IOWA CITY, Iowa— September 25, 2006 - MetaCommunications, a leading developer of software management solutions for the graphic arts industry, announced last week the immediate availability of Workgroups 2006, a powerful new cross platform process and productivity management suite for creative, publishing and prepress. The Workgroups 2006 suite provides today's creative and production workgroups with process automation and management tools to help them achieve better results, faster, and with less effort. As creative and prepress environments seek greater efficiencies and diversify their product and service offerings, their workflows become more numerous and complex. Workgroups 2006 provides the unique tools necessary to streamline, automate, and manage the diverse workflows employed in these environments. The result is increased productivity, creativity, and efficiency. Workgroups 2006 includes new versions of its tightly integrated flagship products: the award winning Job Manager 4.0, Virtual Ticket 7.0, Digital Storage Manager 2.0, and brand new Approval Manager 1.0 (see press release at http://www.meta-comm.com/news/releases/060912/approval_manager.htm ) solution. Key capabilities include: * Financial productivity management * Project & workflow management * Collaborative approval management * Document storage management "Process automation and management are sorely missing in creative and production environments. While production tools have gone from the camera room to the digital desktop, the tools to automate and manage the process are still missing in most environments. Workgroups 2006 is the first solution engineered from the ground up to not only manage the process, but help the users excel individually and as part of a team." says Robert Long, Executive Vice President of MetaCommunications. With Workgroups 2006, creative and production environments will: * Improve efficiency, capture revenue, and put more on the bottom line * Connect projects, people, and workflow * Speed, organize, and automate proof approvals * Find, share, and store files, anywhere Workgroups 2006 is scalable from a few users to thousands of users over multiple locations. Workgroups 2006 components can be purchased individually or as an integrated suite. A JDF Solutions Framework is available for Virtual Ticket, allowing it to be used as the front-end graphical user interface to JDF enabled production workflows. Additional optional integrations are available for Kodak Prinergy and Artwork Systems Nexus CTP systems. Download a high-resolution screen shot of Workgroups 2006 at: http://www.meta-comm.com/news/releases/060912/workgroups.png SOLUTION LIBRARIES Workgroups 2006 is the only solution that offers powerful built-in graphic arts functionality combined with the ability to fully customize and extend the product capabilities. Since one size never fits all, we made Workgroups extensible using Solutions Libraries. Solutions Libraries add customizable pre-built functionality and are available from MetaCommunications or third party developers. Solutions Libraries can easily be imported and include pre-built forms, finds, and reports. Solutions Libraries are currently available for: * Brand Management * Creative Workflow Forms * Digital Asset Management Libraries * Trafficking and Scheduling * Prepress Job Tickets (Commercial, Gravure, Flexo) * Preflight Integration * Catalog Page Production * Commercial Print * Media Buying * Sales Management * Customer Relationship Management * Video Production * Print Procurement NEW PRODUCTS & UPGRADES Workgroups 2006 consists of new fully integrated versions of its Job Manager, Virtual Ticket, Digital Storage product lines and a new product called Approval Manager. Job Manager 4.0 - New Version Job Manager's powerful financial management tools enable creative and production workgroups to accurately create estimates and quotes, monitor job costs, quickly generate on-demand reporting and invoices, and share information with industry leading accounting systems. Version 4.0 includes a new cross platform browser based client, usability enhancements, and full integration with the Workgroups suite. Complete details can be found at: http://www.meta-comm.com/products/job_manager/feature-new.htm. Virtual Ticket 7.0 - New Version Virtual Ticket is the only solution available today that combines powerful project and workflow tools into one simple to use solution for creative, publishing, and prepress workgroups. With Virtual Ticket workgroups bring together all the components of work in a centralized location, including project briefs, job tickets, customer info, all the associated document files, and more. From this one location Virtual Ticket provides advanced workflow tools to help manage and automate processes. Version 7.0 includes interface enhancements, an integrated and improved form editing tool, Find categories, Adobe Creative Suite 2 and Mac OS X Finder plug-ins, simplified deployment tools, support for Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, enhanced JDF support, and full integration with the Workgroups suite. Complete details can be found at: http://www.meta-comm.com/products/virtual_ticket/feature-new.htm. Approval Manager 1.0 - New Product (See press release at http://www.meta-comm.com/news/releases/060912/approval_manager.htm ) Inspired by customer demand and designed with the recommendations of an advisory panel comprised of recognized leaders in the graphic arts industry, Approval Manager masters the inherent difficulty of managing, tracking, and scheduling any approval process within and across creative and production environments. Approval Manager's innovative design and features put you back in control of any approval process, from the simplest to the most complex. With Approval Manager, traditional difficulties involved with keeping an approval process consisting of multiple rounds, multiple reviewers, and tight deadlines on track are simplified and automated. Digital Storage Manager 2.0 - New Version Digital Storage Manager is a powerful storage management solution specially designed for creative, publishing and prepress workgroups. These workgroups generate thousands of digital document files during the creative and production process. As the number of files grow, so do the challenges faced by the professionals who need them. Digital Storage Manager helps users and system administrators to find files anywhere, regardless of location, assign useful metadata automatically, automate workflow, and store & retrieve files from online and offline media. Version 2.0 includes interface enhancements, an improved forms editing tool, find categories, simplified deployment tools, support for Microsoft Report Services, and full integration with the Workgroups suite. Complete details can be found at: http://www.meta-comm.com/products/digital_storage_manager/feature-new.htm. TECHNOLOGY & PLATFORMS Workgroups 2006 is a multi-user server based solution built on Microsoft SQL Server and .Net technologies. Client applications are available for both Mac OS X and Windows operating systems. PRICING & AVAILABILITY Workgroups 2006 is available immediately and is priced affordably with complete multi-user suite bundles starting at $4995. Workgroups component applications, Job Manager, Virtual Ticket, Approval Manager and Digital Storage Manager may be purchased individually, starting at $1695. MetaCommunications products are available from authorized resellers, system integrators, distributors and OEM partners. MetaCommunications will be providing the first public exhibition and demonstrations of the WorkgroupsT 2006 suite at Graph Expo '06. For more information, call 319-337-8599 or e-mail [email protected].