University of London Chooses Percussion Software's Rhythmyx ECM Solution to Manage Content for Distance Learning Programme

Business Wire, June 28, 2005

LONDON -- Britain's Oldest Distance Learning Programme Improves Management of Its Web Content to Help Make Degrees More Accessible

Percussion(R) Software today announced that the University of London has chosen Rhythmyx(TM) Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution to best manage its web content throughout its External Programme, the University's distance learning initiative. With one of the oldest and most respected distance learning programmes in the world, the University of London aims to make its courses accessible to remote students and faculty around the world. Percussion was selected following a competitive selection involving twenty suppliers to help the University improve its content authoring and production processes supporting the websites that provide an online resource for the needs of both students and academic users.

Rhythmyx will initially be used to manage the programme's 5,000 page Centre for Distance Education (CDE) website. The website offers the academics, teaching staff and administrators access to a wide range of information including profiles, events, learning resources and news items.

Founded in 1858 the University of London's External Programme offers over 100 Diploma, Bachelors and Masters programmes available to 34,000 distance learning students in over 180 countries. The External Programme aims to provide students with study programmes in printed form as well as offering an online element to their learning through the University's e-campus initiative. There are currently 3,500 students who access their study materials over the web and the University is committed to increasing this number over the coming years.

Peter Marsden, Database Development Manager, University of London External Programme: "The External Programme is designed to make University of London degrees accessible to students who, for one reason or another, cannot attend the University to study in the conventional way. One of the key factors in choosing Rhythmyx was the flexibility the software has in managing multiple output formats and ensuring content is always up-to-date."

The External Programme required a content management solution that would enable it to publish content in a consistent manner across multiple locations. With thousands of academics contributing content, the process of publishing information was long and drawn out. The University therefore required a single source platform with effective workflow capabilities in order to streamline the process and ensure consistency throughout the organisation.

Peter Marsden added: "The nature of the External Programme's work means that vast quantities of information must be made available in flexible print and web formats. We plan to use Rhythmyx to help us reuse content and publish to multiple sites and to print without compromising design or consistency."

Rhythmyx offers the University of London an out-of-the-box content management solution enabling it to track and streamline the content authorisation processes through Rhythmyx's audit trails and workflow capabilities. The software's De-Coupled Delivery(TM) architecture, which separates the management of content from the content delivery

environment, will allow the University to reuse content and publish to multiple sites, without incurring any incremental licensing costs.

A robust ECM solution, Rhythmyx manages web content, documents, digital assets, portal content and scanned images. The solution offers rich functionality out-of-the-box, allowing customisation to be focused on meeting specific needs, and easy on-going administration by IT staff. By delivering a range of pre-built application functionality through Rhythmyx FastForward for Web Content Management (WCM), Rhythmyx allows organisations to implement the functionality they need today whilst ensuring that they can meet tomorrow's needs with an extensible, standards-based architecture. With the industry's only De-Coupled Delivery architecture, Intelligent Relationships and Active Assembly, Rhythmyx solves the key content management challenges of enabling true content reuse and cost-effective multi-channel delivery.

Joseph Wykes, managing director European operations, Percussion Software: "The University of London has a distinguished heritage in the field of distance learning. Their selection of Rhythmyx to support a strategic and content-rich programme is further validation of our solution's ability to support the growing needs of higher education customers."

-ENDS-

About Percussion

Percussion Software's family of practical software solutions enables customers to maximise both the value and quality of their enterprise content through cost-effective content management, ease of content re-use, optimised delivery to multiple channels and increased efficiency. The company's flagship product, Rhythmyx, based on open standards, is the first Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution to provide cost-effective, multi-channel delivery of easily reusable content.

Percussion's portfolio of over 2,500 global customers includes, Bayer, Hitachi, IBM, MasterCard International, Motorola and Toshiba. Its UK customers include, ARM Ltd, the British Library, DLA Piper Rudnick, ICI Paints, National Express, NESTA, Newcastle Building Society, NSPCC, Natural History Museum, Nottingham Trent University, Symbian, Tate, and the University of London. More information can be found on the Web at www.percussion.com.