Global 2000 organizations. Open Text has become the largest supplier of collaborative, Web-based e-Business applications for the enterprise, with over 3.5 million users in 31 countries, speaking 12 languages throughout the world. For more information, visit www.opentext.com.