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Digitool Applied Technologies, Inc. announces InfoStop
INFOSTOP, THE FIRST EASY-TO-USE APPLICATION FOR BUILDING SMART CITYWIDE
DIRECTORY SITES.
Cambridge, Massachusetts--January 7, 1997--Digitool Applied Technologies
(D.A.T.) today announced InfoStop, a tool for building and serving online
city directories.
Infostop allows local newspapers, ISPs and entrepreneurs to easily develop
and manage complete online directories for any size city, attaining in the
process guardianship of community information. For web surfers, it ensures
an easy-to-browse format for their own cities, and a familiar format for
other cities they visit.
At the heart of InfoStop is an object oriented database and advanced web
spinning and serving technology developed by D.A.T. and individuals at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology AI Lab. Information about local
merchants, organizations, and events is stored in the database. InfoStop
then spins and serves a web site reflecting this information in a uniquely
easy-to-browse format. InfoStop is already in use to run an extensive
directory site of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts at www.zami.com.
InfoStop reduces the burden of site design and management with a complete
set of site management tools. A central site administrator has control over
the entire site contents and presentation. Local merchants can be given
individual accounts, allowing them to directly control the information
presented about their business. They can directly change menus, post daily
specials, update event schedules, announce special events, and fine tune
the graphical presentation of their information.
InfoStop further reduces the burden of management by automatically
generating easy-to-browse directory pages. Site managers do not need to
design the site; once the merchant information has been collected, the site
designs itself.
All access to the InfoStop database is provided securely through the world
wide web, allowing site management from any computing platform at any
location.
InfoStop also provides a superior service to web surfers. Unlike existing
"yellow page" sites, InfoStop does not rely on text-based search engines.
It can respond to advanced queries based on location, merchant type, and
services provided. For example, with InfoStop you can easily search for a
local bookstore that is currently open, for Chinese restaurants that
deliver to your neighborhood, and for scheduled playings of a specific new
film.
"There is clearly a need for local directories on the web," said Hazem
Sayed, president of Digitool Applied Technologies. "Unfortunately, it is
still hard to find good directories for most cities. Building the
directories has just taken too much work, and has typically required
content companies to develop technology or technology companies to become
content providers. By providing InfoStop, we hope to jumpstart this
business by empowering local entrepreneurs all over America and the world."
Digitool Applied Technologies is a Cambridge, Massachusetts startup
focusing on advanced Internet applications.
Availability and Pricing
InfoStop is currently available for MacOS on the PowerPC platform. Version
1.0 beta2 can be freely downloaded from the Internet at
http://www.zami.com/infostop.html.
A sample site managed with InfoStop can be reached via:
http://www.zami.com/cambridge/.
Contact Information
Digitool Applied Technologies, Inc.
One Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
617-441-5000
617-576-7680 (fax)
zami@digitool.com
http://www.zami.com/
-30-
InfoStop and Zami.com are trademarks of Digitool Applied Technologies.
Additional company and product names may be trademarks of the individual
companies and are respectfully acknowledged.
Digitool, Inc.
_______________________________________________________________________
One Main Street 7th Floor Cambridge, MA 02142 USA
Internet: slh@digitool.com AppleLink: digitool
World Wide Web: http://www.digitool.com/
Tel: 617 441-5000 Fax: 617 576-7680