MetaPress^® Launches Next Generation of Online Hosting Platform Service
MetaPress 2.0 Becomes Industry's First Content Management System with Dimensional Navigation

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama, U.S.A. - Dec. 5, 2006 - In response to customer needs for more in-depth navigation tools, streamlined searching capabilities and advanced content management, EBSCO's MetaPress^® division (www.metapress.com) has created MetaPress 2.0, the industry's first content management system with dimensional navigation across a variety of content types.

The service, which provides a primary source online hosting platform for more than 19,000 scholarly publications around the world, provides a comprehensive solution to clients' Web publishing needs; it offers an established way to publish titles electronically regardless of present content or current format. Services include content management, Web hosting, custom branded Web site development and e-commerce support. From simple hosting to seamless integration to building a complete Web application, MetaPress provides custom solutions.

The sophisticated tools of MetaPress 2.0 allow end users to navigate all types of e-content, including archival materials and new publication types such as e-journals, e-books and reference works and publisher defined bundled materials in the form of e-packages. These new tools optimize usability while minimizing information overload. The result is an enhanced user experience that increases usage at publishers' sites.

By adapting to the end user's environment and research style, MetaPress 2.0 optimizes information access and delivery. With MetaPress 2.0, end users can narrow their searches and sort by attribute. The result is the ability to locate the most pertinent content with fewer clicks. MetaPress 2.0 also offers publishers the tools to analyze usage patterns and implement the changes necessary to boost site traffic and impact revenue.

At the core of the revolutionizing technology of MetaPress 2.0 is the MetaPress Tool Set, a centralized suite of five site components (Reader Site, Client Site, Editor Site, Admin Site and Content Site) designed to assist clients in hosting, managing and marketing their content. Using the MetaPress Tool Set, clients have access to complete reports on subscriber purchases. Clients also have the ability to change how users interact with the site, to modify pricing or subscription packages and to add promotional content, company news and more.

"MetaPress 2.0 overcomes the challenge of sifting through extraneous search results by grouping results by category," said Michael Margotta, director of sales and marketing, MetaPress. "Users can clearly see which results answer their research needs and can bypass those that are not relevant, saving time and avoiding frustration. It's designed to overcome information overload."

"MetaPress 2.0 is the industry's first content management system with intuitive, simultaneous display and navigation of disparate content types including journals, newsletters, books, reference works and encyclopedias," said Mark Williams, vice president and general manager, MetaPress. "MetaPress will effectively increase Web site traffic and enhance end user experience because all relevant content is presented together on a page - regardless of publication type. The goal is to expose all of the literature to the end user with less effort, thus fueling use and commerce."

Customizable features of MetaPress 2.0 include:

• secure content for authorized subscribers
• seamlessly integrated site branded with customer identity
• intuitive browse and search interfaces and secure online transactions at article, issue, volume or package level
• customer profile creation allowing alerting and personalization features
• timely content and subscriber file transfer
• multiple access authentication capabilities, including ATHENS
• distribution to third-party aggregators
• indexed by Google™
• RSS-feed capability
• detailed accounting and sales reports
• COUNTER-compliant usage statistics
• CrossRef participant - linking of article references
• forward reference linking
• around-the-clock technical customer service
• administrative features including full subscriber control around-the-clock, from anywhere on the Internet using secure client-access sites.

About MetaPress
MetaPress serves publishers worldwide by hosting their content online, making it accessible by a wide audience of viewers who appreciate the high quality client services that MetaPress provides. As a silent partner dedicated to supporting and enhancing the publisher's brand in the marketplace, MetaPress has grown to become the world's largest primary content host site. MetaPress is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a diversified company founded in 1944. For more information about MetaPress, visit www.metapress.com, or contact Michael Margotta at +1 205 991-1176.