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Open Text acquires Artesia Technologies


Johannesburg, 06 Aug 2004

Lava Systems Africa, an affinity partner of Canadian-based Open Text, today announced that the latter will acquire Artesia Technologies Inc, an important step towards helping customers better integrate and manage all types of media for improved content management and collaboration. The close of the transaction is imminent.

The acquisition expands Open Text`s rich media integration and management capabilities as part of its comprehensive ECM suite, and provides a strong platform from which to address the growing content management needs of media and marketing professionals worldwide.

Artesia Technologies is privately owned and best known for its pioneering solutions in digital asset management (DAM). With a customer list that includes over 120 globally recognised companies, Artesia provides customer organisations and their marketing and distribution partners with the ability to easily access and collaborate around a centrally managed collection of digital media elements. Applications include:

* Production asset management - Content reuse and collaboration at the centre of creative process for digital media content.

* Brand asset management - Control over and reuse of the digital media elements used in marketing campaigns.

* Distribution asset management - Streamlining the distribution of digital media and digital marketing materials to the supply chain.

* Rich digital media asset management - Enhances content management and collaboration by extending search, retrieval, viewing and analysis to rich digital media content and its associated metadata.

"Rich media makes up a large and increasing portion of the intellectual capital of world-leading businesses," commented Tom Jenkins, Chief Executive Officer of Open Text. "Combined with Open Text solutions, Artesia Technologies will help enhance the comprehensive solutions we offer to companies challenged by next-level compliance requirements in many industries.

"Open Text introduced new collaboration and content management solutions by combining synchronised audio and video with Livelink and Livelink MeetingZone," continued Jenkins. "Last year, we grew that solution with Eloquent, a robust technology platform for using rich media to improve business communications. With the addition of Artesia Technologies, we will effectively incorporate management of rich media into our overall Enterprise Content Management suite."

"It is a natural choice for our company, a pioneer at the forefront of digital asset management, to join the world leader in ECM," added Chris Veator, CEO of Artesia Technologies. "Open Text and its ECM vision were natural choices for Artesia Technologies as we investigated ways to expand the solutions we could offer to our Fortune 1000 customers, including some of the most globally recognised brands."

For further information, please contact Iain McMurray, Lava Systems Africa: telephone (011) 675-3704, fax (011) 675-1021, e-mail ianm@lavasystems.co.za.

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Open Text

Open Text is the market leader in providing enterprise content management (ECM) solutions that bring together people, processes and information in global organisations. Since launching the world`s first Internet search engine and the first Web-based enterprise collaboration and knowledge management software, Open Text continued its leadership in providing global enterprises with innovative and effective solutions.

Throughout its history, Open Text has matched its tradition of innovation with a track record of financial strength and growth. Today, the Canadian-based company supports 15 million end-users across deployments in 31 countries and 12 languages worldwide and includes among its client base government departments in Australia, Canada and Japan; the UK Metropolitan Police; British telecommunications, UNHCR and the USA Department of Defence. Open Text`s flagship product, Livelink seamlessly combines collaboration with content management, helping organisations transform information into knowledge in order to provide the foundation for innovation, compliance and accelerated growth.

Open Text acquired Germany`s Ixos Software AG in February to become the largest ECM software vendor in Europe and the largest pure-play ECM software vendor in the world, according to Bradley West, an analyst with Southwest Securities Inc.

Lava Systems

The Lava Systems Africa (Pty) Ltd team originated in the late 1990s with the objective of becoming a premier supplier of enterprise systems based around knowledge management, document management, records management, image management, collaboration and workflow solutions. The emerging demands that were identified included government process re-engineering, supply chain co-ordination, customer relationship management, e-government and B2B processing. In support of these business aims, the technology platforms chosen had to enjoy a proven global track record and adhere to open Internet architecture standards and developments.

Lava Systems Africa is a South African-based BEE company dedicated to the sales, marketing, support and consultancy founded upon the Livelink product suite from Open Text, a product that the staff have been involved with since 1998. Lava Systems Africa user base embraces customers from both the private and public sector and includes organisations such as Bateman Projects Limited, Alexander Forbes, the Gauteng Provincial Government and the National Social Security Fund of Uganda.

Editorial contacts

Paul Booth
Global Research Partners
082 568 1179
pabooth@mweb.co.za
Iain McMurray
Enterprise Content & Wireless
(011) 675 3704