The new software automatically identifies database attributes, such as the number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms and the price of a house, from text classified ads. This results in fast, accurate searches of one newspaper or all Real Cities Web classifieds coast-to-coast.

Real Cities classifieds software will also allow advertisers to buy both print classified and Web classified ads online without having to call an ad representative. The program allows advertisers to include photographs, video and audio at the time they create their ads.

"Real Cities classifieds sets a new standard for publishing newspaper classified databases on the Web," said Chris Jennewein, vice president of technology and operations for Knight Ridder New Media. "Instead of simply reproducing the typically terse text of classified ads, Real Cities classifieds extracts key attributes so that users can quickly find what they're looking for."

Knight Ridder New Media developed the Real Cities classifieds software using the ObjectStore database from Object Design Inc. and the NetOwl natural language indexing engine from IsoQuest Inc. The combination of object database and natural language technology results in faster, more accurate searching than is common on the Internet today.

Sellers will be able to place an ad by clicking on the "advertise" icon, filling out a form and paying by credit card. Individuals who do not wish to use a credit card will be able to set up a billing account online.

Real Cities classifieds technology is an open architecture platform that uses industry standard data formats. Data can be aggregated into the database from newspapers, Web sites, flat file and ODBC-compliant sources. Knight Ridder New Media will eventually use the technology for other online content areas in addition to classifieds.

Object Design's ObjectStore is a flexible database that lets individual newspaper sites customize their online classifieds, "look and feel" without compromising the system performance or engaging in a long development process. IsoQuest's NetOwl is an ad parsing software that converts the raw text of classifieds into a structured format for database access. The IsoQuest engine understands the abbreviations and other language conventions of newspaper classifieds and can infer additional information from the way an ad is worded.

Real Cities classifieds software also will incorporate Knight Ridder New Media's Classified Interchange File Format (CIFF), a SGML format defining an ad's content, scheduling and the attributes that make it searchable in a database.

Hundreds of classifieds categories will be included in Real Cities classifieds database. Some categories include: real estate, rental housing, employment, transportation, merchandise/services, collectors corner, computers/Internet, pets, farm/livestock, business equipment, announcement/events, auctions, legal/financial, personal services, and lost and found. New categories and new geographies can be dynamically created through a browser-based administration tool.

The initial deployment of Real Cities classifieds will be seen on the Web sites of three Knight Ridder California newspapers: the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times and SLO County Telegram. The new software is expected to be available in the top ten Real Cities markets by the end of the year. Knight Ridder New Media plans to link classifieds from all Real Cities network sites by mid-1999.

About Object Design, Inc.

Object Design, Inc., the leading object database company, develops and markets the ObjectStore database management system and related tools. ObjectStore, with its unique Cache-Forward database architecture, is used by customers in a wide variety of industries to build and deploy component-based computing applications. The company backs its products with comprehensive training, service and support. Headquartered in Burlington, Mass., Object Design sells and supports its products through branch offices across the U.S., international subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan and Australia, and a worldwide network of distributors.

About IsoQuest, Inc.

IsoQuest, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SRA International, Inc., is a leading provider of intelligent content management software for business and government. The company's NetOwl products, including NetOwl Extractor, NetOwl for Electronic Publishing and NetOwl for Classifieds, automatically extract, analyze, index, categorize and summarize text documents. NetOwl software helps corporations manage electronic information and allows end users to know more by reading less. Headquartered in Fairfax, Va., IsoQuest serves a global customer base including Thomson Corporation, Excalibur Technologies, EDGAR Online, Price Waterhouse and NewsEdge Corporation.

About Knight Ridder New Media:

Knight Ridder New Media, a leader in interactive information delivery, is located in San Jose, Calif., and maintains 40 Web sites in the Real Cities network. Twenty-eight are community resource sites and 12 are specialty content sites.

Knight Ridder is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with products in print and online. The company publishes 31 daily newspapers in 28 U.S. markets, reaching 9.0 million readers daily and 12.6 million on Sunday. Knight Ridder has investments in two newsprint mills and is headquartered in Miami, Fla.

Real Cities is a trademark of Knight Ridder New Media.

Contacts:

Cynthia Funnell National Communications Manager Knight Ridder New Media (408) 938-6076 cfunnell@realcities.com

Patricia Colby Pacifico, Inc. (408) 293-8600 pcolby@pacifico.com