EXHIBIT 99.3
Smartlogik partners with Horizon Open Systems,
a Sun Microsystems preferred UK service provider partner
o Joint business development strategy to drive revenues for Smartlogik,
Horizon Open Systems and Sun Microsystems
o Horizon and Sun join growing list of Smartlogik partners, including
Intel, IBM and Norcontrol
o Horizon partners already include Cisco, Baltimore Technologies, Sun,
Oracle, Riversoft & Veritas
London, 14th May 2001. Smartlogik (www.smartlogik.com), a leading provider of
information discovery solutions and the major subsidiary of Bright Station PLC
(LSE: BSN, NASDAQ: BSTN), today announced a partnership with Horizon Open
Systems, a division of The Horizon Group (LSE: HOR), a Sun Microsystems
preferred partner and leading provider of IP infrastructure services for Service
Providers (SPs) and their corporate customers.
Horizon Open Systems has signed Smartlogik(TM) to its Sun Application Provider
Resource Centre (APRC) Programme, continuing its drive to promote
Internet-enabled technology from leading edge software developers on the Sun
platform. Horizon will promote Smartlogik's search and categorisation solutions
for intranet and Internet applications to the Sun IP infrastructure user base,
opening channels to market and increasing sales opportunities.
Horizon and Sun join a growing list of Smartlogik partners, which includes
Intel, IBM and Norcontrol.
Horizon's Sun APRC Programme, through which Horizon aims to double its business
by the end of 2003, combines the SP infrastructure hardware and expertise of
Horizon and Sun with Internet-enabled technology from over 50 leading
applications developers.
Stephen Hill, CEO, Smartlogik, said: "This is an important endorsement of the
strength of our technology and our ability to partner with the industry's
leading players. We are looking
forward to developing a close relationship with both Horizon and Sun. Membership
of the APRC Programme will provide us with access to a major new client base,
and the Smartlogik software sales will create increased hardware-based revenue
for Horizon and Sun - benefiting all involved."
Robert Bell, Sun APRC Programme Manager, Horizon, added: "Smartlogik is an
industry leader in the provision of search and categorisation solutions. We
selected Smartlogik as an APRC member because of its fit to Horizon's offering
and its potential for business enhancement. The combination of Smartlogik's
applications with Horizon's business development expertise, as well as access to
the Sun user base, will create new sales opportunities and enable all the
companies involved to grab market share early in a fast developing sector."
- ENDS -
For further information please contact:
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Campbell Macpherson, Strategic Planning & Marketing Director 020 7930 6900
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Bright Station plc
CampbellMacpherson@brightstation.com
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John Fanning, Marketing Director 020 7930 6900
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Smartlogik
JohnFanning@smartlogik.com
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John Olsen 020 7357 9477
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Hogarth Partnership Ltd
jolsen@hogarthpr.co.uk
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Notes to editors:
Smartlogik, a subsidiary of Bright Station plc (www.brightstation.com), is a
leading supplier of search and categorisation solutions enabling unstructured
information to be presented with a high degree of precision and relevance.
Smartlogik's muscattechnology(TM) suite of structuring, concept searching and
alerting products are based on latest generation technologies that uniquely
combine to create powerful information delivery systems for use both within the
organisation and in the provision of a better service to customers - enabling
users to find the information that they need rapidly and reliably.
Unlike many competitive offerings, Smartlogik solutions are tailored to the
unique requirements of each customer thus providing more accurate and more
precise results.
Smartlogik operates a multi-channel strategy consisting of a direct sales force,
a Value Added Reseller program and a consultancy arm.
Smartlogik's exceptional searching and indexing technologies originated from two
different sources:
The search technology, muscatdiscovery(TM), stemmed from Dr Martin Porter's work
with a special research team at Cambridge University. This team investigated new
information retrieval paradigms and included fellow information retrieval
experts Professor Keith Van Rijsbergen and Professor Stephen Robertson. The
techniques developed by the team moved beyond traditional keyword matching
towards a pure probabilistic information retrieval model based on contextual
analysis of language.
The indexing technology, muscatstructure(TM), originated from the need to search
across multiple sources of information. MAID, an information processing pioneer,
developed the tool for categorising terabytes of information. This technology is
currently employed by Thompson Corporation to service the information needs of
20,000+ organisations.
Smartlogik customers include Ananova, the Bank of England, the BBC, the British
Library, the Daily Telegraph, Dialog, the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI), Fortune City, Hansard, the Lafferty Group. Legal and General, Yellow
Pages, the Danish Foreign Ministry, and the World Conservation Monitoring
Centre.
About Horizon Open Systems UK
Horizon is a leading provider of IP infrastructure services for Service
Providers (SPs) and their customers and is the Preferred Partner to both Sun
Microsystems and Oracle in the SP arena.
Horizon partners with key enterprise technology developers such as BMC Software,
Cisco, Inktomi, iPlanet, Riversoft and VERITAS to provide the broadest range of
tools and value-added developments to drive the delivery of fast, secure, 24x7
Internet infrastructure services.
The company is part of Horizon Technology Group, a leading European Internet
Services organisation that is quoted on both the London and Dublin stock
markets. The six-month revenues for The Horizon Group up to 31st December 2000
were 183.3 million. More information on The Horizon Group is available at:
www.horizon.ie.