New York, July 19, 2000 -- iPublish.com at Time Warner Books (http://www.ipublish.com), the major electronic publishing division recently unveiled by Time Warner Trade Publishing, has tapped Lightning Source Inc.^SM and Reciprocal, Inc. to handle its digital fulfillment services, company officials announced today.

iPublish.com at Time Warner Books, which will launch in the first quarter of next year, is the first dedicated Internet publishing venture from any American book publisher.

Although the relationships will be non-exclusive, Lightning Source and Reciprocal will serve as iPublish.com’s preferred and primary eBook fulfillment providers, according to Gregory Voynow, senior vice president and general manager of iPublish.com

Under the arrangement, Lightning Source will provide secure fulfillment services plus content and digital rights management for the retail channel. In addition, Lightning Source will manage content for both iPublish.com and the retail channel. Reciprocal will provide digital rights management and transaction services support for the direct e-commerce activities at iPublish.com, including content management, financial transaction clearing, customer support, and report generation. Both companies will also work together to develop clearinghouse services for both channels.

In addition, Voynow said that Lightning Source will handle digital conversion of all of iPublish original content, as well as frontlist and backlist titles from Time Warner Trade Publishing, which includes Warner Books and Little Brown and Company.

"When it came to selecting a digital fulfillment service, it turned out that the best company for the job was two companies: Reciprocal and Lightning Source. Together, they proved to have the technology and the expertise to give us the extra edge we wanted," said Voynow. "We are committed to distributing our books to wherever eBook readers are and this is an incredible start," he added.

"This is an exciting step for Reciprocal and for the publishing industry in general," said Matthew Moynahan, senior vice president and general manager, Reciprocal Publishing. "iPublish.com at Time Warner Books is breaking new ground with its business model, and Reciprocal is in the best possible position to fulfill the publisher’s ambitions by delivering secure content to millions of eBook consumers everywhere."

"This announcement marks a substantial milestone for the publishing industry. Where eBooks were once a distant dream, the iPublish at Time Warner Books venture is illustrating the real power of digital content for publishers, authors, booksellers and, ultimately, the consumer," said Lightning President and CEO Ed Marino. "Our track record in pioneering the use of technology to bring new innovations to the marketplace coupled with iPublish.com and Time Warner content will substantially expand consumer access to some of the leading content available today."

According to Voynow, iPublish.com will be unveiling its first list of new titles this September, which will be distributed via online retailers. In the coming months, iPublish.com will also be announcing content acquisitions and distribution and promotion partnerships with eBook software companies, device makers, and online retailers. iPublish.com has already announced partnerships with Microsoft Reader and Gemstar’s Rocket e-books.

Reciprocal, Inc., the global leader in digital rights management transaction services, provides comprehensive, easy-to-implement e-commerce clearing services and back-office solutions for the music, publishing, software, film, entertainment, and other digital content industries. Reciprocal offers content owners a true outsourced DRM solution that allows them to realize new revenue streams while efficiently protecting their online digital assets.

The Reciprocal Digital Clearing Service leverages leading DRM technology from InterTrust Technologies Corporation, Microsoft Corp., IBM, ContentGuard, Inc., Adobe Systems Incorporated, and Preview Systems, allowing companies to choose the solution that best fits their business needs. Reciprocal Digital Clearing Service is secure, flexible and capable of handling millions of transactions per day. Leading content companies such as Sony Music Entertainment, BMG Entertainment, Zomba Records, Houghton Mifflin, Reuters and Aberdeen Group have selected Reciprocal as their digital rights management services provider. Privately held, Reciprocal maintains offices in New York City, Buffalo, NY and Research Triangle Park, NC.

Lightning Source Inc.^SM, a subsidiary of Ingram Industries Inc., is a recognized leader in digital fulfillment and print-on-demand. A pioneer in capitalizing on new technology by bringing successful "on demand" printing services to market, Lightning is now paving the way for advances in the e-marketplace. With an expanded suite of services, Lightning Source provides comprehensive end-to-end digital fulfillment services that are revolutionizing the options available to the industry in the conversion, storage, management and distribution of digital content. To date, Lightning has partnerships with more than 600 publishers around the world, over 10,000 titles in its digital library and has printed in excess of 1,000,000 "on demand" books for publishers, booksellers, and librarians. For more information, visit our web site at: http://www.lightningsource.com.