Information Technology News

ClearStory Systems, Inc. announced new ActiveMedia Software as a Service (SaaS) packages that offer hosted DAM services that cater to a marketing organization's size. ClearStory will offer three ActiveMedia-based service plans for marketing workgroups, departments, and larger enterprise organizations, starting at $100 per user per month. ActiveMedia Essentials offers basic marketing services for workgroups in small organizations of 5 to 10 users. ActiveMedia Professional supports larger marketing departments of 10 to 20 users and includes full access to ActiveMedia's standard work flow automation features. ActiveMedia Essentials and ActiveMedia Professional also provide fixed-fee deployment services and application training that ensure successful and rapid deployments. ActiveMedia Enterprise expands upon ActiveMedia Professional by increasing the number of users and storage, typically required by larger enterprise and global marketing organizations, and including options for full text search of document assets and enterprise-class video processing. http://www.clearstorysystems.com

Posted by NewsShark at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: ClearStory, DAM, rich media, SaaS
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

blinkx announced the availability of the blinkx Advanced Media Platform, a video content management solution that leverages blinkx's Conceptual Recognition Engine (CoRE) technology to enable media companies to unlock the potential of video assets and maximize their monetization. From the digital domain of the Internet and content management systems, to the offline world, the blinkx Advanced Media Platform is meant to solve the problems inherent in video processing and delivery. blinkx can identify and extract video assets from any storage system or packaging, online or offline. blinkx CoRE then makes it possible for media owners to search, discover and organize these assets based on their meaning, and for viewers to access these videos across different platforms, languages and formats. The Advanced Media Platform's SEO component captures new audiences while the advanced search and discovery functionality engages and retains them. With explicit and implicit user profiling, a content recommendation engine and automatic text-to-video linking, search results and display methods are tailored to relevant users. blinkx understands not only how a video is titled and tagged, but the content itself. Leveraging blinkx AdHoc, blinkx is able to place relevant ads against video content. http://www.blinkx.com/

Posted by NewsShark at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: blinkx, rich media, search, video
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

LTU Technologies announced the release of LTU-Finder v. 3.0, a tool for image and video recognition in the field of computer forensics. Offered as a trusted plug-in to Guidance Software's EnCase, a computer forensic tool used in law enforcement, government and legal professionals, LTU-Finder reduces the time required to identify and review relevant image and video files collected during a digital investigation. Likewise, to help users obtain relevant reference data LTU is authorized to share the child porn "DNA" reference set of a major Federal law enforcement agency. LTU-Finder combines LTU's image and video content recognition technology with Guidance Software's computer and enterprise investigation capabilities to increase the speed and scope of forensic and legal investigations as well as e-discovery. Today's unveiling of LTU-Finder includes enhanced image and video recognition capabilities and introduces text data identification tools that further automate large-scale file searches in the legal, e-discovery and law enforcement fields. LTU-Finder also includes automatic document identification tools that separate relevant scanned documents, like e-faxes, from other content such as personal photos or web graphics. LTU-Finder leverages the same core Image DNA technology offered in its multimedia content control solutions. All relevant information about images and videos is indexed within a digital signature, or "image DNA", that examines each pixel of an image in order to identify the key visual features. Additionally, LTU-Finder, like all of LTU's offerings, has the ability to identify duplicated and modified images and flag and match images against those in centralized databases or from case data files.

Posted by NewsShark at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: e-discovery, LTU Technologies, rich media, search
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Vignette (NASDAQ: VIGN) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Vidavee, a video Web services company that enables Web publishers to upload, share, analyze and monetize Internet video content. The strategic acquisition and integration of Vidavee's video publishing technology will provide video management and publishing capabilities. Under the terms of the agreement between Vignette and Vidavee, Vignette will pay approximately $6.6 million in cash for all outstanding shares of Vidavee. Vidavee leverages heat maps to help organizations analyze viewer interaction and enable these companies to improve impressions and drive additional revenues by taking the most popular sections of a video stream and dynamically inserting advertising and other rich content. Additional video tagging capabilities allow users to identify sections of interest from a video and share the content to increase views and attract additional users. Upon completion of the acquisition, Vignette will offer Vidavee's video publishing technologies through a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. The integration with Vignette's Digital Services Hub will provide organizations with a single unified framework for content monetization and delivery needs. By extending the integration to its Community product line, Vignette can offer customers additional features and support for creating and managing user-generated content. http://www.vignette.com

