Microsoft Corp. announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire NCompass Labs Inc. Released in March 2001, NCompass Resolution 4.0 is a Web content management system that enables businesses to quickly and cost-effectively deploy highly dynamic and personalized e-business Web sites. Microsoft is acquiring NCompass Labs in response to customer demand for Web content management solutions and because it recognizes the essential nature of this technology in any end-to-end e-business solution. As Web sites continue to evolve into strategic business communication tools, there is an increasing need to manage the content that drives that communication. Web content management systems ensure that organizations derive the maximum value possible from their investments in Internet, intranet and extranet Web sites. NCompass Resolution offers a scalable, dynamic architecture, and is specifically designed to ensure rapid time to market. NCompass Resolution was built for the Microsoft platform and integrates with Commerce Server 2000 for online business creation; it also builds on SQL Server 2000 for content storage and search capabilities. NCompass Resolution also complements the rest of the Microsoft .NET Enterprise Server family for creating end-to-end e-business solutions such as Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 for XML-based, business- to-business integration and Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001 for employee document management and collaboration. NCompass Resolution 4.0 is available today. A re-branded offering, Microsoft Content Management Server 2001, is scheduled to be available in fall 2001. Customers who acquire NCompass Resolution 4.0 in the interim will have continued product support and product updates from Microsoft. www.ncompass.com, www.microsoft.com