eHelp and Informix Partner to Support ALURe XML Std

Informix Corporation, a technology leader in software infrastructure for the i.Economy, and eHelp Corporation, the acknowledged leader in electronic Help and customer assistance, announced a partnership in a joint effort to support the ALURe specification. ALURe, the Aggregation and Logging of User Requests, is an open implementation of XML that tracks and reports usage patterns in Help and customer assistance systems on Web sites. The strategic partnership demonstrates ALURe's value to e-commerce companies and highlights Informix and eHelp's leading role in driving XML-based solutions.

Led by eHelp, the ALURe Partner Program is designed to bring industry leaders together with a shared interest in promoting user assistance standards for the Web. The open ALURe specification defines how companies identify, track and modify trouble areas on their Web sites. By adopting this specification, companies can easily obtain valuable feedback and usability data about their site when using data mining, analysis and reporting tools.

The ALURe specification and Informix Object Translator are a powerful combination for capturing and analyzing critical customer care information to improve customer service on the Web. Informix Object Translator, a data integration tool for mapping the relationships of XML objects to the Informix Foundation.2000 database server, is perfectly suited to provide complete twoway transparent mapping between the ALURe XML model and the data collection model in the database. Informix Object Translator generates Java components to handle ALURe XML documents, making it easy to integrate ALURe transcripts with common business analysis tools.

"Informix views the ALURe specification as a great way to deliver tangible business benefits to our customers using XML technologies," says Jeff Fassett, Director of Product Management for Web Technologies at Informix. "Our Foundation.2000 database server and Informix Object Translator offer an excellent platform for implementing the ALURe specification to help companies provide better customer service over the Web. Informix is very pleased to join eHelp in support of this initiative. Complemented by our previously announced DataStage XML offering, Informix now provides the most comprehensive XML support and solutions in the industry."

According to eHelp's Arlyn Asch, co-author of the standard, "The ALURe specification was developed to increase Web site usability and to prevent ecommerce companies from losing prospective customers that visit their site. At eHelp, we believe that ALURe will be widely adopted because of its capability to significantly impact e-commerce sales."

About ALURe XML Specification

ALURe is an open XML-based data format, ideal for gathering and reporting "User Assistance System" usage trends. ALURe understands and interprets data from Web-based customer assistance systems, online discussion forums, transcripts of real-time chat conversations and e-mail messages. Any data mining and analysis tool that recognizes XML can use data gathered through ALURe. Adopting the ALURe standard allows developers to make continual Web site improvements that ALURe data point to, and alleviates the need to implement data gathering and reporting technologies into their online User Assistance Systems. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.alurexml.org.

About eHelp Corporation

Privately held eHelp Corporation (formerly Blue Sky Software) was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in California. eHelp Corporation is the acknowledged leader in the electronic Help and customer assistance market, providing the most innovative online user assistance solutions for the Web, Intranets and software applications. eHelp Corporation provides the foundation to more than 250 million online user assistance systems currently in use around the world and its products have won more than 50 industry awards. eHelp Corporation's family of products includes the industry standard RoboHELP Office. For more information, please contact eHelp Corporation Tel: 858-459- 6365; Fax: 858-459- 6366. The Web site is available at www.ehelp.com.

About Informix

Informix Software is the technology leader in software infrastructure solutions for the Internet--providing a fast, simple and complete way to bring businesses to the Web. Informix Software's open strategy for XML includes Object Translator, an Informix-oriented run-time and development tool for application developers building custom Java based XML solutions, and Informix Ardent Datastage XML Pack, a complete and open solution that includes Informix consulting.

Based in Menlo Park, Calif., Informix is the first and only company to integrate e-commerce and business intelligence on a true Internet infrastructure. The company's highly scalable Web engines, together with its personalized content management, real-time analytics and media asset management capabilities, offer customers a unique competitive advantage. For more information, contact the nearest sales office or visit the Web site at www.informix.com.

Contact Informix Corporation,Melora Foley 650-926-6443 melora.foley@informix.com.