IngentaConnect enhanced with new subscription management tools

Ingenta, the technology provider which connects the publishing and information industries, today revealed details of a new subscription management service for IngentaConnect. A new web interface will provide IngentaConnect's publisher, librarian and agent partners with superior administration capabilities, whilst the back-end systems which support the tools have also been re-engineered to provide greater flexibility and improved performance.

The new service increases IngentaConnect's support for the varied and complex business models that are increasingly employed by publishers as they seek to meet changing market needs. Publishers have greater power to customise the system according to their particular requirements, and comprehensive notification options will improve customer communications. Librarians will be able to review the status of current and new subscriptions, and new content will be highlighted to assist efficient activation of online access. Agents will have additional facilities to locate users, activate access and review existing data.

The state-of-the-art web interface will make use of proven, dynamic technologies such as AJAX, CSS and JavaScript Pages and Faces to simplify and expedite administrative activities. Ingenta's Information Architects created personas and constructed scenarios to drive intuitive design of the web tier and its features. Product Development Manager Kirsty Meddings explains, "IngentaConnect now provides subscription access to over 10,000 electronic publications, and must facilitate effective subscription management for more than 250 publishers and 25,000 institutions. I'm very pleased to be launching a sophisticated new tool to reinforce the support and flexibility we offer our customers in this area."

The new software continues IngentaConnect's strong leadership in the area of online subscription management. It was the first scholarly hosting service to support "trusted access", which meets library needs by authorising immediate, temporary access in the interim between an institution's subscription activation request and the publisher's confirmation of access. The company was also the first to enable subscription agents to activate online access on behalf of mutual library customers. In addition, the IngentaConnect site has been praised for the clarity and efficacy of its access indicators, introduced back in 2004 to denote subscribed, trial and open access rights to users. The company's recent pioneering work with Google Scholar has underpinned libraries' abilities to direct users to subscribed content.

For more information about Ingenta's current and new subscription management services, please visit the Ingenta stand (404) at Online Information 2006.

ENDS

For more information, please contact:
Charlie Rapple
Ingenta plc
Tel: +44 1865 397860
Email: charlie.rapple@ingenta.com

About Ingenta
www.ingenta.com
Ingenta is the global market leader in the management and distribution of published scientific, professional and academic research via the Internet, and develops and maintains specialist websites and technology services for publishers, self-publishing societies and libraries. The IngentaConnect Division provides professional and scholarly publishers and societies with data conversion, secure online hosting, access control and distribution services. IngentaConnect provides libraries and information professionals with comprehensive collection management and document delivery options. The Information Commerce Division provides flexible infrastructure and tools to enable publishers to repackage, bundle or price content online at the click of a button. Ingenta's collection of research content – 20 million articles from more than 10,000 online publications and 20,000 fax and Ariel delivered publications – is accessed by millions of researchers and librarians a month via ingentaconnect.com and other websites.