ingenta and Catchword merge
in USD16 million deal to create largest research e-content service
Enhanced services, increased content
and complementary technical capabilities drive creation of a company
with over 140 publisher clients and 4,500 electronic
journals
ingenta, the global research gateway, has merged with
CatchWord, the e-journal online hosting and distribution service, in
a deal valued at USD16 million with additional consideration of up
to USD8 million subject to the achievement of certain profit targets
for 2001. CatchWord, headquartered in Abingdon, UK, provides online
conversion and hosting services to scholarly publishers.
"The combination of
the two largest online providers to both publishers and
libraries in this market creates an unrivalled channel for the
delivery of 'must-have' professional and academic research,"
commented Mark Rowse, CEO of ingenta.
Current customers
and end users will benefit immediately from the merger, which
joins two former competitors that have been at the forefront
of developing new channels of information access and delivery
on the Web.
Linking and data
conversion technologies
CatchWord offers
linking and data conversion technologies that complements the
range of online services already provided by ingenta to
publishers. This combination of the services creates a single
point for hosting, distribution and e-publishing delivery
services to publishers of academic and professional research.
These include eight of the world's top 10 journal publishers,
such as Taylor & Francis Group plc, and two of the world's
top three reference
The merged ingenta
now handles hosting and linking to over 4,500 publications
from over 140 publishers. Libraries, research organisations,
individual researchers and other third party gateways will all
benefit from a single source of supply and interface to an
extensive interlinked collection of research and reference
content.
Innovative solutions,
flexible and responsive customer service
The CatchWord staff
will be absorbed into existing ingenta departments and the
CatchWord management team is joining the senior management
group of ingenta. "Our plan is to integrate fully the two
operations," stated Simon Inger, Managing Director of
CatchWord. "In the interim, it is business as usual for our
publisher and library customers. Our existing teams of
knowledgeable staff will stay focussed on continuing to
provide the innovative solutions, flexible and responsive
customer service for which CatchWord is well known. I look
forward to extending this further as part of a larger
organisation."
ingenta (www.ingenta.com
) is the global research
gateway serving the online information needs of over 3 million
visitors a month. It provides a free online search service of
published content from reliable research sources not freely
searchable elsewhere on the Web and is one of the UK's top 10
Web service operators. For publishers of professional and
academic periodicals and journals, it provides a suite of
services including data conversion, secure online hosting and
distribution of this material to subscribers and pay-per-view
customers.
Subject focused
e-communities
As well as providing
Web users with a broad based article search and delivery
service through www.ingenta.com, ingenta also develops subject
focused e-communities, built in conjunction with societies,
publishers and university presses.
CatchWord,
(www.catchword.com) founded in 1994, provides online hosting and
distribution services to publishers of "must-have"
professional and research information. In addition, CatchWord
provides technology services to convert articles from formats
commonly used in printing technology to those which can be
delivered over the internet, adding indexing, linking and a
range of other interactive features. These services are not
currently provided in-house by ingenta and the merger with
CatchWord gives ingenta a complete suite of service delivery
capabilities covering a wide range of technologies and cost
levels.
Linking and data
conversion technologies 