DALLAS, March 5 -- Alchemedia Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of Enterprise Digital Rights Management (EDRM) software, today announced the release of Mirage Enterprise 3.1. Building on Mirage's proven ability to control the copying, editing, screen capturing and forwarding of information, Mirage 3.1 now also enables controlled and audited printing of documents to authorized printers, and the revocation of documents when a pre-defined expiry date has passed. The release of Mirage 3.1 further provides for protection of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel documents, in addition to the previously protected formats (JPEG & GIF images, PDF and HTML). Mirage helps companies control their intellectual property by allowing trusted users to view critical business information unimpeded while preventing the unauthorized redistribution and copying of documents. "As knowledge management systems become easier to use, they will become the norm for ensuring collaboration within companies. These systems provide adequate protection while documents are stored within the main repositories,'' said Arabella Hallawell, senior analyst, Gartner, Inc. "However, as users are encouraged to store greater amounts of proprietary and confidential information the need to control documents while they are in use increases. Companies need to provide data integrity to ensure that the information available to the public and employees is correct, current and complete.'' With the digitization and democratization of information, companies urgently need a way to control the information that is accessible to authorized users. This has become all but impossible. Digital documents are easy to copy but copies are hard to control. With 90 percent of information theft cause by insiders, companies need a solution to ensure that electronic documents and printed copies of these documents are controlled. In addition, government, industry and company regulations demand that mechanisms be put into place to ensure that information is both tamper-proof and current. Mirage provides both data currency and data confidentiality to enterprises, enabling the secure distribution of information. "Improving communications within our company required the distribution of confidential and proprietary information. However, electronic collaboration can lead to information leakage or manipulation of accessed documents -- even limited distribution of paper copies raised control issues,'' says Claude Hager, lead systems analyst at McKee Food Corporation. "Using Alchemedia's Mirage enables us to distribute confidential information electronically, thereby increasing productivity and providing us with the same 'under glass' protection as our enclosed bulletin boards. This gives us the confidence to maximize the effectiveness of our Intranet by using it as a secure information delivery system.'' "The release of Mirage was a breakthrough in Enterprise Digital Rights Management and information security issues. Adding the advanced features of document expiry and secure and audited printing provides customers a complete solution for data currency and data confidentiality,'' says Daniel Schreiber, CEO and co-founder, Alchemedia Technologies. "The damage caused by rogue documents now dwarfs all other forms of computer-security-breaches, and is one of the foremost obstacles to broader collaboration within -- and between -- enterprises. The need for information controls has never been greater.''