July 2010

Dear Dialog / DataStar Customer,

This month, ProQuest and Dialog are celebrating our second anniversary together! I want to mark that occasion by bringing you up to date on our promise to merge the Dialog^® and DataStar^® products. As you know, this goal has been attempted several times in the past but not delivered due to the challenges of redesign and reload for the enormous amount of content involved. This time, with the benefit of ProQuest technology resources, it's really happening.

The first release of this new product — which we're calling ProQuest Dialog — is centered on our pharmaceutical and biomedical content and will be available this summer. A later release in 2010 will add more scientific, technical and medical content. We're very excited about the intuitive, yet powerful search interface, which is designed primarily for end-user researchers. Feedback from end-users who participated in the beta test indicates we have hit the mark. If you have an existing site license or subscription contract to the content available in these first releases, you'll hear from us soon regarding access and migration details.

But, we wouldn't be Dialog if we weren't also supporting "power searchers." So, when the new product is fully launched in 2011, you'll find next-generation command-based Boolean and proximity search. We'll combine ease-of-use with enhanced precision search to better serve both information professionals and end-users in scientific, intellectual property and business intelligence research, including:

• full-text content from ProQuest to strengthen the offering across subject collections
• the option to select the interface language, combined with automatic translation of key parts of documents, to simplify access for users in non-English speaking regions
• integration of analytical tools and improvements in cross-file indexing to aid retrieval and use of content from existing and new sources
• a full range of pricing and contract options.

Our ultimate goal is to offer the premier collection of authoritative content combined with the features needed by the global professional market.

Early releases of ProQuest Dialog will be available under flat-rate contracts. If you do not currently have a subscription contract, but are interested in gaining access to ProQuest Dialog in this early phase, please check with your account representative for information on the databases available and how to establish a flat rate contract.

Intrigued? I invite you to join our customer panel to see previews of each release. We welcome your feedback to help inform the ongoing creation of ProQuest Dialog, a product designed to meet your needs now and into the future.

Thank you,

Suzanne BeDell
General Manager, Dialog
suzanne.bedell@dialog.com