EKTRON LAUNCHES EMPOWER(tm) - ALLOWS BUSINESS USERS TO MANAGE THEIR OWN WEB CONTENT WHILE KEEPING ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL WITH WEBMASTERS

Radically Simplified, Full-featured, Affordable Web Content Management Solution Designed for the Business User

AMHERST, NH, May 22, 2000-- Ektron, Inc., innovators in e-business Web authoring and content management solutions, today announced the immediate availability of eMPower(tm), their new Web authoring and content management application. In a continuing effort by Ektron to bring complete, affordable, and scaleable content management solutions to the masses, eMPower enables key content providers (HR, marketing, sales, etc) to manage their own Web content while keeping complete administrative control and functionality in the hands of Webmasters and IT professionals. eMPower delivers robust technology at a low cost, allowing small to medium-sized businesses to take advantage of these types of solutions that until now were previously reserved for large organizations

As organizations are increasingly challenged to create and publish information on their corporate Web sites, they are desperately seeking easier and more affordable ways to manage the process of adding content to their sites -- without adding to the already heavy loads of the IT staff. Often lacking the resources necessary to manage content, these small to medium-sized organizations are also struggling to find a singular solution that can be used by the entire organization, at a price point that they can afford. eMPower is the industrys first low cost, browser-based Web authoring and content management solution designed specifically for business end-users, that ensures the stylistic parameters set forth by the corporate IT and Web teams stay in check. eMPower overcomes a costly and cumbersome process that now exists as entities attempt to add, update and personalize information to an exponentially increasing number of Web pages.

"Small- and medium-size businesses continue to struggle with managing ever increasing amounts of Web site content. However, there are few options available that work within the tight IT and budget constraints of these enterprises," said Guy Creese, senior analyst, Aberdeen Group. "eMPower is a nice fit for these organizations, offering a substantial amount of functionality at a very low price point."

More specifically eMPower is designed to:

·         Reduce Webmaster bottlenecks" and other delays that keep content from going live on a companys site

·         Free up IT staff from mundane, routine HTML coding

·         Allow business users to be responsible for their own web content

·         Lower the costs associated with Web content management

·         Enable IT to easily implement a publishing process

"Our strategy has been pretty straightforward from the start – that is to develop a complete, scalable Web authoring and content management solution that business professionals will use, at a price that organizations can afford to deploy," said Bill Rogers, Ektron founder and CEO. " eMPower provides business users with a great content management solution which includes robust workflow, publishing, security and document management functionality all at a radically low price point."

About Ektron's Solutions:

eMPower is a complete, sophisticated, scaleable Web authoring and content management application that offers a new level of affordability to medium-sized organizations. The solution empowers the entire organization by enabling key content providers and business users to manage their own Web content while keeping complete administrative control and functionality in the hands of Webmasters and IT professionals. Key functionality includes:

·         Web Site User Interface - - With eMPower, the Web site being managed is the actual user interface. There are no complicated administration menus for content entry. Authors simply edit content within their own Web page view. This is accomplished by eMPower setting up a session between the user and the Web server.

·         Document Management - - eMPower comes with a full suite of versioning controls: check-in, check-out, submittals, and a sequential approval process. eMPower enforces version control through a menu system that is configured in the administration console.

·         Personalized Work Area - - eMPower offers an easy to use Personalized Work Area, which gives users quick access to all documents that have been created, recently edited and/or require approval. The Personalized Work Area is dynamically created by state information stored in the database.

·         Roles & Permissions - - eMPower leverages an NT-like authentication schema based on users and user groups. Roles and privileges are configured by the administrator and set at the user and group level.

·         Virtual Staging Server - - eMPowers flexible approval process eliminates the need for a staging server. Incremental content changes can be created, edited, approved and published directly to the production server while providing the necessary framework for controls, permission and security.

eWebEditPro is the industrys leading browser-based, WYSIWYG Web edit tool designed specifically for dynamic Web sites. Launched in 1999, this robust Web content tool allows IT professionals to leverage their dynamic Web servers by enabling business users to easily update content, while allowing IT staff to maintain necessary administrative and stylistic controls. eWebEditPro easily replaces a text area field or can be integrated into a browser-based application so that any content contributors can create and publish their own Web content directly to the Web via the browser. This helps remove the Webmaster and other IT professionals from routine, mundane and time-consuming tasks associated with HTML conversion.

Ektron Solutions Center provides its customers with affordable Web services, including integration, customization and hosting. The company's goal is to deliver next-generation technology to enhance and simplify e-business processes. Ektron brings broad and deep e-business expertise to its customers, helping them to optimize and maximize their Web sites.

More specifically, Ektron's professional services group develops and implements solutions that allow clients to easily manage and control their Web sites.

The Ektron Solutions Center conducts Web site feasibility studies to insure that the final business solution empowers customers to meet their business objectives. In addition, the center offers a turnkey delivery service based on an initial implementation plan. This includes design consulting, on-site integration into new or existing environments, customization of the Web site to meet the customers business objectives, and training and hosting services.

Pricing and Availability: eMPower is available for purchase immediately by visiting www.ektron.com. Pricing starts at $2,999 per URL and includes a 10-user license. Volume discounts are available.

About Ektron:

Founded in 1998, Amherst, NH-based Ektron was created on the challenge that dynamic Web authoring could be made simple and affordable. Ektron offers the most robust Web authoring and content management solutions available including the industry's first low-cost, browser-based Web authoring tool designed for dynamic Web sites, and a full-featured content management application. Using Ektron's solutions, organizations can help minimize content management costs by creating environments with fewer information bottlenecks, less focus on mundane HTML coding, and more appropriate deployment of resources. Ektron's solutions are currently used by more than 450 organizations in over 30 countries worldwide. For more information visit www.ektron.com

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Contact:
Beth Strohbusch
Ektron Public Relations Director
pr@ektron.com
(262)814-0449