North Plains Systems Announces Web Services Support and Technology Partnership Program

TORONTO, ON - DECEMBER 15, 2003 - North Plains Systems, Inc., the leader in Enterprise Digital Asset Management (E-DAM) solutions, today announced that it has released the Integration Broker which provides the next generation of integration and web services for TeleScope Enterprise.

TeleScope has an existing suite of integration tools which allow customers to seamlessly share their data with other business systems, such as the XML Gateway. The Integration Broker, utilizing SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), is an extension to these robust integration capabilities.

"North Plains Systems' SOAP integration is extremely timely. The end-user market for DAM solutions has just started asking for SOAP based web services solutions that would allow them to run web based applications while speaking server-to-server at the back-end," said Mukul Krishna, senior analyst and program leader, Digital Media Practice at Frost & Sullivan. "This not only makes managing assets on the enterprise level easier but also streamlines the corporate and marketing communications process adding to the value proposition of DAM systems. This will further enhance TeleScope's capabilities and market reach."

Concurrent with the release of the Integration Broker, North Plains Systems has initiated a technology partnership program enabling third-party technology suppliers to connect to the TeleScope framework or embed TeleScope's DAM services within their application. North Plains Systems will offer its technology partnership to software vendors in such industries as e-Learning, Marketing Automation, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Content Management, and others.

"Over the past five years we have built and deployed the most robust digital asset management framework for global organizations," said Hassan Kotob, president & CEO of North Plains Systems, Inc. "Through our technology partnership program we are enabling other software and solution providers to reap the benefits of our proven technology by integrating it into their product offering."

The web services capabilities of TeleScope allow customers to take advantage of TeleScope's features and architecture through other applications, portals or business systems. The Integration Broker gives customers the ultimate flexibility and control to maximize the return on investment of their E-DAM systems by making it simple to provide media-enabled services on their enterprise network.

"From a technical perspective, adding a SOAP functional interface through the Integration Broker creates a world of possibilities, as SOAP is the standard remote access protocol endorsed by Microsoft's .NET architecture," said Steve Sauder, CTO for North Plains Systems, Inc. "Now our customers have access to TeleScope functionality from Visual Basic, AppleScript, and a host of other user-centric middleware technologies, opening up our framework, and solidifying TeleScope's position as the media services backbone for enterprise clients."

North Plains Systems' E-DAM solution enables its clients to use and deploy assets throughout their organization, all while tracking each assets usage. Built on open standards and distributed architecture, TeleScope Enterprise offers a robust and open API that allows third party technologies and legacy systems to seamlessly integrate with the TeleScope environment. TeleScope supports hundreds of file formats ranging from graphics and text, to audio and video.

About North Plains Systems, Inc.
Founded in 1994, North Plains Systems, Inc. is the leading provider of digital asset management solutions. Its pioneering technology, focus, and vision have been recognized through out the content management industry, including analyst Frost & Sullivan, with their 2005 Company of the Year award. Today, over 400 customers benefit from North Plains' expertise in delivering industry defining solutions for multi-channel publishing, broadcast automation, video enhanced learning, marketing automation and collaboration and brand management. Customers include Boeing, Feld Entertainment, Harcourt, HarperCollins Publishers, International Monetary Fund, Ogilvy and Mather, Publicis Groupe, Relizon, Thomson Learning, Viacom and Warner Bros. For further information please visit the North Plains website.