Intelligent Document Conversion Solutions^®

Newsletter, Spring 2004

In This Issue

New In ECS

Ending the table conversion nightmare

No matter what conversion methodology is used, the accurate identification of table structure is widely recognized to be one of the most challenging aspects of converting proprietary format documents into richly structured and meaningful XML. Whenever tables are visually created in a WP environment (using, for example, tabs for column separation, hard carriage returns for inter-cell alignment, etc.), accurate conversion has required manual XML expertise - either to hand tag the entire table, or to manually edit the XML output from an automated process.

Exegenix has surmounted this challenge, combining the best automatic table structure recognition in the industry, with new intuitive tools that enable non-experts to explicitly define a desired table structure before any XML is generated. This editorial control by non-experts can save time and money, especially when the input material contains tables that are long, complex or numerous.

Exegenix conversion technology can automatically recognize borderless, bordered and mixed tables, including spanned cells, and can associate table titles and table footnotes with the table grid itself. Now, with no XML expertise, a human operator can override these generated table structures if desired, and:

• Designate a table in an ambiguous area
• Specify that a single table should be split into multiple tables, or multiple tables should be joined into one
• Associate nearby constructs with a table: title, footnotes, caption
• Combine rows: selected cells will be merged across row boundaries only (leaving column separators in place)
• Combine columns: selected cells will be merged across column boundaries only (leaving row separators in place)
• Merge cells: all row and column dividers in the selected area will be removed, merging all selected cells into one large cell
• Separate rows: draw in a row separator for any number of cells
• Separate columns: draw in a column separator for any number of cells
• Flag multi-page tables to be joined into a single long table by a post-process XSLT script
• Restrict row and column seperator identification to visible lines only

All Exegenix XML tables, whether automatically discovered or manually manipulated, conform to the CALS specification. In addition, we provide transformation scripts for the automatic generation of tables as HTML and RTF.

For more information on Exegenix table conversion, please contact Ryan Germann, Product Manager.

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Exegenix Users

Thomson Delmar Learning

“Exegenix delivers XML output ready-to-load. The combination of automated conversion technology for the 'heavy lifting', and human finesse for the conversion of specific constructs such as complex tables, means that Thomson Delmar Learning gets the consistently high quality output we need, at an extremely competitive price.” Deborah Knickerbocker, Content Assets & Rights Manager, Thomson Delmar Learning.

Diderot Track

"Not that long ago the problem of 'legacy content' was hard to solve. Conversion into XML was usually error prone and expensive. Since we have been using Exegenix software this has changed dramatically. We have found that even documents with complex layout can be converted into XML cost-effectively and with very high quality." Aad Kamsteeg, Diderot Track - an Exegenix partner in the Netherlands.

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Exegenix in action

Exegenix online seminar schedule

"Intelligent XML document conversion"

Next seminar May 5 2004
11am EST (8am PST/4pm GMT)

45 minutes you won't want to miss if you're already converting content to XML, or you're planning for it!

XML conversion in real-time, demonstrating:

• the power, the flexibility and the ease of use of the Exegenix Conversion Satellite
• the uniquely rich structure of our XML output
• how Exegenix technology can save you time, money, and conversion headaches

Personalize your experience —send us a sample of your material ahead of the seminar, and we'll demonstrate on your files. Just upload a file at http://www.exegenix.com/solutions/sample/, and indicate in the Comments field the date of the seminar you have booked.

Contact Marian Downie to book your free place now.

Upcoming Exhibitions

If you would like to arrange some specific demo/discussion time with Exegenix at any of these events, please contact Steve Downie, VP Sales and Marketing.

Seybold Europe / XML Europe 2004

Exegenix will be exhibiting in Amsterdam at the co-located Seybold Europe and XML Europe conferences, April 18-21, Booth #325.

Ryan Germann, Exegenix Product Manager, will present a paper entitled "Add an End Tag to the Table Conversion Nightmare", Wednesday, April 21st, at 11:35 AM.

Association of American University Presses - Annual Meeting

David Slocombe, Exegenix CTO, is presenting at this event in Vancouver, BC, on Monday, June 28 during a session entitled "XML and our structured data: overcoming the difficulties of converting documents to XML and then using them".

Tri-XML 2004 Conference

Exegenix is exhibiting in Durham, NC, at the annual conference of the Tri-XML group. We will be demonstrating the Exegenix Conversion Satellite during Tools of the Trade on Thursday, July 22 at 3:15pm. In addition, Ryan Germann will present a session entitled "XML content conversion - methodologies and cost considerations", on Saturday July 24 at 10:15am.

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Launching

ECS Express

ECS Express is a convenient and economical deployment of our XML conversion technology. Instead of shipping as a blade server for installation on your network, Exegenix Conversion Satellite can now be shipped as a pre-configured CD ready to run on your own server, custom-built to connect to a dedicated area on the Exegenix cluster, designated for a specific customer. For the technically sophisticated, Exegenix can instead create a CD image which can be downloaded and burned onsite (faster than shipping a CD if immediate deployment is required).

For more information about ECS Express, please contact Steve Downie, VP Sales & Marketing.

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Resources

FREE! Sample File Upload

It's easier than ever before to send us a sample of your content for conversion to XML, and it's free! Just visit our upload page at www.exegenix.com/solutions/sample/ to submit documents between 10 and 30 contiguous pages long in PDF Normal or PostScript format.

All XML output will be returned to you via email. Output for each sample file consists of the following:

• Full Exegenix Export XML
  This file contains XML conforming to the Exegenix Export DTD (a superset of DocBook). It illustrates the versatility of our output, containing both structure elements and format attributes, and can be easily transformed to the DTD of your choice.
• Simplified Exegenix Export XML
  This file is a simplified, tag-minimized version of the above, and highlights the rich structure of the XML we generate.
• XHTML
  For quick viewing in a browser
• And if you have indicated interest in deploying our software rather than using our conversion service, we also include a screenshot of your document during the conversion process, to illustrate the intuitive user interface of the Exegenix Conversion Satellite.

Note that we individually review each sample that is uploaded so, though the actual conversion process is automated, the submission process is not.

For other input formats, or for transformation to a specific DTD, please contact Steve Downie, VP Sales & Marketing.

Updated Collateral

• Exegenix Corporate overview
• Exegenix Conversion Technology overview
• Exegenix Conversion Solutions datasheet
• Exegenix Conversion Service datasheet

If you need additional information that you don't see either here or on our website at www.exegenix.com, please let us know. You can contact Sandi Castle, and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

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Feedback

If you have any comments or questions about this newsletter, we'd love to hear from you. Please email the editor at newsletter@exegenix.com.

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