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Percussion Software Announces Rhythmyx Content Manager v.4.5

Content Management Methodology, drives down implementation time and lowers ownership costs by eliminating the need for custom coding.

Percussion Software the only content management vendor committed to offering the lowest total cost of ownership for enterprise-scale content management, set new industry standards for flexibility, implementation and ease-of-use with the announcement of Rhythmyx Content Manager v4.5. Based on a unique combination of virtual XML infrastructure, open standards such as Web services and relational storage capabilities, Rhythmyx v4.5 outdistances proprietary content management product suites proffered by other vendors and serves as an enterprise's "hub" for a best-of- breed content management solution. With Rhythmyx V4.5, global organizations drive down ownership costs by capitalizing on the product's "in-the-box" methodology to simplify, speed and control the production, aggregation and publishing of content from any source to anywhere, in any desired format, across the enterprise.

Rhythmyx Content Manager v4.5 builds off the success and functionality of Version 4.0 by integrating its singular content management methodology -- the Rhythmyx Content Model -- into the product to drive down costs by reducing the time and skill level required to execute content initiatives and transferring ownership of the system and content back to the user. The Rhythmyx Content Model is architected around configurable-based engines that facilitate the aggregation and production of content without the need for custom coding, providing enterprises with a "future-proof" content management foundation that empowers line-of-business users to produce and consume content without requiring time intensive redesigns from technical resources. Rhythmyx V4.5 benefits from the added horsepower of a Web services and SOAP architecture that allows for an open approach to enterprise application integration. This Web services layer is used to enable authors to use their existing content creation tools (like Microsoft Word) that can now dynamically interact with the Rhythmyx server. It also enables tight integration with external repositories such as portals, application servers and other asset management systems. By de-coupling content creation from publishing and delivery, Rhythmyx V4.5 optimizes the scaling and flexibility of the product and maximizes its enterprise-scale performance.

"As the need to create, command and publish content to and from multiple sources increases, the more essential it becomes for enterprises to deploy content management systems that are flexible and adaptive," said Andrew Warzecha, senior vice president at META Group. "Content management systems that seamlessly integrate with best-of-breed applications and are powerful enough to control content, workflow and assembly will continue to be the most cost-effective solution-of-choice for enterprise end users."

Enhanced Functionality Drives Rapid Implementation, Lowers Ownership Costs

Rhythmyx V4.5 was designed from its inception to enable enterprises to effortlessly control content originating from various sources and being delivered to an array of devices. Leveraging open standards and combined with Percussion's rich XML heritage, the product boasts new features and benefits that eliminate the need for coding by Web developers and speeds the production and publishing of content, while dramatically reducing ownership costs and enhancing the experience for line-of-business users including:

Content Services

Based on a Web services architecture, Rhythmyx Content Services sets unprecedented standards for ease-of-use by enabling content creators to seamlessly leverage existing enterprise applications -- those they are most familiar with -- to create and author content. By integrating Rhythmyx functionality into enterprise applications, content contributors have the power to "live" in an application and can create, locate and import content, including images and inline links, without ever leaving the application. Content creation applications include desktop publishing tools like Microsoft Word and Excel; Adobe Photoshop; portals such as BEA, Websphere, Plumtree and Epicentric; applications such as ERP and CRM; and, collaborative applications including digital management, document and knowledge management.

Publishing Services

Publishing Services facilitates automated content distribution to any enterprise application, including Web servers, portals, PDAs, document libraries, digital asset management systems, etc. Rhythmyx V4.5 offers Database Publisher, a new non-programmatic mechanism for publishing content to any relational database management system. Database Publisher allows implementers to define Publishing Services to any external target database without coding, enabling external content consumer applications to be designed, built and maintained independent of Rhythmyx. Further, only Rhythmyx Publishing Services offers the ability -- without coding -- to invoke the Assembly engine to create any output presentation types on-the-fly that are needed for any external application.

