Interleaf acquires the learning alliance; Acquisition highlights move by the document management...

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 1996-- Interleaf, Inc. (NASDAQ:LEAF), the market leader in integrated document management solutions, today announced the acquisition of The Learning Alliance, Inc., a provider of comprehensive solutions for sales process, sales training and sales force automation.

Prior to the acquisition, The Learning Alliance was a privately held company with sales of over $1 million. The company specializes in providing advanced consultative sales methods and sales force automation software to Fortune 500 companies and the high tech industry. The Learning Alliance will remain in Avondale, PA and operate as a strategic business unit of Interleaf. David Allman, former president of The Learning Alliance, is now General Manager of the new Interleaf business unit.

"Sales is one of the most document intensive and information dependent areas of business," said Ed Koepfler, president and CEO of Interleaf, Inc. "The strength of our family of integrated document management products coupled with The Learning Alliance's insight into leveraging advanced sales methods, information, and technology for creating successful sales teams will provide the first end-to-end approach to building winning sales processes."

In an electronic document management (EDM) industry summary released this week, International Data Corporation (IDC) predicted an increased demand for broader, integrated solutions and Web-enablement as an increasingly critical factor in each EDM vendor's strategy.

"Sales force automation represents a great market opportunity for document management vendors," said Linda Myers-Tierney, director of Collaborative Computing for IDC. "Through the acquisition of The Learning Alliance, Interleaf is positioned to leverage the factors making the mobile worker, particularly those in the field sales force, a natural extension for Web-based document management."

The Learning Alliance's advanced sales methodology focuses on developing the business analysis skills of the sales team and leveraging information -- economic, industry and competitive -- to understand and solve customers' business problems. Interleaf began using its own Intellecte/BusinessWeb product and The Learning Alliance's methods and software internally to support its sales teams worldwide. Intellecte/BusinessWeb allows the teams to access Interleaf document repositories across the enterprise using the Internet and standard Web browsers.

"As we worked together to analyze the skills and informational needs of the Interleaf sales team, we realized that integration of our sales force automation software and Interleaf's document management products was a perfect marriage of technologies," said David Allman.

About Interleaf

Interleaf is the revenue leader in integrated document management software, services and tools for networked and Web-based business applications. The Intellecte family of knowledge management products is advanced, open software for the electronic assembly, management, retrieval, distribution and publishing of business-critical information. Interleaf is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, with offices around the world and more than one million users worldwide. Information about Interleaf's products is available from Interleaf Direct at 1 (800) 955-5323 or on the World Wide Web at http://www.interleaf.com.

CONTACT: Candace Clemens Emily Fisher or Laura Kempke

Interleaf, Inc. Schwartz Communications

617/768-1451 617/431-0770

ccc@ileaf.com emilyf@schwartz-pr.com