Posted by NewsShark at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: acquisition, DAM, digital asset management, Vidavee, video, Vignette, WCM
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Canto announced the immediate availability of Cumulus 7.5.3, a minor update that improves the performance and reliability of the entire Cumulus product line. The company says that Cumulus 7.5.3 is running on the recently released Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista, and OS X Leopard performance and reliability continues to be stable since the release of version 7.5.2, though a handful of improvements have been made to support Apple's latest OS even better. Canto recommends all customers upgrade to Cumulus 7.5.3, regardless of operating system, to benefit from global fixes and improvements. Customers on active service agreements can download the update free of charge from Canto's Customer Portal. The Cumulus product line was last updated in December, 2007, with the release of Cumulus 7.5.2. http:/www.canto.com/

Posted by NewsShark at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: Canto, DAM, digital asset management
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Vignette (NASDAQ: VIGN), announced three new product releases targeting organizations that want to deliver more personal and engaging Web experiences to their key audiences. Vignette Recommendations, Web analytics integration and an enhanced version of Vignette Rich Media Services. Vignette Recommendations helps organizations deliver more targeted Web experiences to customers through content recommendations, product recommendations and social search. Recommendations are immediately tailored to a visitor's intent rather than their past history. Central to this approach is Vignette Recommendations' ability to identify and leverage the virtual communities of like-minded visitors on any given site. By dynamically recognizing a visitor's true intent, Vignette Recommendations can guide them to the right content, product or search result. Vignette's Web analytics solution, powered by integration with Omniture SiteCatalyst, helps organizations maximize the value of their online properties. In addition to SiteCatalyst's site reports, Vignette's analytics integration helps customers identify and promote high value content and ads on media sites, optimize the mix and freshness of social sites or refine a portal or knowledge repository. Vignette is also launching an enhanced version of its Rich Media Services product module. Rich Media Services helps reduce the time it takes an organization to ingest, manage, manipulate and publish media assets, enriching the end-user Web experience without the cost or complexity of a digital asset management system. The latest version features enhanced metadata capturing, right-to-left language support and an optional desktop client that allows users to quickly and easily manipulate images and the associated metadata. Vignette Recommendations and the Web analytics integration are now available. The enhanced release of Vignette Rich Media Services will be available during the first half of 2008. http://www.vignette.com

Posted by NewsShark at 7:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: analytics, personalization, rich internet applications, Vignette, WCM
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Nstein Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: EIN) announced that it has acquired Picdar Established for over 20 years, Picdar provides Digital Workflow and Asset Management (DAM) solutions to newspapers, magazine and corporate publishers. Co-founder of Picdar and principal architect of the Media Mogul product suite, Andy Heather will continue to support local UK operations, as well as contribute to Nstein's combined product strategy as VP Worldwide Publishing. Lesley Steinitz, currently Chief Executive of Picdar, will now lead Nstein's UK offices as Director of Operations (UK). Jeff Carson, who initially joined Picdar as a software engineer will continue to act as Director of Engineering, responsible for local development and technical services. Nstein has acquired all of the outstanding common shares of Picdar for a purchase price equivalent to the sum of (i) the business' enterprise value set at between $6,595,000 and $9,245,000, plus (ii) the working capital excess at closing estimated at $4,545,000. An amount corresponding to 75% of the enterprise value, namely $6,595,000 is payable at closing, and the balance of up to $2,650,000 contingent on meeting certain future revenues and EBITDA targets. http://www.nstein.com

Posted by NewsShark at 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: acquisition, content management, DAM, Nstein, publishing, rich media
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) (NASDAQ: TSX:) (NASDAQ:OTC) announced that its Artesia Digital Media Group has unveiled Artesia DAM 6.8 - the latest version of its digital asset management software. Artesia DAM 6.8 includes many new features that expand the product's scope and functionality. Web Service interfaces that allow interoperability with both .Net and Java clients. Major DAM functions are also incorporated, including submitting and monitoring asset import and export jobs, searching for assets, and retrieving and storing asset metadata. Broader video support enables enhanced video logging and transcoding, improved video review and annotations, and a greater level of flexibility and control of video shots, including shot re-sequencing and seamless playback of multiple shots. New video export facility eases the operation of exporting and distributing video content from Artesia DAM via asynchronous export and leverages export templates that store pre-configured export and transcoding parameters. Broadcast video storage and manipulation is now fully integrated via Front Porch Digital's DIVArchive and supports rich video workflows that include ingestion of HD video from remote devices, partial restore from media files, and stitching of video clips. Creative Desktop plug-ins now support workflows with Adobe Creative Suite 3, including Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. Artesia DAM 6.8 is available now. http://www.opentext.com/, http://www.artesia.com/

