Microsoft Corp. has announced Microsoft BizTalk, a new cross-platform e-commerce framework that makes it easy for businesses to integrate applications and conduct business over the Internet with trading partners and customers. The BizTalk framework is based on XML schemas and industry standards that enable integration across industries and between business systems, regardless of platform, operating system or underlying technology. Microsoft also announced plans to incorporate the BizTalk schema into the Microsoft Commerce Platform, initiatives for the MSN network for Internet services, and future versions of Office, the BackOffice family and Windows operating systems. BizTalk makes integrating software in an internal technology environment easier and more cost-effective. Because BizTalk is a cross-platform framework, it allows software to communicate between different common object models, programming languages or shared database schemas. BizTalk is designed to enable the integration of software so that businesses can immediately increase the efficiency of their internal business systems and take advantage of e-commerce while making optimal use of existing investments in hardware and software. Microsoft plans to host a design review of new BizTalk schemas with customers, industry vendors and industry consortia in the second half of 1999. The design review will be an open forum for providing input on the BizTalk framework and will result in the publishing of all current and future BizTalk protocols. All BizTalk documents, message handling protocols and service descriptions will be maintained on the Microsoft Web site as a public resource. For more information about BizTalk, see www.microsoft.com/presspass/commerce/

Hummingbird Communications Ltd and PC DOCS Group International Inc announced they have entered into an agreement pursuant to which Hummingbird would acquire PC DOCS Group. Each outstanding common share of PC DOCS Group will be exchanged for 0.3333 of a common share of Hummingbird. As a result of the transaction, PC DOCS Group will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hummingbird. The transaction values PC DOCS Group at approximately US$155 million, representing a 38% premium for PC DOCS Group shareholders based on the average closing prices of the two companies’ shares over the last ten trading days prior to the announcement of the transaction. Following the completion of the transaction, which is estimated to be during May 1999, PC DOCS Group will become an operating division of Hummingbird, continuing to serve and support its customers in close collaboration with the Hummingbird organization. The Boards of Directors of Hummingbird and PC DOCS Group have each unanimously approved the transaction. Ruby Osten will become Vice Chairman of an expanded seven person board of directors of Hummingbird and will retain his position as President of PC DOCS Group.

UWI.Com, the provider of XML-based Internet forms for business-to-business e-commerce, announced that the company is actively seeking a strategic partnership that will take advantage of the market for the company’s solutions. The company has retained the services of PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities LLC to facilitate this strategic move. Qualified parties are invited to access the corporate profile website at or contact Mark Fahlberg at: 703/610-7550. www.uwi.com

Interleaf, Inc. announced the availability of BusinessWeb 2.0 and BusinessWeb Plus 2.0, Web-enabled e-content solutions. BusinessWeb and BusinessWeb Plus combine Web technology with Interleaf’s document management, distribution, workflow and Web viewing software to provide secure, Web-enabled access to Interleaf WorldView Press document collections and Interleaf RDM document repositories. BusinessWeb and BusinessWeb Plus enable browser search, retrieval and viewing of intranet-based corporate document repositories and electronic collections from a Java-enabled browser. The BusinessWeb viewing solution resides on the client, while BusinessWeb Plus uses a thin-client Java applet solution. Interleaf has integrated advances in its Xtravert Java viewing technology. The Xtravert technology allows users to more easily search through text in Web documents, and for users of BusinessWeb Plus, replaces the WorldView Java Viewer with Java viewing technology, expanded user interface and better text and graphic rendering techniques. Both solutions now offer document printing support for Postscript or PCL printers. www.interleaf.com

Oracle Corp., said 8i, its latest database program, designed to work seamlessly with the Internet, was now available from dealers. In January, they postponed shipment of 8i to allow more time for integrating other software and development tools with the product. It was originally slated to ship by the end of 1998. 8i has tools such as a built-in Java Virtual Machine, an “Internet file system,” which will store and manage Web pages, multimedia data, word processing files and spreadsheets, and XML support. The database runs on Windows NT, Solaris and Hewlett-Packard’s Unix, among others. www.oracle.com

Adobe Systems officially unveiled their new page layout software, Adobe InDesign, at the Seybold conference. It is based on a new, open, object-oriented architecture that is extensible. InDesign had been known as “K2” while under development, and is the first real threat to Quark in the graphic design market since Quark became almost a de facto standard there years ago. Adobe also demonstrated some tight integration between the recently acquired GoLive web publishing tool and PhotoShop, Illustrator, Acrobat 4.0 and other Adobe products. www.adobe.com