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Versaware Inks Deals with Lycos, NTC, Superkids

Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 6/7/1999

Versaware technologies, an online and multimedia publisher and technology company, announced separate deals to bring reference content from NTC/Contemporary Publishing online and to make Versaware's multimedia reference works available through portal Web site Lycos.com and the children's educational Web site SuperKids.com.

Versaware has developed technologies that allow publishers to convert print reference texts into a fully searchable digital format that can support sound, video and animation. The company announced an agreement with NTC/Contemporary to convert seven dictionaries (among them American Idioms, American Slang and Colloquial Expressions) into the Versaware format. The texts are aimed at non-native English speakers, said Mark Pattis, CEO of NTC/Contemporary. He added, "A significant portion of the market is looking for digitized solutions to assist in their educational pursuits." The new Versabook e-dictionaries will be available through the NTC/Contemporary Web site, at www.ntc-cb.com.

Versaware also announced deals to make its multimedia reference content available through the SuperKids Web site (www.superkids.com), a site specializing in reviewing children's educational software. A link to Versaware's Knowledge Center will provide SuperKids.com with a vocabulary builder that can be adjusted to different grade levels.

The company has also launched a co-branded site with Web portal Lycos. com. The Lycos.com Research Center (www.funkandwagnalls.lycos.com) features Versaware's online, multimedia version of the 29-volume Funk &Wagnalls Encyclopedia and Random House Webster's College Dictionary, as well as a continuous news feed from Reuters. Visitors conducting searches at the site receive citations complete with photographs, animation and sound.

Harry Fox, founder and CEO of Versaware, said the Lycos deal represents an ongoing effort to forge "alliances with Lycos and other leading portal sites, in tandem with a growing list of prominent print publishers."