Posted by NewsShark at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: Artesia, DAM, digital asset management, Open Text, rich media
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

FatWire Software announced that the company will resell, service and support netomat, Inc.'s Mobility Server to complement FatWire's web content management and "web 2.0" collaboration solutions. The agreement provides FatWire customers with the ability to automatically publish and deliver web content to mobile devices, including Smart Phones, PDAs, handhelds, iPods and iPhones, via netomat Mobility Server. Users can also interact with and share content from their mobile devices, as well as participate in mobile community and collaboration-based features. netomat Mobility Server is a turnkey, content syndication and community service solution that gives users the ability to receive and share content, including rich media, on their mobile devices. It enables organizations to support the mobile channel as an integrated extension of their traditional web channel. netomat Mobility Server provides a way of managing, delivering and sharing content via the mobile web, with support for thousands of different device models and myriad content formats. The FatWire and netomat teams have completed integration work; netomat server has been fully integrated with FatWire Content Server and FatWire Team Up products. FatWire Professional Services will also provide customers with installation, implementation, and business consulting services for netomat Mobility Server. http://www.netomat.net, http://fatwire.com

Posted by NewsShark at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: content delivery, content management, FatWire, mobile, netomat
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

GridIron Software today announced GridIron Flow, new digital content management software for creative professionals working on graphic design, web, and video projects. Flow automatically tracks the design process from idea to end result and manages assets and applications for the most complex workflows. Flow uses a system to automatically track workflows by recording all Import/Export, Save/Save As, and Copy/Paste actions in a project. It understands the file formats for creative professional applications from Apple and Adobe, and maintains the relationships between stills, movies, sound clips, fonts, plug-ins, and color swatches on all local, network, and removable storage devices. Using Real-Time Asset Tracking technology, Flow automatically builds Workflow Maps for every project. A Workflow Map shows the files used in the workflow and how they are connected to one another. Workflow Maps display all related application project files, media assets, and internal structures such as comps and layers. By selecting any file in the Workflow Map, users can view its fonts, color swatches, and the application plug-ins used to create it. Flow can capture a point in time snapshot of any project that tracks everything that went into its creation, including media files, fonts, color swatches, applications and plug-ins, which can easily be archived to save or hand-off to the client. Project Archives include a Workflow Map showing how everything fits together, so when a project is sent to the printer, client or colleague, or burnt to disk, everything needed to reproduce it is there. Other features in Flow include a Workflow Calendar that displays the time, date, and duration of projects for up to a year; Visual Versions which automatically track versions of media files, including thumbnails and metadata, as a project evolves allowing users to revert to a previous version of a file anywhere in their workflow; and Tags and Annotations, which provide tags and sticky-note style annotations to assets or projects and support custom tags and metadata standards. In addition, GridIron offers the Flow SDK to tool vendors. Flow will be available this summer for Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard and for Windows XP and Vista. To sign up for the upcoming Public Beta visit http://www.gridironsoftware.com

Posted by NewsShark at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: GridIron, publishing, workflow
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

NetXposure, Inc. announced the availability of NETXPOSURE 5, a new enterprise digital asset management (DAM) system that combines the flexibility of the Web with the responsiveness of the desktop. Re-architected as a rich Internet application utilizing Adobe AIR and Adobe Flex technologies, NETXPOSURE 5 delivers a user experience that runs identically in all major browsers and operating systems. It also provides real-time, seamless interactivity with digital assets from virtually any application, including built-in integration with Adobe Creative Suite 3. NETXPOSURE 5 helps streamline the creation, management and delivery of marketing assets and brand imagery. New features and capabilities include: Adobe Flex-powered user interface including cascading pull-down menus, slider resizing capabilities, and the ability to visually sort thousands of files; Automatic offline synching capabilities enabled by Adobe AIR, including the ability to drag-and-drop between the DAM repository and desktop applications and bulk upload- and download capabilities; Adobe Creative Suite 3 Connector, an add-on module that transparently links the DAM repository and Creative Suite 3, allowing users to access and interact with NetXposure from within their production applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and others; New support for Digital Negative (DNG) specification; and Enhanced support capabilities for the latest Macintosh, Windows and Linux operating systems. NETXPOSURE 5 is available now. http://www.netx.net

