PLEASANTON, Calif., Jan. 15 - Lightspeed Interactive has finalized a deal with Xerox to acquire the assets of Chrystal Software, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox Corporation. The assets include the source code to Astoria Content Management System, Eclipse and all other Chrystal software products. Effective January 1st, 2002, Lightspeed Interactive became the sole source for Chrystal products to provide sales, customer support and maintenance. In announcing the deal, Patrick Burns, President and CEO of Lightspeed Interactive, Inc. stated, "The research group A.T. Kearney describes an emerging paradigm referred to as 'Network Publishing', which illustrates a set of technologies and processes that will transform the way in which organizations create, manage and access digital content over the Internet. I believe that the completion of this acquisition puts Lightspeed at the forefront of the 'Network Publishing' market. We now provide solutions that enable content to be created and published on any Internet-enabled device, ultimately making any information accessible anywhere these devices are available.'' "The acquisition of the Chrystal Software assets, including Astoria and Eclipse not only positions Lightspeed as a major player in enterprise software, but also ensures Chrystal customers further technology development and continuing product maintenance,'' said Thomas Little, Vice President of Business Operations at Xerox Technology Enterprises. The acquisition will provide Lightspeed with an element of critical mass and allow the company to accelerate its domestic sales and marketing operations, as well as develop international business activities. Lightspeed will be able to offer Chrystal customers an upgrade path through the provision of content delivery capabilities, thus preserving their existing investment and significantly extending functionality. "The new Lightspeed combines best-of breed content management and content delivery solutions while substantially reducing customer integration issues,'' said Burns, adding, "Lightspeed is one of the few players that can really deliver on the Network Publishing concept and also offer a dynamic, more complete and fully interactive content management and delivery solution.''