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Dialog launches new version of PROFOUND®
Service Offers Improved Performance and Usability, Additional Content, Standardized Worldwide Pricing

CARY, N.C., April 26, 2001 -- Dialog, a leading provider of online-based information services and a subsidiary of The Thomson Corporation (TSE:TOC), today announced major enhancements to its Profound online information service.

The product now offers faster performance via AltaVista-powered search technology; enhanced usability and features; additional content and publishers; and standardized worldwide pricing.

"These enhancements significantly decrease times for complex searches and greatly enhance the overall platform, while adding features and content requested by our customers," explained Roy M. Martin, Jr., president and CEO of Dialog. "Profound users can now spend less time finding data, and more time analyzing and applying it."

With AltaVista-powered searching, Profound provides 80 percent of defined searches within 10 seconds, and 95 percent of all searches within 35 seconds. Profound users can also monitor the status of their searches with a new display counter.

The new release also features substantial improvements to Profoundís navigation, search input, and search output review capabilities. In response to customer feedback, it also features table of content pricing, allowing users to monitor and control their spending more effectively. Pricing for Profound and Newsline has also been standardized on a worldwide basis.

With an exclusive relationship with Frost & Sullivan, a full-service training and consulting company, Profound Researchline™ alone offers the Market Engineering Series. Also, Researchline content additions include an initial loading of more than 250 IDC technology business reports; Snapshots International, unique top-line market information crossing multiple industries; Asian Information Resources Limited, market intelligence from the Greater China region; GIA, global industry analyst market research reports, and Datamonitor, reports from a wide range of sectors.

Additions to Profound QuickSearch content include the full collection of PDF-formatted financial and business reports from Investext; Kompass Directory Files, profiling non-US businesses; Teikoku Databank: Japanese Companies, information on approximately 240,000 Japanese businesses; ICC British Company Financial Datasheets, a comprehensive analysis on the latest financial data on all companies with limited liability in the United Kingdom; and D&B Market Identifiers, which offers directory listings, sales volume, and marketing data for more than 18 million establishments in nearly 200 countries.

"By communicating with Dialog users, we have revolutionized the way information is delivered through Profound," said Martin. "With this launch, Dialog can at once increase technology and business intelligence offerings to best meet customer needs."

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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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