LookSmart, Niku and Hungry Minds Turn to Interwoven for Content Management Solutions

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept 27, 1999 - Interwoven, Inc., a leading provider of content management software for the enterprise Web, today announced the three newest members of the Interwoven DotCOM family. LookSmart, Niku Corporation and Hungry Minds have all selected Interwoven eBusiness solutions to launch and expand their online initiatives. With Interwoven, these companies will be able to leverage expertise from across the organization, deploy content dynamically and scale their site to meet rapidly changing business needs.

"Today's DotCOMs require the flexibility of a Web content management system that starts small, but scales rapidly," said Joe Ruck, vice president of marketing for Interwoven. "Because online business moves at 'netspeed,' successful DotCOMs must build upon open-architecture platforms like ours that allow them to harness today's leading-edge technologies." Interwoven has been working with a host of DotCOM customers since 1997, when GeoCities standardized on the first version of TeamSite.

For DotCOM organizations, it is vital to leverage the knowledge and skills of all team members to deliver compelling Web content. Non-technical contributors can easily submit content and route edits through necessary approvals with TeamSite's workflow.

With Interwoven TeamSite, LookSmart ( http://www.looksmart.com ), a leading Web directory and search tool, can empower more than 180 professional editors to create and maintain content for its rapidly changing site. LookSmart selected TeamSite for its ease-of-use and minimal training requirements, which will ensure rapid adoption by the editors.

"TeamSite enables LookSmart's editors to concentrate on increasing our 1 million-URL directory and other content areas and not be bogged down by the technical aspects," said Bill Louden, vice president of product development for LookSmart.

All DotCOMs need dynamic content to create a compelling experience that attracts and retains customers. Interwoven's open architecture supports the use of personalization applications, back-end database connectivity and integration of new technologies like XML. Dynamic content is especially critical for companies such as Niku Corp. Niku, the leading provider of Internet-based professional services software for enterprises and individual professionals, provides a business portal, ( http://www.iniku.com ) offering fully integrated applications, services and industry-focused content.

"Through the iNiku.com portal, Niku serves professionals in diverse industries, such as IT consulting, management consulting, legal and marketing," said Carr Phillips, executive producer for Niku Corporation. "Providing our members with rich, timely news, research and analysis from key publications, analysts and on-line sources is one of the fundamental requirements for a successful world-class business portal. Interwoven content management solutions are an ideal fit for Niku, allowing us to easily and quickly refresh the information that is used by our more than 10,000 members to run their businesses."

Scalability is vital for DotCOMs, which may start small, but can experience rapid overnight growth due to the wide reach of the Internet. Inability to scale can be the death sentence for Internet start-ups, which need to attract customers to their site and then provide a consistent high level of service to keep them coming back. Scalability was an important factor in Hungry Minds ( http://www.hungryminds.com ) selection of TeamSite for the launch of its online learning portal on September 27th. Equally important was TeamSite's parallel development which allowed Hungry Minds to create and test its new Web site on a parallel development branch without disrupting its existing site. Parallel development will also allow Hungry Minds to roll out new courses as they become available.

"It is critical for us to launch a fully tested, content rich site to the public," said William Shaefer, chief technology officer for Hungry Minds. "Interwoven TeamSite provides a platform that will allow us to rapidly react to changing customer demands and include content from contributors outside the organization."

"We are proud of our latest additions to the Interwoven DotCOM family. Our products are well-suited to address the needs of this explosive market," states Joe Ruck, vice president of marketing at Interwoven. "Interwoven provides solutions for all business on the Web, from successful brick-and-mortar companies to Internet start-ups."

Interwoven, Inc. is a leading provider of content management for the enterprise Web. Its flagship product, TeamSite, controls the development, management and deployment of business-critical Web sites. As the platform for eBusiness, Interwoven enables electronic commerce, customer relationship management, supply chain management and knowledge management for Web leaders and Fortune 1000 companies moving to the Web. TeamSite is available for both the Sun Solaris and Microsoft NT operating systems. For more information on the company and its software solutions, visit the Interwoven Web site at www.interwoven.com.tw or e-mail info@interwoven.com