Posted by NewsShark at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: DAM, NetXposure, rich media
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) announced plans to release source code for its remoting and messaging technologies under a new open source product named BlazeDS, to help developers connect to back-end distributed data, as well as push data in real-time to Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR applications, for more responsive rich Internet application (RIA) experiences. Previously available only as part of Adobe LiveCycle Data Services ES, the technologies included in BlazeDS, along with the Action Message Format (AMF) protocol specification, are being contributed to open source under the Lesser General Public License (LGPL v3). Also, developers can productively connect rich clients to existing server applications, including Java and Adobe ColdFusion components. The commercial version of the product, LiveCycle Data Services ES, includes enterprise class capabilities for building advanced customer engagement applications that require massive messaging scalability, advanced client-server data synchronization, conflict detection/resolution, offline data management services for Adobe AIR applications, and RIA-to-PDF generation. BlazeDS and the AMF binary data protocol specification are supported by Adobe Flash Player. Adobe will offer annual subscriptions for Adobe LiveCycle Data Services, Community Edition, which includes access to trusted, certified builds, patches, enterprise support and additional benefits such as product warranty and infringement indemnity. Subscription pricing will be announced at the time of general release of BlazeDS under the LGPL v3, currently scheduled for early 2008. Additionally, new beta versions of Adobe AIR, Adobe Flex Builder 3 and Adobe Flex 3 are now available. The public beta versions are available immediately as free downloads from http://labs.adobe.com

Posted by NewsShark at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: Adobe, integration, open source, rich internet applications, web technology
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Internap Network Services Corporation (NASDAQ: INAP announced the integration of BuyDRM's KeyOS Pay Media Platform into Internap's content delivery network (CDN) services. Enhancing the features of Internap's rich media delivery solutions, BuyDRM's technology will provide customers of Microsoft Windows Media with greater Web content marketing and monetization tools while powering live and on-demand rich media streaming and downloads. Internap's CDN features MediaConsole, a workflow management toolset that supports streaming formats such as Flash and Windows Media and includes a media manager, pre-built video skins and a real-time reporting dashboard. Through the BuyDRM integration, MediaConsole will feature support for pay-per-view, subscription-based, token, ad-supported, marketing and silent monitoring business models and will be compatible with most payment gateways and shopping carts. In addition, the MediaConsole will have a push-button user-interface for content management and transactional analysis and includes sophisticated data encryption applications. Through Internap and BuyDRM's support of Silverlight, the MediaConsole features compatibility with the Silverlight PlayReady DRM component and the player's cross-platform functionality. http://www.internap.com

Posted by NewsShark at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: BuyDRM, CDN, content delivery, DRM, enterprise DRM, Internap
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

FatWire Software announced the launch of FatWire TeamUp, a new solution that offers enterprise 2.0 collaboration capabilities including wikis, blogs and social tagging, plus an advanced content integration platform. FatWire also unveiled its strategic roadmap for Web Experience Management, an integrated set of capabilities that enable organizations to deliver a personalized, interactive web experience to users. FatWire TeamUp is a solution for facilitating internal and external, enterprise collaboration and is the result of FatWire's recent acquisition of Infostoria. FatWire TeamUp enables non-technical users with a single click to set up a wiki, blogs, invite participants from within the enterprise or partner organizations to join, and start working together and sharing content of all types. It facilitates user-generated content and community-building among customers and other site visitors. Site owners can enable blogs, wikis, and content tagging on any part of the site. TeamUp also includes Content integration and reuse, and Digital asset management capabilities. FatWire also unveiled a roadmap for rapid integration of FatWire TeamUp with FatWire Content Server, their web content management solution. http://www.fatwire.com

