CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Providence-based IT firm Tizra Inc. today announced that MIT Press has agreed to use Tizra’s Agile PDF software platform to create a Web site that will enable users to find, buy and view online versions of books published by the press.

The MIT Press, one of the largest American university presses, is a publisher of scholarly books and journals in the humanities, social sciences and sciences. Its new, MIT Press-branded Web site is scheduled to go live within weeks, offering books from the press’s world-renowned computer science and related collections.

MIT Press’ print works have long targeted a broad audience, beyond just scholarly and professional readers, but its online audience has been more specialized.

The initiative with Tizra aims to change that. Because the new service will be available to individuals, as well as university and institutional customers, it represents a significant step toward broader online access for MIT Press content.

The service also represents the first time the press has sold online versions of its computer and information science books, which naturally appeal to online researchers.

“We are very happy to be working with Tizra,” said MIT Press Director Ellen W. Faran. “Our books reach a wide audience of professionals, students and general readers – and the Tizra platform enables us to offer them a greater choice of digital formats. Most importantly, it will allow us to experiment with a variety of electronic offerings to find out what will best meet the needs of our readers.”

For Tizra, the signing caps a series of deals that had already exceeded sales goals since the company officially launched its Agile PDF product in February. (READ MORE)

“Signing with MIT Press so soon after launch represents the strongest validation of our product and business model we could have hoped for,” said David Durand, Tizra’s CEO. “Not only are they one of the largest and most prestigious university presses in the country, but they have a long track record of technological innovation, which we are proud to be associated with.”

Part of the reason MIT chose Tizra’s new platform for the initiative was the flexibility and direct control Agile PDF provides over site branding and product definition, without the investment and risks associated with custom software development, said Gita Manaktala, MIT Press’s marketing director.

“Tizra offered us a very attractive way to build on our own brand, and to create new online products that play to the particular strengths of our publishing program,” Manaktala said. “Like other publishers, we are still learning the best ways to distribute our books online, so it’s imperative that we work with technology that will let us respond and adapt quickly.”

Tizra Inc.’s mission is to provide content owners large and small with unprecedented control over the marketing, sales and delivery of their online content. The company’s first product is Agile PDF, a hosted online publishing and delivery service that makes it easier to sell and distribute data from portable document format (PDF) and other files, through publisher-branded Web sites. Tizra is funded in part by the Slater Technology Fund. Additional information is available at tizra.com.

To learn more about the MIT Press, visit www-mitpress.mit.edu.