Site Explorer

Site Explorer is a browser-based interface that empowers authors and editors to locate and activate content by navigating a virtual representation of the Web site. This powerful combination transcends mere virtualization functionality offered by other vendors by allowing contributors to work concurrently on the same site, and providing line-of-business users with an enhanced visual environment for working with and controlling how content is used within the context of a Web site.

Support for Content Contributor Groups

For users authoring content in the Rhythmyx Content Administrator, Rhythmyx V4.5 provides community support to allow groups of authors to customize the Content Administrator for their specific needs. With communities, the members of a group see only the specific content, views, content editors and functionality such as search, help, workflow history and other features relevant to their role. For example, an "HR Community" would only see content related to job postings, and benefits information, whereas the "Development Community" would have access only to system requirements and technical specifications. End users select an appropriate community when logging into the Rhythmyx Content Administrator.

New Graphical Interface for Content Editor Engine

Rhythmyx V4.5 now offers a graphical interface for building Content Editors. Content Editors are browser-based content authoring forms customized for specific content types, such as press releases or product descriptions. With this intuitive interface, Rhythmyx implementers can quickly create new content editors tailored to any content type without any coding. Implementers can define any number of fields and controls simply by using dialogue boxes.

Other Enhancements:

Rhythmyx V4.5 will also offer administration enhancements to the Publishing Engine, Sybase and UDB Support for Rhythmyx Repositories and LDAP Group support.

Customer Hails Enhanced Functionality of Rhythmyx 4.5

Nemours, one of the nation's leading pediatric medical practices that provided healthcare services for more than 225,000 children with complex and chronic medical conditions in 2001, selected Rhythmyx Content Manager to assist the not-for-profit healthcare organization streamline Web content creation and publishing for its high-traffic Web sites. Nemours, whose Web sites contain more than 2,500 unique pages of content ranging from children's medical treatment success stories, to state-by-state contact information, to educational and research program information, required an intuitive solution that would allow non-technical content authors to create, edit, approve and publish information directly from their desktops to the organization's Web sites. By leveraging cost-effective, internal resources to refresh, evolve and expand its Web presence, Nemours benefits from lowering its total cost of owning the content management solution, while simultaneously providing timely and relevant content to its 50,000 unique site visitors each month.

"Because of the vast numbers of content sources, types, and authors in our organization, it was critical that our content management system allow our users to work and 'live' in existing enterprise applications that they're most familiar with, like Microsoft Word," commented Pam Wittke, www.nemours.org. project manager. Wittke continued, "But, from my perspective, it was even more important that our content management system be a best-of-breed application that integrated well with our existing infrastructure yet be infinitely customizable."

"The launch of Rhythmyx 4.5 demonstrates once again that Percussion Software has its `finger on the pulse' of the content management market," commented Barry Reynolds, president and CEO of Percussion Software. "We have engineered a truly revolutionary content management product that meets the distinct requirements of an enterprise's development and marketing teams. By being the first vendor to deliver a highly configurable product that fosters best-of-breed content management and adapts to meet the changing needs of an organization, Percussion outdistances the competition in providing the lowest ownership costs for content management." Platform Support Percussion's Rhythmyx Content Manager V4.5 supports Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and Solaris platforms.

About Percussion Software

Percussion Software, a leader in the content management market, is the only vendor to reduce the total cost of ownership of content management solutions by reducing the costs and skill level required to evolve and expand an organization's Web presence. Percussion's flagship product, Rhythmyx Content Manager, provides line-of-business users with unprecedented control to manage their own content without the need for technical expertise. Percussion's portfolio of Rhythmyx customers includes global and market leaders McKesson Corporation, Armstrong World Industries and Network World. Rhythmyx boasts a long list of industry awards including finalist in the category of "e-Business Foundations" for eWEEK's 2002 eXcellence Awards and winner of the Canadian EContent Award for "Content Management System of the Year" presented by Information Highways. Other awards include an Editors' Choice by PC Magazine in March 2001 and "Best of Show" for "Best Web Application Development Software" at Spring Internet World 2000.