Greetings, Loyal Subscribers,
It was three years ago this month that InfoBase Publishers took the plunge into dot-com-dom. Each November since then I've published a letter in this space updating you on our progress.
Our big news for the year is the rollout of our fourth-generation website, which took place earlier this month. In look it's much the same beast as our previous website, but when it comes to speed we're in a whole new league. Credit goes to new industrial-strength database and server software packages.
The move to this architecture took many months and more money than I care to think about. But the payoff in speed is gratifying, and more importantly, this transition lays a robust foundation for the rapid implementation of many new, exciting services and features for our website.
Our growth continues in high gear. New sales for this year have already surpassed last year's record total, and our subscription renewal rate continues to levitate above 90 percent. Those are good numbers, and they will make possible a host of improvements to our site during the coming year.
We appreciate your ever-heavier usage of this service, and we are gratified by your support and kind words. Our favorites, coming from the top CI executive at one of the largest U.S. defense firms: "It's the most powerful competitive-assessment tool I've seen to date, bar none; end of story."
It's more than we would ever say about ourselves... but we would add that we're going to make it much, much better in 2003.
In closing... subscription rates will not be going up next year. It's a small "thank you" from us to you, our valued subscribers, for bearing with us this year as the site went through some growing pains.
We think you're going to like what's coming next.
Warm regards,

Stuart McCutchan
President
InfoBase Publishers, Inc.
November 15, 2002