Posted by NewsShark at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: blogs, collaboration, enterprise, FatWire, Infostoria, integration, social computing, WCM, wiki
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Vignette (NASDAQ:VIGN) announced the launch of Rich Media Services. As an add-on module to the latest Vignette Content Management release, Rich Media Services leverages an optimized user interface for the creation and management of rich media assets including advanced image editing and automation features. Once those assets are ready for distribution, they can be delivered to multiple channels and devices. Vignette Rich Media Services enables organizations in any industry with rich media management needs to create multiple variations of specific digital assets such as images, video metadata, Podcasts, Adobe Flash and other interactive components. Those assets, even in different sizes and formats, can still be managed, approved and published as one unique item, making it easier and quicker to deliver to numerous channels such as the PC, set-top box and mobile applications. http://www.vignette.com

Posted by NewsShark at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: content management, DAM, rich media, Vignette, WCM
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) announced Adobe Technical Communication Suite software, an integrated solution for authoring, managing, and publishing technical information and training content across multiple formats and languages. Using the Adobe Technical Communication Suite, technical communicators and instructional designers can create documentation, eLearning courses and user assistance programs containing both traditional text and graphics along with rich media, including Adobe Flash Player compatible video and 3D. The suite includes Adobe RoboHelp 7, a major upgrade to Adobe's help system and knowledge base authoring tool, as well as Adobe FrameMaker 8, Adobe Captivate 3 and Adobe Acrobat 3D Version 8 software. Product and workflow integration and support for rich media formats, including Adobe Flash Player compatible video, SWF, MP3 and AVI files, Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), XML and Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) are included. Adobe Technical Communication Suite will be available for Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows XP and is expected to ship by the end of October 2007 at an estimated price of US$1,599. Users can upgrade for an estimated price of US$999 if they have prior versions of Adobe Captivate, FrameMaker or RoboHelp. http://www.adobe.com

Posted by NewsShark at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: Adobe, authoring, publishing, techdoc
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Day Software (SWX:DAYN)(OTC:DYIHY) announced general availability of its new, stand-alone digital asset management solution. Part of Day's Communiqué family of products, Communiqué Digital Asset Management (CQ DAM) is a content application that leverages JCR (JSR 170). CQ DAM provides centralized management for all digital media files and essential metadata information, all within the context of creative workflows. The product also leverages Web 2.0 design features such as an AJAX user interface. The new solution includes DAM services such as a metadata management engine, version control, user and workgroup management, as well as integration with relevant 3rd party tools. CQ DAM also provides intellectual property protection by creating dynamic rules for each asset or asset class in order to control access and user rights. http://www.day.com

Posted by NewsShark at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: DAM, Day Software, digital asset management, ECM
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

ClearStory Systems, Inc., announced the newest release of its digital asset management system, ActiveMedia with Workflow Automation. Built on an enterprise-class, commercial-grade business process management (BPM) engine, ActiveMedia with Workflow Automation is able to automate processes at every point in the digital media supply chain, extending digital media management into a broader enterprise workflow. ActiveMedia with Workflow Automation extends the capability and value of ClearStory's ActiveMedia DAM solution beyond traditional transformation, cataloging and repository services, to manage digital media projects, creative workflow, review and approval; and automate system events, asset management functions, and email notification. It extends to users outside the system such as legal teams approving projects, printers who require automatic asset delivery upon completion, web content management and other enterprise applications. ActiveMedia with Workflow Automation will be available in August. http://www.clearstorysystems.com

Posted by NewsShark at 6:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: BPM, ClearStory, DAM, digital asset management
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine

Altus Learning Systems announced version 5.0 of its Xtreme Knowledge Sharing software (XKS 5.0). This new platform incorporates "Web 2.0" community enablement capabilities, such as enterprise collaboration, searchable video technology, blogs, wikis and other enterprise social networking functions. New technologies now incorporated within the Altus XKS platform also enable workers to share business lessons with their colleagues. Altus Xtreme Knowledge Sharing 5.0: Socializes enterprise computing by capturing social networking features such as searchable video, podcasts, blogs, wikis and RSS, and brings them inside the enterprise to create an enterprise collaboration, knowledge sharing and on-demand information platform; Video synch and search allows workers to search video down to the spoken word; and Enables the creation of video learning portals to share the corporate knowledge captured from video training, meetings, conferences, PowerPoint presentations etc. Altus is now beta testing the initial release of XKS 5.0. This functionality will be incrementally rolled out to the broader Altus customer base over the next 12 months. http://www.altuscorp.com/

Posted by NewsShark at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
and tagged: Altus, collaboration, knowledge management, rich media
Share or tag this post on: Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | Reddit | Newsvine