eSignLive extends capabilities of its electronic signature and approval software for B2B automation

New companion server distributes software at no cost to organization's partners

Montreal, Qc, March 19, 2001 — Silanis Technology Inc. today announced ApproveIt™ Collaboration Server, a new companion server for its core electronic signature and approval management software, that provides organizations and their trusted business partners with an easy and controlled method for electronically signing B2B agreements. The server automatically distributes the authentication plug-ins needed for partners to securely verify and add legally binding electronic signature approvals to documents — at no cost to the organization’s business partners.

The server allows organizations to control how and when partners interact with documents, using an automated method for verifying permission. Only individuals within the organization can initiate an approval process, while partners are requested to either verify, approve and/or print. Participation levels and signing authority are assigned to each partner and stored in that partner’s account on the server. Each time the partner interacts with the document, the server verifies the partner’s account and either grants or denies permission via a link from within the document.

Contracts and agreements created in Microsoft® Word®, Microsoft® Excel® or Adobe® Acrobat® can be delivered using a variety of email packages or secure messaging services. By leveraging the most commonly used business tools, approval automation can be achieved without any development requirements and without changing the standard business practices that exist between organizations and their partners.

“The purpose of technology is to improve the way organizations do business, not to dictate how,” said Tommy Petrogiannis, President of Silanis. “Silanis’ unique implementation of digital signature technology offers organizations the most flexible solution on the market, enabling them to determine their own processes while we provide the capabilities to ensure that they are automated and secure.”

Because an audit trail of the entire approval process is permanently embedded within the document, both parties are able to electronically store, access, verify and print a copy of the signed agreement wherever they choose. Organizations that have stringent archiving policies can print a copy of the electronic agreement along with its visible proof of signature. A secured image of the signer’s actual handwritten signature or scripted font signature is added directly onto the document. The resulting electronic agreement has the same real-world look and feel as a hand-signed document—both on-screen and when printed.

“Support for industry practices and interoperability with standard technologies are important criteria for organizations, especially as they begin to invest heavily in other eBusiness initiatives,” added Petrogiannis.

“An average B2B process involving an enterprise and one partner can take between 103 and 160 days to deploy,” Joanne Friedman, Vice President of Electronic Business Strategies, said at META Group’s recent METAMORPHOSIS conference. “The cost to the individual enterprise can be as much as US$500,000 to $2 million. Vendors seeking to gain market share would be well positioned to lead if they can either substantively reduce or leverage that implementation time or cost with their products.”

Silanis protects those IT investments through its ability to hook into any XML-based B2B application and complete end-to-end automation. For example, information contained within the audit trail of an agreement that has been electronically approved using Silanis’ solution can be imported into a database in XML format to automatically trigger other B2B processes, such as the generation of purchase orders, invoices and shipping notices.

Silanis Products

ApproveIt® Desktop 5, ApproveIt® Collaboration Server and ApproveIt® ePersona Server make up Silanis’ new suite of electronic signature and approval management solutions — all of which will be available as of March 31, 2001. ApproveIt® Desktop 5 is Silanis’ fifth-generation software that provides the core approval automation and legally binding capabilities for non-repudiation of signed documents. ApproveIt® Collaboration Server is the companion server to the software; it distributes electronic approval capabilities to the organization’s partners. ApproveIt® ePersona Server is a companion server for ApproveIt® Desktop 5 and ApproveIt® Collaboration Server that facilitates the deployment and control of electronic signature files.

About Silanis

Founded in 1992, Silanis Technology Inc. created ApproveIt®, the industry’s first and only multi-signature electronic approval management software. More than 800 organizations use Silanis products in the financial services, government, manufacturing, health and pharmaceutical sectors, including the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, the US Army MEDCOM, Williams Group, GMACCM, Nationwide Insurance and National City Bank. Silanis software is recognized for its extensive capabilities, scalable security, ease of use and ease of integration. Silanis’ worldwide sales headquarters are located in Washington, DC. The company also has a regional office in Campbell, CA, and an R&D center in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as well as sales and customer support units in other US cities.

For additional information:

Andrea Simmons Silanis Technology (514) 337-5255 ext. 1152 e-mail: [email protected] www.silanis.com