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March 30, 2007

Google and Microsoft debate Enterprise Search in keynote at Gilbane San Francisco

Join us on April 11, 8:30am at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco for Gilbane San Francisco 2007

We have expanded our opening keynote to include a special debate between Microsoft and Google on Enterprise Search and Information Access, in addition to our discussion on all content technologies with IBM, Oracle & Adobe.

You still have time to join us for this important and lively debate at the Palace Hotel, April 11. The keynote is open to all attendees, even those only planning to visit the technology showcase. The full keynote runs from 8:30am to 10:15am followed by a coffee break and the opening of the technology showcase, and now includes:

Keynote Panel: Content Technology Industry Update PART 2
Google and Microsoft are competing in many areas on many levels. One area which both are ramping-up quickly is enterprise search. In this part of the opening keynote, we bring the senior product managers face to face to answer our questions about their plans and what this means for enterprise information access and content management strategies.

Moderator: Frank Gilbane, Conference Chair, CEO, Gilbane Group, Inc.
Panelists:
Jared Spataro, Group Product Manager, Enterprise Search, Microsoft
Nitin Mangtani, Lead Product Manager, Google Search Appliance, Google

See the complete keynote description.

Registration information
http://gilbanesf.com/registration_information.html

Gilbane San Francisco 2007
Content management, enterprise search, localization, collaboration, wikis, publishing ...
Complete conference information is at http://gilbanesf.com/conference_grid.html

http://gilbanesf.com

March 27, 2007

Press Release: Latest Enterprise Content Management and Enterprise 2.0 Technologies Take Center Stage at Gilbane San Francisco 2007

Free Exhibit Hall to Showcase Technologies and Solutions for Improving and Streamlining Information Creation, Management and Delivery

SAN FRANCISCO, March 27, 2007 - The Gilbane Group and Lighthouse Seminars, today announced that the Gilbane Conference San Francisco 2007 (http://gilbanesf.com), taking place April 10-12 at the Palace Hotel, will offer a free technology showcase that will play host to many of the industry's most innovative developers of enterprise content management and Web 2.0 solutions. This year’s event has broadened its focus to include coverage of web and other enterprise content management applications, enterprise search and information access technologies, publishing technologies, wikis, blogs and collaboration tools, and globalization and translation technologies. (http://gilbanesf.com/index.html)

Attendees will see some of the most innovative and cutting-edge content management solutions available on the market today. To view the entire list of exhibitors visit:

http://gilbanesf.com/exhibitors_sponsors.html

The following is a brief look at what some of the companies will announce and showcase next week:

  • Acquity Group – learn about their content management expertise and implementation best practices for Portals, Enterprise Content Management, and Information Architecture
  • Across Systems GmbH – The across Language Server is a collaborative business solution for all language resources and translation processes, including a translation memory and terminology system as well as tools for the project and workflow management
  • Acumium – will provide LIVE customer demos to see how easily Acumium content/e-commerce/globalization solutions power large multi-lingual retail sites and information portals
  • AuthorIT – will present its entire product line, including a sneak preview you won’t want to miss. From Component Content Management to Web Content Management, AuthorIT has one source for content, one solution for technology
  • Clay Tablet – presents the best way to connect any content system to any translation technology - helping clients achieve translation efficiency as the content management and globalization worlds converge
  • Day Software – Web 2.0 applications are ideally suited for efficiently managing today’s explosion of digital information. Day will showcase how their global content management applications deliver Web 2.0 to the Enterprise
  • fasoo.com, Inc. – Will showcase 'DRM ONE', the Total Enterprise DRM solution, which serves as the perfect solution to cover the document security area for enterprises that are considering CMS/ECM deployments
  • FatWire Software – introduces Content Server 7. Faster to deploy and easier to use. Whether you are a casual content contributor, a copy editor or a power user, FatWire CS7 is the first content management software designed to work the way you work
  • Hot Banana Software – is a Web CMS that helps marketers build and manage SEO-friendly Web sites that can be automated and optimized for maximum lead generation and conversion performance
  • Idiom Technologies Inc. – Idiom® WorldServer™ automates the translation and localization of multilingual content to enable the cost effective delivery of websites, products and marketing materials in multiple languages
  • LISA – The Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) is a repository for globalization business standards, publications and events. It will display its new Globalization Industry Primer (http://www.lisa.org/products/primer/) – free to organizations to help them jump-start their international business expansion
  • Sansui Software – will show PublishNow! offering web-based self-service publishing solutions that let front line sales and marketing teams create localized marketing collateral with brand management and corporate standards centrally controlled
  • The Level Consulting Ltd. – The Level’s Enterprise Portal and Content Management Software controls the creation, localization and delivery of content for local audiences worldwide. Powers multilingual websites, ‘dashboard’ intranets and extranets
  • Tridion – Discover why over 400 customers trust their brands to Tridion. Come see Tridion demonstrate their newest product that will infuse globalization into your websites and render your persuasive content

Registration information:
http://gilbanesf.com/registration_information.html

About Gilbane Group, Inc.
Gilbane Group Inc. is an analyst and consulting firm that has been writing and consulting about the strategic use of information technologies since 1987. We have helped organizations of all sizes from a wide variety of industries and governments. We work with the entire community of stakeholders including investors, enterprise buyers of IT, technology suppliers, and other consultant and analyst firms. We have organized over 50 educational conferences in North America and Europe. Information about our widely-read newsletter, reports, white papers, case studies and analyst blogs is available at http://gilbane.com.

