New enhancements include the ability to conduct a sequence of searches in SkyMinder's different content sections without having to wait to harvest results from each section before moving on to the next. Company section searches also now offer users the option of simultaneously retrieving Credit section reports. A Company section search now provides links to news stories on the company. In the Industry section, users can drill deeper by using phrase searching, along with industry descriptions or standard industry codes.

SkyMinder will also add coverage of companies in Poland, Spain, and Japan. It will begin carrying credit and financial material supplied by the Netherlands-based Graydon Credit Management Services (http://www.graydon.nl). The new content from Graydon will premiere with coverage of some 250,000 Japanese companies.

The new release has also redesigned the Ultimate Report and offers users full customization for a report in the Dynamic Menu. If searchers simply want complete retrieval of everything that can be located on a company in the SkyMinder system, they select an Ultimate Report option. When the Ultimate Report menu appears, it will list all the different items retrieved, provide sufficient information to assess what they would be getting and at what price, and then let them check off each segment they might want. Using the Dynamic Menu to the left of the screen, users can quickly revert to a section-by-section approach, but without having to re-enter search terms. John McCabe, sales manager at SkyMinder, points out that this gives the customer "complete customization control."

Pricing for SkyMinder has not changed. Robert Schmitt of CRIBIS said: "SkyMinder has been refined and streamlined to benefit our users. We have retained our pay-per-view model, maximizing value and providing a significant advantage over our competitors." SkyMinder applies a deposit account approach, rather than subscription. Simply searching the service does not incur any charges against the deposit account, only printing results. And the system presents price information throughout the search process (allowing users to make careful purchase decisions) and reports back deposit account balance changes.

Commenting on the changes, McCabe said: "The changes just give us a greater opportunity to capture market with greater functionality. We feel we're a real player now with our increasing participation in the business information market. We've got game!"

CRIBIS is a subsidiary of CRIBISNET Group, an international organization specializing in decision-support systems and databases for the retail credit market.