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Dialog Now Offering Information Technology & Communications and Customized Subsets of the Inspec® Database

CARY, N.C., USA (April 4, 2003) — Dialog, a Thomson (TSX: TOC; NYSE: TOC) business and a leading worldwide provider of online-based information services and integrated information solutions, said today that it is offering the Information Technology and Communications subset of the Inspec® database, as well as customized Inspec subsets, to users of its Dialog® and Dialog DataStar™ services.

Produced by the IEE (Institution of Electrical Engineers), the Inspec database is the leading English-language bibliographic information resource providing access to the world's scientific and technical literature in physics, electrical engineering, electronics, communications, control engineering, computers and computing, and information technology.

The Information Technology and Communications subset is comprised of more than 1.4 million records dating back to 1969. It is updated with more than 90,000 new records per year.

The Information Technology and Communications subset covers subjects relating to information creation, storage, use and communication. Topics include information and communication theory, telecommunications, ICT training and education, ICT management, multimedia, computer hardware, storage and networking, communications software, user interface techniques, database and file organization software.

Additional topics include information technology applications in areas such as business, administration and manufacturing.

Dialog and Dialog DataStar users can now also subscribe to customized discrete subsets of content from the Inspec database that can be created using Dialog's extensive Custom Solutions capabilities. The new service allows users to focus their searching on materials covering only relevant, specific industries and topics.

"Offering subsets of the powerful Inspec database will open the door to this resource to a much larger audience of smaller companies that do not need or perhaps cannot justify access to the full database," said Viji Krishnan, Dialog vice president of content development. "The move furthers our efforts to make our information resources as widely available, to as broad a universe of users from across the business landscape, as possible."

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About Dialog
Dialog, a pioneer in developing the technology behind electronic information retrieval, is the world leader in providing online-based information services to organizations seeking competitive advantages in such fields as business, science, engineering, finance and law.

Today, Dialog's online services — offered through the Dialog®, Dialog Profound®, Dialog DataStar™, NewsEdge and Intelligence Data brands — give users the ability to precisely retrieve data from more than 1.4 billion unique records, accessible via the Internet or through delivery to enterprise intranets. Searchable content includes articles and reports from thousands of real-time news feeds, newspapers, broadcast transcripts and trade publications, plus research reports and analyst notes providing support for financial decision-making, as well as in-depth repositories of scientific and technical data, patents, trademarks and other intellectual property data.

Corporate librarians, knowledge managers, other information professionals and end-users at business, professional and government organizations in more than 100 countries prize Dialog services for their depth and breadth of content, precision searching and speed.

Based in Cary, N.C., USA, Dialog has operations in 31 other countries worldwide. For more information about Dialog, please visit www.dialog.com. Or, please call (U.S./Canada) 800-3-DIALOG or (U.S.) 919-462-8600. Dialog's London office may be reached at (44) (0) 207-940-6900.

About The Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2002 revenues of $7.8 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges (TSX: TOC; NYSE: TOC).

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 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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