PRINCETON, N.J. and AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Merrill Lynch
(NYSE: MER) and Vignette Corporation (Nasdaq: VIGN) today announced that
Merrill Lynch has adopted Vignette Corporation's StoryServer(TM) 4 software
and Vignette Syndication Server(TM) software as the platform for its
innovative Internet and intranet sites. In addition to simplifying site
management for Merrill Lynch, the nation's largest full-service securities
firm, Vignette's software will power a robust suite of personalization
capabilities and information for Merrill Lynch's clients and employees who
draw upon and leverage intellectual assets from across the firm.
"Merrill Lynch is a company that delivers wisdom through a total financial
relationship, encompassing financial planning, investment, asset and liability
management. We are very excited about helping them provide their clients with
the kind of leading-edge, personalized and dynamic experience online that they
expect as a continuation of their offline relationship with Merrill Lynch,"
said Greg Peters, president and CEO of Vignette.
Vignette's technology enables Merrill Lynch to customize how its broad
range of personal-finance options are tailored to the needs and interests of
each user. For example, the Vignette solutions can match a client's profile
and lifestyle needs to their financial information preferences "on the fly."
This will let Merrill Lynch build an individualized online financial education
channel for each client.
"The selection of Vignette as a key component of Merrill Lynch's
technology infrastructure is the natural extension of a client-focused
strategy that has attracted more than $1.5 trillion in client assets worldwide
over the past several decades," said Randal C. Langdon, first vice president
and senior director of the digital business development group at Merrill
Lynch. "We are committed to providing every investor, whether affluent or in
the wealth-accumulation stage, access to Merrill Lynch in a way that provides
exceptional value. Vignette's software has accelerated our ability to do so."
Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading financial management and
advisory companies with offices in 43 countries and total client assets
exceeding $1.5 trillion. The firm is the top global underwriter and market
maker of debt and equity securities and a leading strategic advisor to
corporations, governments, institutions, and individuals worldwide. Through
Merrill Lynch Asset Management and Mercury Asset Management, wholly owned
subsidiaries, the company is one of the world's largest managers of financial
assets. Merrill Lynch's Web offerings currently include
http://www.askmerrill.com , which showcases the firm's global research
capabilities, a financial resource site for clients and the investing public
at http://www.mlol.ml.com , and the Merrill Lynch home page at
http://www.ml.com/ .
Vignette Corporation (Nasdaq: VIGN), the leader in building
E-Relationships, provides enterprise solutions for companies that are building
businesses online. More than 290 global companies, including U S West,
National Semiconductor, DaimlerChrysler, Nokia, Qualcomm, CNET, Bertelsmann
and Ziff-Davis' ZDNet, use Vignette solutions as part of their online
strategy. Vignette has won numerous industry awards including the Crossroads
A-list Award; Red Herring Magazine's 100 -- Top 50 Public Companies in 1999,
Best Overall Private Company in 1998 and 1998 Best Product Award for
StoryServer(TM). In April 1999, the Company's StoryServer(TM) 4 was included
in the Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the
Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
Vignette spearheaded the Information & Content Exchange (ICE) initiative
with more than 80 other member companies including Microsoft, National
Semiconductor and Sun Microsystems. Based on the Extensible Markup Language
(XML), ICE 1.0 is the world's first protocol to enable content syndication.
Vignette's product line includes Vignette StoryServer(TM) 4, Vignette
Development Center(TM) (VDC(TM)) software, Vignette Multi-Channel Server(TM)
and Vignette Syndication Server(TM) (VSS(TM)), the world's first
ICE-compatible product. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Vignette Corporation
also has offices located throughout Europe and in Australia and can be found
on the Web at http://www.vignette.com.
StoryServer, Vignette Syndication Server, VSS, Vignette Development
Center, VDC, and Vignette are trademarks of Vignette Corporation. All other
names and terms in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of
their respective companies.
SOURCE Merrill Lynch
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.merrilllynch.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/555800.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 555800
CONTACT:
Melissa Dennis, Merrill Lynch, 212-880-5356
or mdennis@alexanderogilvy.com; or Kala Ranganathan of Vignette
Corporation, 512-306-4300 or kala@vignette.com
|
