ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601170061
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Boston Globe
In yet another move to secure its future on the Internet, Microsoft Corp. has bought Vermeer Technologies Inc., which makes World Wide Web publishing software.
Nearly all of Vermeer's 40 employees will move from Cambridge, Mass., to Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., where they will form the core of a new Microsoft business unit devoted to web publishing products.
``Access to Microsoft's resources and channel partnerships will allow us to realize our vision of Webtop publishing on a broader scale,'' said Vermeer president John Mandile.
Officials of the two companies say Vermeer was purchased with Microsoft stock, rather than cash, and that the deal has been completed. But they declined to reveal the purchase price or other details of the transaction.
Vermeer's prize asset is FrontPage, a popular software program that aids in web-site design. Microsoft plans to market FrontPage to small- and medium-sized businesses that use the Microsoft Office software suite. FrontPage will be sold as a separate product, with a list price of $695.
Microsoft already makes a product called Internet Assistant for use in designing individual web pages. But FrontPage is designed to aid in the construction of entire web sites, made up of dozens or even hundreds of web pages.
Besides offering its low-end Internet Assistant, Microsoft is hard at work on Internet Studio, a web-site design product for use by the largest corporations and organizations. In addition, Microsoft has introduced new Internet server products to challenge established suppliers such as Netscape and Silicon Graphics.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB