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Dialog Announces New Pricing Plans

CARY, N.C., USA (October 22, 2001) - Dialog, a Thomson business and a leading worldwide provider of online-based information services, announced today the introduction of three new pricing plans for customers of its Dialog® and DataStar™ family of products, which replace an array of former pricing programs.

With an emphasis on simplicity and value, the new pricing plans now available offer a number of benefits to customers, depending on the customer's unique situation and budgetary requirements. These benefits, which are dependent on the exact plan the customer selects, can include predictable fixed monthly payments, discounts based on usage levels beginning as low as $1,000 per year, multi-year options offering price protection, and access to all Dialog databases and files. When coupled with the company's release in June of revamped and simplified sales contracts, the benefits also include simplicity and lack of legalese. For example, a typical customer's total sales related documentation at the time of an order, including all terms and conditions, is now four pages or less.

"We are delivering on our pledge to offer pricing options that best serve customers' unique information needs and company budgets while simplifying the process of doing business with Dialog," said Roy M. Martin, Jr., Dialog president and CEO. "We've listened to our customers and now we're responding to their requests by offering a significantly streamlined and simplified approach to buying and installing Dialog."

The new plans are Dialog Transact, Dialog Advantage and, available to the company's largest customers, Dialog Enterprise. All of the new plans include, at no additional charge, customer training (which was announced earlier this year as free worldwide), installation, user documentation, monthly technical and training newsletters, annual database catalogs, and ongoing phone support at no charge through the company's Knowledge Centers worldwide. For additional fees, customers also can utilize Dialog Consulting Services to integrate Dialog products with customer Intranets, using the Dialog Intraintelligence line of products.

The new plans were developed based on feedback from DataStar and Dialog customers worldwide. The users of those products are drawn from large, mid-sized and small companies, as well as from numerous industries and markets around the world.

"Our goal is to nurture long-term relationships with our customers," Martin added. "To do that, we need to give them the ability to craft their relationship with us on their terms, according to their needs. Our new pricing plans will help our customers define their own ways of maximizing the value of Dialog and DataStar in their professional lives."

The company said that today's announcement is the latest initiative in its ongoing review of its pricing strategy. Additional pricing initiatives are expected to be announced in the first quarter of 2002.

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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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