ANN ARBOR, Mich., January 12, 2004 - Do you remember life before the Internet? No email. No search engines. No access to 6,500 current newspapers and magazines, completely indexed and keyword searchable. No desktop weather. In fact, not much on the desktop at all. Now imagine new development of technology, just as large in scope. Internet2, the next generation of the worldwide educational communication network, will enable an equally large technology leap.

ProQuest Information and Learning has recently been chosen as a collaboration site for the development of Internet2.

“We are delighted to welcome ProQuest Information and Learning as a corporate partner and Internet2 collaboration site,” said Douglas Van Houweling, president of Internet2. “ProQuest’s participation in the development of the next generation of information tools and resources will provide a major benefit to the worldwide research and education community and, ultimately, to the public at large.”

ProQuest Information and Learning is already a corporate member of Internet2. In becoming an Internet2 collaboration site, ProQuest joins a handful of companies and institutions picked to work on special research projects. ProQuest Information and Learning, a unit of ProQuest Company, creates and publishes databases for libraries and educational institutions worldwide. Its flagship product, the ProQuest^® online information system, provides Web-based access to information to tens of thousands of researchers worldwide.

“ProQuest’s work with Internet2 is one of the most progressive and exciting technology projects undertaken by the company,” said Ron Klausner, president of ProQuest Information and Learning. “The research and education community gave birth to the Internet as we know it today, and will continue to be a leading source of Internet innovation in the future.”

Internet2 will spark development that promises to be just as ground-breaking as the original Internet. A consortium of 205 universities, working in partnership with government and industry, will develop and deploy the technology needed to create tomorrow’s Internet. Its goals are to create a leading edge network capability for the national research community; enable revolutionary Internet applications; and ensure the rapid transfer of new network services and applications to the broader Internet community. Internet2 will open access to areas of the world that formerly could not access the Internet.

As an Internet2 collaboration site, ProQuest will work on research initiatives with Merit Network, a sister organization of Internet2. Merit is an affiliate member of Internet2 and provides access to the Internet2 network for research and education organizations in Michigan.

“Merit has a longstanding mission to advance high-performance networking in Michigan and to bring those benefits to research and education,” said Hunt Williams, president of Merit Network. “This partnership with ProQuest and Internet2 is an exciting step, keeping Michigan at the forefront of key networking research initiatives.”

Internet2 operates Abilene, a national high-speed research and education computer backbone (a high-speed communication link) and maintains relationships with its peer research and education national networks in Europe, South America, and Asia. It conducts research in advanced computer networking, middleware and applications. Both Internet2 and Merit Network are based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

About Internet2
Led by over 200 U.S. universities, working with industry and government, Internet2 is developing and deploying advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 recreates the partnerships among academia, industry, and government that helped foster today's Internet in its infancy. For more information about Internet2, see: http://www.internet2.edu

About Merit Network
Merit Network, founded in 1966, is a non-profit corporation whose mission is to make Michigan a showcase for high-performance computer networking. Governed by Michigan’s public universities, Merit was America’s first regional research and education network. For more information about Merit, see http://www.merit.edu

About ProQuest
ProQuest creates specialized information resources and technologies that propel successful research, discovery, and lifelong learning. A global leader in serving libraries of all types, ProQuest offers the expertise of such respected brands as Chadwyck-Healey™, UMI®, SIRS®, and eLibrary®. With Serials Solutions®, Ulrich's™, RefWorks®, COS™, Dialog® and now Bowker® part of the ProQuest brand family, the company supports the breadth of the information community with innovative discovery solutions that power the business of books and the best in research experience.

More than a content provider or aggregator, ProQuest is an information partner, creating indispensable research solutions that connect people and information. Through innovative, user-centered discovery technology, ProQuest offers billions of pages of global content that includes historical newspapers, dissertations, and uniquely relevant resources for researchers of any age and sophistication—including content not likely to be digitized by others. Inspired by its customers and their end users, ProQuest is working toward a future that blends information accessibility with community to further enhance learning and encourage lifelong enrichment.

For more information, visit www.proquest.com or the ProQuest parent company website, www.cig.com.