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eBook Technologies First to Support new IDPF Content Packaging Standard
 
Public Beta Software Implements New Cross-reading System Interchange Format

LA JOLLA, CA - October 16, 2006 - eBook Technologies, Inc (ETI) makes two related announcements regarding IDPF standards. The IDPF (www.idpf.org), formerly the Open eBook Forum (OeBF), is the trade and standards association for the digital publishing industry.

First to Support New Container Format

eBook Technologies, Inc. is the first to offer eBook publishing tools that support the new Open eBook Publication Structure (OEBPS) container format (OCF). The public beta of the OCF compliant tools is available by clicking here.

"OCF addresses two big problems faced by eBook publishers," said John Rivlin, eBook Technologies CEO and co-chair of the Unified OEBPS Container Format Working Group. "It provides publishers with a single transport format for sending publications to the distribution or sales channel, and it's also the recommended format for delivering the final publication to an eBook reading system."

"We are very pleased with the new open container format," said Neil De Young, Hachette Book Group USA. "Adoption of this standard means we can produce a single 'eBook' for distribution, rather than having to create one vendor-specific eBook for each reading system. OCF will allow us to publish more titles as eBooks, which will help fuel the growing eBook market."

OCF is a win for consumers as well because it enables the exchange of unencrypted books and documents between reading systems that support the new standard. OCF supporters and other working group members include representatives from WGBH, Hachette Book Group USA, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, eReader.com, and Adobe Systems, Inc.

eBook Technologies Co-Chairs New OEBPS Working Group

Members of ETI are also leading a new IDPF working group seeking to update OEBPS 1.2 to improve the adoption and viability of the standard as a cross-reading system interchange and production format as well as a final publication delivery format. Working group members include Adobe, eReader.com, iRex Technologies, Random House, Rosetta Solutions, Simon & Schuster, Sony, and the Hachette Book Group USA.

The original OEBPS 1.0 specification was published in September 1999 followed by two updates to the specification, 1.0.1 in June, 2001, and 1.2 in August, 2002. The next-generation OEBPS working group charter sets forth three main areas of desired enhancement.

Improved Presentation Flexibility

Modernize OEBPS for use by content creators and conversion houses as a modern production format. Specifically, the working group will explore adding support for embedded outline fonts in content as well as allowing the inclusion of vector graphics for high-resolution graphical content.

Alignment with W3C Standards

The working group will focus on enhancing the OEBPS specification based on developments in the underlying W3C family of standards including XML namespaces, XHTML, and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Further, the effort will be aligned to optimize use of the new IDPF Open eBook Publication Structure (OEBPS) container format.

Enhanced Navigation and Accessibility

The new version of OEBPS should incorporate features that ensure content can be made accessible to everyone. The new standard should offer better searching, indexing, and hierarchical structures and improve OEBPS 1.2 features such as tours. The effort will explore adding support for a declarative table of contents to improve navigation and accessibility to the sight impaired community.

The Working Group plans to have a draft specification submitted to the IDPF output process later this year.

"ETI has shown exceptional leadership in the collaborative effort to produce digital publishing standards that will benefit our entire industry," said Nick Bogaty, IDPF Executive Director. "Its rapid implementation of IDPF standards into its products will benefit vendors, publishers, and consumers, and demonstrates ETI's continued innovation."

About eBook Technologies. Inc.

ETI is driving the eBook industry forward by designing, developing, and promoting advanced electronic content distribution and reading technology. ETI technology includes reading devices, content creation tools, content distribution and management technology, electronic bookstore and eCommerce implementations. Garth Conboy, president and founder of eBook Technologies, serves on the IDPF Board of Directors.

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