Day: April 20, 1999

Sequoia Software Corp. announced a partnering agreement with the TechSight unit of General Dynamics, based in Pittsfield, Mass., to license Sequoia’s XML-based software, Interchange2000 (i2K). The TechSight team believes that Sequoia’s Portal Development Software will enable TechSight engineers to develop enterprise information portals more quickly and more efficiently. The partnering agreement takes effect immediately. TechSight has developed and deployed systems including electronic document authoring, management and distribution; interactive electronic technical manuals (IETMs), logistics information systems; computer aided diagnostics; computer-based training and distance learning systems. Customers include Chrysler Corp., General Electric Corp., Kaplan Educational Systems, and U.S Airways. www.techsighthome.com, www.sequoiasw.com.

Companion BV introduced Companion, a new tool for web development and management. Companion addresses the needs of professional web developers confronted with the ever-increasing challenge of managing web sites. Based on a component-based model, Companion comes with a complete set of features for development and organized maintenance of medium-sized to large-sized web sites. The beta version of Companion 2.0 is available now at http://www.companion.nl. The definitive release of Companion 2.0 is scheduled for June 1999. Contrary to other web management systems, Companion adopts a ‘true’ component model. Components in Companion are not mere boilerplate code fragments to be ‘re-used’ with a copy-and-paste routine. Rather they are ‘programmable bricks’ that interact with and adapt to the context they are used in. A web developer can de-compose the web site into reusable segments of code, to any desired level of granularity. A component could contain a complete page, a page element (e.g. a navigation bar), a query script, a javascript, or whatever segment of code the developer wants to reuse within the web site. The web developer can assign any number of parameters to any component, in order to increase its reusability. Components can contain any combination of HTML, DHTML, JavaScript, VBScript or ASP. They are created and maintained with a script editor supporting features such as Syntax Coloring, Auto Completion, context sensitive Syntax Tips, and Drag and Drop editing. www.companion.nl

Interleaf, Inc. announced a comprehensive migration solution to upgrade its document management customers (RDM) to its XML-based e-content solution, BladeRunner. Designed to leverage existing customers’ investment in their document management solution, Interleaf’s upgrade solution, RDM-X, enables RDM customers to implement the benefits of content management and of the emerging XML and Extended Style Language (XSL) information standard. RDM-X will be available as a phased approach enabling a seamless upgrade path for RDM customers to move to XML-based content management. RDM customers will initially receive BladeRunner’s authoring and publishing capabilities integrated with the RDM repository, providing the ability to create XML, store the files in the RDM repository, and begin publishing XML to multiple formats using XSL. Ultimately the customers may purchase BladeRunner’s repository to implement complete XML-based content management. www.interleaf.com