Percussion Software Introduces Rhythmyx 5.6

London — April 11, 2005 — Percussion Software today introduced version 5.6 of its Rhythmyx™ Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution, a release that extends Percussion’s leadership position in the WCM market while continuing to offer customers the right balance between out-of-the-box functionality vs. customization requirements. Rhythmyx 5.6 is tailored for organizations that require seamless support for multiple Web properties, with a strong emphasis on reusing content and building engaging Web sites. This release also strengthens Rhythmyx’s ECM foundation with numerous enhancements for implementers and administrators.

Key new capabilities in Rhythmyx 5.6 include enhanced multi-site WCM capabilities, new accessibility support for content contributors, broader support for heterogeneous IT environments as well as numerous enhancements to enable easier implementation and administration.

Version 5.6 introduces comprehensive multi-site management capabilities for building engaging Web sites, targeted for organizations with a large Web presence. Multi-site capabilities include:
• Cloning - The new cloning feature allows the structure, navigation, and content of entire sites or sub-sections of sites to be cloned from one site to a new site through the use of wizards. Associated workflows and communities may also be cloned to ensure the proper approval process and editorial process take place.
• Global Templates - enable the branding of the site to be centralized in a few common templates, making it quick and easy to update the entire look and feel for each Web site.
• Site Folder Publishing - enables publishing to be set up for a new site by simply creating folders. Once the folder structure is created and content is placed in a particular folder, the content will be published at the next publishing run without any additional set up needed.
• Managed Navigation - enables management of all site navigation including dynamic menus, section pages, breadcrumbs and sitemaps. Managed Navigation supports navigation text as well as image rollovers and permits an infinite number of navigation levels. Since no technical expertise is needed to update navigation, it is possible to delegate this task to Site Owners who can update the navigation levels and labels via a drag-and-drop interface.
• Cross-Site Linking - allows users to link content from one Rhythmyx-managed Web site to another while still managing the content relationship and therefore ensuring there are never any broken links.

Each of the multi-site enhancements takes advantage of, and is built on, Rhythmyx’s FastForward for WCM capabilities first introduced in Rhythmyx 5.5. FastForward enables users to get their initial sites under management rapidly, without sacrificing any of Rhythmyx’s leading multi-site, multi-channel features. Based on initial customer input, Rhythmyx 5.6 also includes a series of minor updates to FastForward.

Rhythmyx 5.6 also adds accessibility support for disabled users for the product’s content contributor interfaces. Using Freedom Scientific’s JAWS Screen Reader Version 6, users can enter, edit, view, approve and publish content. In addition, Rhythmyx fully conforms to a wide variety of international standards (e.g., US Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, UK eGovernment Interoperability Framework (e-GIF), W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) standards, etc.) requiring compliant tagging throughout the user interface. Examples of compliance include providing accelerator keys, adding titles to frames, including alt tags for images, etc. This accessibility support is in addition to the longstanding support Rhythmyx has provided for publishing compliant content for content consumers.

"With Rhythmyx 5.6, Percussion continues to focus on enhancing Rhythmyx to meet the day-to-day, practical needs of our customers," said Barry Reynolds, president and CEO of Percussion Software. "Customers have been asking for the ability to set corporate standards globally across all their Web properties, while simultaneously enabling individual site owners to have more control. Our enhanced support for multiple Web presences enables our customers to easily and cost-effectively meet this need, making the Web the medium of choice for communicating with their customers, partners and employees."

In addition, numerous enhancements have been made to extend Rhythmyx’s support for heterogeneous IT environments and ease administration, both in time and complexity, including:
• Firefox 1.0 Certification – Rhythmyx 5.6 enhances security though support of the popular Mozilla Firefox browser, which is far less vulnerable to spyware and malware attacks than other browsers. With this addition, Rhythmyx supports all the major browsers available today.
• Easier Operation – Rhythmyx 5.6 includes a number of improved operation features to Multi-Server Manager, WebDAV and full-text search.
• Usability Enhancements – have been made to the user interface and user documentation.

Rhythmyx 5.6 supports Microsoft Windows, Red Hat Linux and Sun Solaris platforms and is available this now. Pricing varies depending on configuration, however a typical Rhythmyx 5.6 configuration starts at $95,000.

About Percussion Software
Percussion Software's family of practical software solutions enables customers to maximize both the value and quality of their enterprise content through cost-effective content management, ease of content reuse, optimized delivery to multiple channels and increased efficiency. The company's flagship product, Rhythmyx 5.6, based on open standards, is the first Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution to provide cost-effective, multi-channel delivery of easily reusable content. Percussion’s Lyrix 2 product, the first comprehensive Lotus Domino Content Integration solution, unlocks proprietary Domino content for reuse in other enterprise applications. Lyrix 2 builds on Percussion's Domino expertise, gained over the past 10 years from the company's line of award-winning and innovative Power Tools for Lotus Domino: Notrix, PowerFlow, and ServerAdmin Plus.

Percussion’s portfolio of over 2,500 customers includes Fortune 1000 companies as well as other global, industry and public sector leaders, including Armstrong World Industries, Bank One, Bayer, Colgate, the FAA, Hitachi, HUD, IBM, ICI Paints, Intel, Jefferson Health System, MasterCard International, McKesson, Merck, Motorola, Northrop Grumman, Prudential Insurance, Shell Chemical, the Dept. of State, 3M, Thrifty Car Rental, Toshiba and Verizon. Founded in 1994, Percussion Software is self-funded and profitable. More information can be found on the Web at www.percussion.com.
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Percussion Software is a registered trademark and Rhythmyx, Active Assembly, De-Coupled Delivery and FastForward are trademarks of Percussion Software. All other registered trademarks and trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.