About Lighthouse Seminars
Lighthouse Seminars' events cover information technologies and “content technologies” in particular. These include content management of all types, digital asset management, document management, web content management, enterprise portals, enterprise search, web and multi-channel publishing, electronic forms, authoring, content and information integration, information architecture, and e-catalogs. http://lighthouseseminars.com

Contacts:

Welz & Weisel Communications
Evan Weisel, 703-218-3555
Cell: 703-628-5754
evan@w2comm.com
or
Lighthouse Seminars
Jeffrey V. Arcuri, 508-759-8180
jeff@lighthouseseminars.com

March 20, 2007

Press Release: Adobe, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle Executives to Participate in Keynote Panel at Gilbane San Francisco 2007

Update 3/26/2007: Google Joins Keynote.
See: http://gilbanesf.com/gilbane_session_descriptions.html#keynote

Executives Will Address Strategic, Business and Technical Enterprise Content Management Issues and Trends

SAN FRANCISCO - March 20, 2007 - The Gilbane Group and Lighthouse Seminars, today announced that executives from Adobe, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle will participate in the Gilbane San Francisco 2007 keynote panel, “Content Technology Industry Update,” on Wednesday, April 11th at 8:30 a.m. at the Palace Hotel. Taking place April 10-12, the Gilbane Conference San Francisco has greatly expanded its collection of educational programs, including sessions focused on web and other enterprise content management applications, enterprise search and information access technologies, publishing technology, wikis, blogs and collaboration tools, and information on globalization and translation technology.

The “Content Technology Industry Update” keynote panel will focus on the most important strategic issues technical and business managers need to consider for both near and long term success in managing content and content technologies in the context of enterprise applications. The keynote panel discussion is completely interactive (i.e., no presentations).

“Before embarking on a content management, search, publishing, collaboration or globalization strategy or project, you need to understand not only the vertical and horizontal solutions from the technology suppliers that address specific content-oriented business applications, but also what the major platform providers are doing and how their offerings fit into your plans, or not,” comments Frank Gilbane, Conference Chair, CEO, Gilbane Group, Inc. “In San Francisco this year we look at what the largest software suppliers are doing that will affect enterprise content strategies both directly and indirectly.”

With six tracks and 35 sessions to choose from, attendees have the opportunity to participate in a conference program focused on educating attendees about the latest content management technologies from experienced content management practitioners, consultants, and technologists.

Complete conference schedule:
http://gilbanesf.com/conference_grid.html

Pre-conference tutorials:
http://gilbanesf.com/gilbane_preconference-tutorials.html

Conference session descriptions:
http://gilbanesf.com/gilbane_session_descriptions.html

Registration information:
http://gilbanesf.com/registration_information.html

About Gilbane Group, Inc.
Gilbane Group Inc. is an analyst and consulting firm that has been writing and consulting about the strategic use of information technologies since 1987. We have helped organizations of all sizes from a wide variety of industries and governments. We work with the entire community of stakeholders including investors, enterprise buyers of IT, technology suppliers, and other consultant and analyst firms. We have organized over 50 educational conferences in North America and Europe. Information about our widely-read newsletter, reports, white papers, case studies and analyst blogs is available at http://gilbane.com.

About Lighthouse Seminars
Lighthouse Seminars' events cover information technologies and “content technologies” in particular. These include content management of all types, digital asset management, document management, web content management, enterprise portals, enterprise search, web and multi-channel publishing, electronic forms, authoring, content and information integration, information architecture, and e-catalogs. http://lighthouseseminars.com

Contacts:
Welz & Weisel Communications
Evan Weisel, 703-218-3555
Cell: 703-628-5754
evan@w2comm.com
or
Lighthouse Seminars
Jeffrey V. Arcuri, 508-759-8180
jeff@lighthouseseminars.com

March 16, 2007

Seth Earley invites you to his tutorial in April

For those of you familiar with my work in the area of taxonomies, I'd like to encourage you to attend the workshop that I am doing in San Francisco even if you have attended some of my prior workshops and taxonomy community of practice conference calls. The reason is things are evolving in some very interesting ways and I am seeing new trends in how organizations are approaching taxonomies and how senior executives are considering taxonomy issues.

