Provo, Utah—The countdown to Horizon Sunrise 7.0 general release has begun, with ten beta libraries helping to ensure product readiness for its release date. New features and enhancements to be part of Horizon Sunrise 7.0 include Z39.50 cataloging, major circulation enhancements such as borrower information check on request, hold suspension and cluster hold capability, Win 2000 client support, Unicode enhancements, day-end optimization, and other important new features.
According to Gregory Witt, Horizon Sunrise 7.0 Product Manager, "This is a significant new release for epixtech. Our customers, potential customers, and the library community as a whole have a lot to be excited about. Our developers have worked hard along with our beta sites to make sure the most requested enhancements are in this release. The beta sites have been very positive regarding the hold suspension, where hold requests can be suspended for later reactivation, such as when a patron is leaving on vacation and wishes his or her request to be suspended during the time they are away. The Z39.50 cataloging, which gives library staff the ability to search Z39.50 databases and save the local Horizon Sunrise databases, is also a big bonus for customers."
epixtech President and CEO, Lana Porter, was particularly grateful to the beta sites, who have been very cooperative in making this release a success. "We rely heavily on our beta sites to make sure each release includes some of the most requested enhancements, and that these enhancements give the libraries the functionalities they most need. We have been fortunate to have such cooperative, far-sighted and capable beta sites." The beta sites working on Horizon Sunrise 7.0 include a variety of public, K-12 school, academic, special, and international libraries, including Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, Iowa State University, Kenton County Public Library (KY), Portage District Library (MI), Eccles Health Sciences Library (UT), Utah Valley State College, University of Canterbury (New Zealand), Asbury Theological Seminary (KY) and the Smithsonian Institution.
Ed Szynaka, Director of Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, speaks of his library's willingness to work with epixtech staff on Horizon Sunrise 7.0. "Although it can be time consuming and sometimes even frustrating to be a beta site on a new product, it is also very rewarding to know you're helping shape the future of libraries through the automation available to them. There are some really unique and important enhancements in this release that we have helped drive and shape. We're proud of the work we've done with epixtech. We know the release will serve our library better than any previous release, but we know it will also serve other libraries better."
About epixtech
epixtech is the leading provider of automation technologies, solutions and services for more than 7,600 libraries worldwide. epixtech's award-winning library automation systems, ConnectLib solutions for patron self-services, desktop management and interlibrary loans and its new Web-based solutions and services empower libraries and their patrons. epixtech was formerly Ameritech Library Services, a subsidiary of Ameritech, and became a private corporation in December 1999. epixtech's library automation solutions meet the needs of academic, research, public, corporate, consortia and K-12 school libraries. Headquartered in Utah, epixtech has offices in Evanston, Illinois; Waterloo, Ontario; as well as in Australia, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Taiwan. epixtech, inc. is located at 400 West 5050 North, Provo, Utah 84605; Telephone: 800.288.8020; fax 801.223.5202; and www.epixtech.com.