Artesia Technologies unveils new option for transforming Microsoft PowerPoint presentations into corporate resources; Integration with the leading digital asset management platform captures and extends value of pre-eminent business tool.

M2 PRESSWIRE-24 October 2000-Artesia Technologies: Artesia Technologies unveils new option for transforming Microsoft PowerPoint presentations into corporate resources; Integration with the leading digital asset management platform captures and extends value of pre-eminent business tool (C)1994-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:18102000

Rockville, MD -- Artesia Technologies, the leader in enterprise digital asset management, today announced a new option that will facilitate the seamless integration of Microsoft PowerPoint presentations into content repositories being managed by the company's TEAMS digital asset management solution. The TEAMS PowerPoint Presentation option intelligently captures and organises PowerPoint presentations into an enterprise-class, digital asset management framework that is infinitely searchable, while also allowing users to create new presentations from these captured assets via their web browser. This new option for the award-winning TEAMS solution further extends its ability to manage and redeploy nearly all content types, while also ensuring that these important business assets receive the same sophisticated protection that other digital assets enjoy within TEAMS.

"TEAMS now allows organisations to search across the enterprise for information embedded within presentations in order to easily reuse and re-deploy this information in a secure environment," commented Sebastian Holst, vice president of marketing for Artesia Technologies. "In today's economy, PowerPoint presentations have emerged as one of the key means for expressing and sharing ideas. With this in mind, we believe the new functionality that TEAMS extends to this important format can be a critical business advantage in today's competitive landscape."

By storing and managing presentations within the TEAMS environment, users can take advantage of a host of best-in-class features. For example, TEAMS support for nearly all format types allows users to manage and maintain links easily between presentation, master template and slides. The combination of TEAMS enterprise-class performance and its ability to conduct advanced search and retrieval functions across content, as well as across its associated XML-based metadata, allows organisations to find and reuse presentations effectively throughout the enterprise. Equally important, rights and permissions features contained within TEAMS preserve and protect highly confidential information by controlling access on a per-user or per-asset basis.

As a web-based technology, users will find it easy to integrate the new option into their existing workflow. After a new PowerPoint presentation has been created, the TEAMS PowerPoint Adapter automatically captures all of the individual elements of the presentation, including individual slides and the slide master template, and stores them alongside the overall presentation. As part of this process, information, such as speaker notes and text contained within slides, is automatically captured and stored as searchable, XML-based metadata that is embedded into the specific files with viewable, thumbnail proxies being created for each asset as well.

Bi-directional links, a feature employed in TEAMS, can automatically maintain and update the relationships between various components of a presentation.

New presentations are created from captured assets by selecting slides, master templates or entire presentations from TEAMS. If a master template was selected, the TEAMS PowerPoint Generator will make all slides within the new presentation conform to that master template.

The TEAMS PowerPoint Presentation option is based on direct customer feedback obtained by Artesia's Professional Services division and is just one example of the value-added benefit that this in-house resource offers to the company's customers. In addition to developing customised software that extends the benefits of the TEAMS solution, they provide business consulting and system integration services supporting the implementation of digital asset management strategies and systems.

Scheduled for immediate general availability, pricing for the TEAMS PowerPoint Presentation option is available from Artesia or an authorised reseller.

About Artesia Technologies

Headquartered in Washington DC's technology corridor, Artesia Technologies is the leading provider of digital asset management solutions. Organisations seeking to best manage, leverage and distribute rich media select Artesia's TEAMS to drive their e-business and cross media applications. TEAMS is an open and scalable solution that is uniquely positioned to connect creative minds with their markets, partners, and peers.

Artesia's blue ribbon customers include thought leaders as impressive and diverse as Random House, The Washington Post, General Motors, FeedRoom.com and many more. TEAMS, the company's flagship solution, was recently recognised by the editors of the Seybold Report on Internet Publishing as one of their 'Hot Picks' and it was also a recipient of the prestigious Crossroads 2000 A-List Award within the Excellence in Execution category. In addition, Artesia Technologies was named by ComputerWorld magazine as one of its 'Top 100 Emerging Companies to Watch in 2000'.

For additional information on Artesia Technologies, please visit the company's website at www.artesia.com.

CONTACT: Angus Cheyne, AxiCom Tel: +44 (0)20 8600 4648 e-mail: angus.cheyne@axicom.com Gauri Patel, AxiCom Tel: +44 (0)20 8600 4612 Fax: +44 (0)20 8600 4620 e-mail: gauri.patel@axicom.com

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