Fairfax, VA , August 24, 2001 -- TechBooks and iArchives announced a strategic partnership agreement today that will advance them as leaders in the multi-billion dollar market for newspaper and corporate data conversion. Their joint service offers a fast, cost-effective way for organizations to turn archived data into useful digital content. Such digital content can open new revenue channels for newspaper publishers and help corporations get more value from their content. Rakesh Gupta, the chairman and co-founder of TechBooks, says there are volumes of legacy data at newspaper publishing houses and major corporations that are useless until digitized, sorted, and organized for easy retrieval and sharing. For many potential data conversion projects, the traditional methodologies can be too time-consuming and cost-prohibitive. The new solution offered jointly by TechBooks and iArchives will reduce the cost of newspaper conversion projects by 50 to 75 percent. TechBooks is a recognized pioneer in XML publishing and data conversion solutions with an established track record of introducing innovative electronic publishing solutions. It was among the first to offer front-end XML publishing solutions that simultaneously produces content for print and electronic formats. iArchives is known for its proprietary software which can make large volumes of archived information instantly available to anyone online. It is the first tool to index everything from archived microfilm and newspapers to government records and genealogical annals. The image returned in every search is that of the original document. The companies' new service for converting legacy content provides several key customer benefits: * Speed; content is processed extremely fast. * Accuracy; this is ensured because electronic images of original documents are created. * Searchability; every word on the pages is indexed, resulting in robust searching capabilities for online databases. "Our companies have technologies and resources that are extremely complementary," said Gupta, adding that his company also contributes a large technically-trained, English-speaking workforce in New Delhi, India. There, more than 1,600 technicians are experienced and equipped to handle large conversion projects. "Our technology combined with TechBooks' capacity and expertise will allow us to provide world-class products and services that are unmatched in the marketplace today," said Russell W. Wilding, president of iArchives. The agreement allows the two companies to jointly market their services to prospective clients including newspaper publishers, major corporations and government organizations that need to convert large volumes of historical, corporate and legal documents for electronic delivery.