I have recently been working with some large organizations on content strategy and taxonomy development and am noticing a big change in the landscape. Rather than going through the downside of the hype curve as I have predicted in the past, my experience has shown that organizations are really learning how to practically leverage taxonomies and more fully integrate them into all kinds of applications.

Here is a comparison of some trends that I saw a year or so ago and now.

1 year ago:

  1. Many people perceived taxonomy to be strictly a web/user interface/navigational construct
  2. Few resources were devoted to the efforts
  3. The efforts were part of existing workstreams of defined duration projects
  4. Line of business people could not see the value or applicability
  5. Organizations had no idea of how to mobilize business leadership to give this work the attention it required

Today:

  1. Taxonomy is considered part of enterprise architecture and data standards as well as web applications
  2. Projects are being more fully resourced as large scale enterprise initiatives
  3. In addition to having a specific project context, taxonomy and classification projects are seen as being cross project, foundational, and deserving of significant internal allocations of resources
  4. Business people are requesting that their voices be heard and that their areas represented in taxonomy projects
  5. Leadership (C Level executives) are paying attention to and understanding what is required to ensure long term viability of taxonomy and metadata projects

What do I base this on? Well, just over a year ago, projects with price tags in the low 5 figures (say in the 50k range) prompted reactions of surprise and sticker shock. Now, it is not uncommon to see $200 - $500k or more being allocated for these kinds of projects (excluding technology costs). There are still smaller scale projects, but when developing any initiative that has a global scale, the price tag is not insignificant. Business leaders are recognizing this and recognizing the need for consistent taxonomies to support even larger ECM projects.

More parts of the organization are being mobilized. Whereas in the past, people would not make time for meetings or would blow them off, we frequently see meetings where more people show up than expected and where interview calendars quickly fill up. Rather than saying "why do you want me there?", it is "when can I meet with you?"

There is also more communication and collaboration between the data side and the content side of the house. This may be due to the fact that each side better understands the perspective of the other, but also because there is more of a blurring of the lines between structured and unstructured applications. A claims process for an insurance company is based on a transaction, but supporting unstructured documentation needs to be associated with that transaction. E-commerce engines are increasingly requiring structured facets in order to make the experience more effective and enjoyable.

People's non working online experience is changing their perspective and understanding of the value of taxonomy in search and navigation. When I was explaining faceted search at a recent workshop, one attendee finally lit up and said "It's like shopping!".... Yes, it's like shopping! <smile> The new ways of navigating commerce sites have led to a greater appreciation of classification and filtering and the role of consistent terminology.

I also had a series of meetings with business leaders at a large financial services organization. These were executives who were just below the CEO of a multi billion dollar firm. Many of them asked about taxonomy governance processes and how we'd integrate with existing standards in the organization. After one of the meetings, the CIO said "we need to get ____ and ____ and ____ together" (rattling off the names of his senior level peers) "and we need to do a workshop on governance"...

Do my ears deceive me? A group of C level executives wanting to get together and discuss taxonomy governance?

Be still my beating heart!

Times have certainly changed.

(Do you want to learn ways to get the attention of senior management and prove the value of taxonomy projects? - I will tell all in our session in San Francisco. See you there... :-))

Seth Earley

March 9, 2007

Gilbane San Francisco "early bird" discounts end soon!

Take advantage of the early bird discounts for each of the three conferences at the "Content Management Conference Trifecta": Gilbane San Francisco, the LISA (Localization Standards Association) Forum & the CM Pros (Content Management Professionals Association) Summit. (Thanks to our friends at CMSWire for the racing analogy)

Register today.

And don't forget to make your hotel reservations while the special rate is still available.

March 4, 2007

Webinar Reminder: Where Do We Go From Here? A Roadmap to CMS Success

Thursday, March 8, 2007, 2:00 pm EST

You're already using XML, you understand the benefits of moving to DITA, but you can't seem to secure commitment of management and team members and get started. Sound familiar? Mary Laplante, VP, Consulting, Gilbane Group, joins Chip Gettinger, VP Sales and Support, Astoria Software, in a discussion on jumpstarting a CMS project. The emphasis in the webinar is on making the business case for change.

Registration is now open.

Webinar: DAM+WCM = Improved Communication

Gilbane Group Lead Analyst Tony White is the featured speaker at an AIIM webinar this Wednesday, March 7, 2007, 2:00-3:00 P.M. EST.

Many companies today are merging their digital asset management with web content management as part of their overall ECM Strategy. This webinar will discuss how to take advantage of this convergence to improve communication with customers and business partners. This webinar will address:

- How to fit media creation such as marketing and publishing into a creative workflow that will not be impinged by too much security

- Whether it is best to use multiple repositories or a single repository

- How to handle multi-channel publishing and distribution

Register

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Now available! "Beyond Search: What to do When Your Enterprise Search System Doesn't Work, by Stephen Arnold

Beyond Search Report cover


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Join us at:
Gilbane San Francisco
June 17-19, 2008
Westin Market Hotel
http://gilbanesf.com