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Dialog Launches Dialog Company Profiles

CARY, N.C., USA, (November 5, 2001) -- The Dialog Corporation, a Thomson business and a leading worldwide provider of online-based information services, today announced the launch of a new stand-alone product called Dialog Company Profiles, offering one-stop access to up-to-the-moment, comprehensive profiles of nearly 500,000 publicly traded and privately owned companies from 188 countries.

The new web-based service gives users the ability to quickly generate a list of relevant company profiles and articles drawn from a large collection of reliable online databases, news and business information services, and financial data sources.

Snapshot information presented in a profile includes a company synopsis, history, corporate parent and sibling relationships, executive listing, a list of products and brands, performance ratings, industry and peer rankings, contact details (including company web site addresses, as available) and other background information.

The Dialog Company Profiles service is designed to be used directly by business decision-makers and managers -- such as senior-level executives, investment managers, sales staffs, marketing researchers and others -- throughout a corporate enterprise.

"The Dialog Company Profiles service is an exciting new venture for us," said Roy M. Martin, Jr., Dialog president and CEO. "We're giving business professionals around the world a tremendous new power to put company and industry information to work for them, when they need it and where they need it. There are no commands to learn. Anyone can use Dialog Company Profiles the first time they log on."

Users simply type in the name of a company or industry, with the Dialog Company Profiles system then automatically searching through millions of documents to create the desired profile for display on the user's screen.

Retrieved information is organized under one of nine content-specific tabs. The full text of displayed articles and reports can be viewed with a click on the appropriate headline or title.

Users can expand or narrow their searches by filling in other searchable fields presented in the Dialog Company Profiles opening search page. Additional fields allow users to search by industry code, geographic region, and personal name or on a specific subject.

The service enables users to efficiently find business case studies, competitive intelligence, and career and investment opportunities, among other research pursuits. With just a few clicks, users can benefit from multiple points of view and analysis, in addition to underlying data, through a single source.

Martin added that Dialog Company Profiles will help information professionals enhance their standing within their organizations. "Corporate librarians and other knowledge managers can have confidence when recommending Dialog Company Profiles within their organizations because they know the service comes backed with the Dialog commitment to providing accurate, comprehensive and targeted information."

The Dialog Company Profiles service was developed in conjunction with other units of The Thomson Corporation. Among the highly authoritative information sources included in company profiles are information databases and files produced by the Gale Group, the world's largest reference and research publisher for libraries and the educational market, which is also a leading aggregator and reseller of information services. Gale, in turn, relies on companies within the Thomson Financial group for some of the financial data available through Dialog Company Profiles.

The Dialog Company Profiles service is available for a flat fee subscription based upon the number of users. This allows for predictable budgeting throughout the year.

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About Dialog
Dialog is the worldwide leader in providing online-based information services to organizations seeking competitive advantages in such fields as business, science, engineering, finance and law. Its products and services, such as Dialog®, Profound® and DataStar™, offer organizations the ability to precisely retrieve data from more than 800 million unique records, accessible via the Internet or through delivery to enterprise Intranets. For almost three decades, Dialog's brands have been known for their breadth and depth of content, precision searching and speed. The Winter Corporation recently recognized Dialog for its breadth and depth of content when they named the company the Grand Prize-winner in the Database Scalability Program 2000.

Headquartered in Cary, N.C., USA, with direct operations in 30 countries, Dialog products are used by more than 20,000 corporate customers in over 100 countries. Dialog is a subsidiary of The Thomson Corporation, a leading global e-information and solutions company in the business and professional marketplace with 2000 revenues of approximately $6 billion. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the Toronto (TSE:TOC) and London stock exchanges.

For more information about Dialog, call 1-800-3-DIALOG or visit www.dialog.com. For more information about Thomson, visit www.thomson.com.

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All designated trademarks used herein are the property of The Dialog Corporation or its subsidiaries. Registered marks are registered by The Dialog Corporation or its subsidiaries, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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