BERKELEY, California (April 20, 2005) - Xinet announced the first annual, independent Xinet Users Group conference to be held May 4 in New York City. Governed by Xinet users and wholly independent from Xinet, the Xinet Users Group (XUG) has swelled to almost 1,000 members since its formation was announced last month. Nearly 400 attendees are expected at the all-day conference on Wednesday May 4, at Florence Gould Hall in Manhattan. Industry expert Frank Romano and panelists from Time magazine, BBDO, Young & Rubicam, McCann Erickson, Ogilvy & Mather and Fortune magazine, will discuss digital asset management deployment, the use of XMP metadata, ROI strategies, and integrating Xinet with other products and technologies. Adobe, Apple and Quark are among the industry heavyweights that have signed on as conference sponsors to showcase their latest technology and make product announcements about QuarkXPress 7, Adobe Creative Suite 2, and Apple Xserve and Xsan. "The take-home message of the day is how all these products can change the way you do business by setting the future technology direction for your entire company," said Xinet CEO Scott Seebass, who is delivering the day's keynote address. First released in 1995, Xinet's FullPress is a server software engine which allows businesses dealing in graphic media to build efficient, integrated workflows. WebNative, released in 1998, is a web-based front end to FullPress, providing remote workflow tools, and 24/7 access to files and archives. In 2001, Xinet added an integrated database with WebNative Venture, allowing users to search for assets using standard or unlimited customized metadata. Among Xinet customers are Sports Illustrated, Target, Quebecor World Premedia, Grey Global, Best Buy, Saks Fifth Avenue, R.R. Donnelly and Sotheby's. At the conference, in addition to showing features from its recent major releases of FullPress 14 and WebNative 7 (XMP, Linux, AFP 3.1, and a versioning plug-in), Xinet will give an advance preview of a new product, scheduled for worldwide release on June 1st.