Released by Extensis:

Extensis Portfolio Server Sets the Bar for Instant Installation, Ease of Use and Affordability with Digital Asset Management Solutions

Enhanced collaboration and automated workflow features make organizing, finding and distributing digital assets across multiple workgroups easy and affordable.

Northampton, UK – March 31, 2004 – Extensis, Inc. today announced the upcoming release of Portfolio 7 Server, a leading digital asset management (DAM) solution that enables workgroups – from those in small-to-medium sized organizations to multiple workgroups in global 2000 companies – to organize, retrieve, repurpose, and distribute digital files quickly. Portfolio Server also provides controlled access to assets across departmental workgroups, opening the communication channel between distributed team members and partner networks, making asset management and collaboration easier and more efficient than ever before.

“We’re hearing from customers that most DAM solutions are far too pricey and far too complex for what they need,” said Kevin Hurst, vice president of Marketing at Extensis. “Organizations are realizing valuable benefits with Portfolio Server because it delivers exactly what customers are searching for: ‘must have’ DAM functionally at a fraction of the price of other solutions.”

For greater efficiency and real-time collaboration, Portfolio’s new AutoSync feature allows users to assign tasks to Portfolio Server, enabling automatic synchronization. This feature also offloads file management and processing to Portfolio Server, boosting the efficiency and availability of client systems.

Dynamic distribution of and accessibility to Portfolio catalogs is attained with Portfolio’s new NetPublish Module, a dynamic, template-based tool that streamlines the process of publishing Portfolio content to the web. NetPublish Server brings the power of server-side JavaScript-based scripting, customizable templates, and real-time database access to a desktop or web server. With a simple, wizard-like interface, and using professional-quality templates, workgroups can build sites that include built-in file searching, collection baskets, low-resolution previews and batch-download capabilities. Advanced users can access and edit the underlying NetPublish templates to create fully customized websites.

“Companies are now feeling the ramifications of the recent asset explosion that has occurred over the last few years including growing management costs, difficulty finding content and critical stress on storage and workgroup productivity,” said Joshua Duhl, research director, Content Management and Rich Media at IDC. “Organizations want solutions that offer big-ticket workgroup DAM features while meeting the needs of the workgroup without the long integration cycles, product complexity and enterprise-wide solution price tag. ”

Companies with multi-workgroup installations of Portfolio Sever include: Bonneville Power Administration, Bureau of Land Management, Conair Corporation, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, MTV Networks, REI and Young & Rubicam, among others.

Portfolio Server offers more expandability and integration options with optimized connection modules for Microsoft SQL Server available now, and Oracle and MySQL engines available in July 2004. Portfolio Server leverages standard ODBC technology, enabling integrators and IT professionals to create customized solutions that provide easy access to the information stored in the database.

Portfolio also supports the ability to read information stored using industry standard metadata storage conventions such as IPTC, EXIF, and Adobe’s RDF-based XMP metadata standard. In addition to reading metadata from image files, Portfolio can also embed IPTC and XMP metadata directly back into JPEG, TIFF, and Adobe Photoshop PSD files, ensuring that critical information remains permanently attached to these assets, even when exported to other applications.

Visit www.extensis.com/portfolio for more information.