Tower Technology announced the Tower IDM Corporate Document Portal, which provides a single point of access to an organization’s unstructured information assets. The zero-footprint design of this solution allows organizations to leverage the Internet, intranets and extranets by offering customers, field personnel and business partners, a secure, single point of access to their information. Tower IDM Corporate Document Portal is the latest addition to Tower Technology’s Integrated Document Management solution, Tower IDM. Tower IDM Corporate Document Portal leverages the Web as an e-business infrastructure and eliminates paper at its source by providing document access between companies, and their vendors and customers. It enables organizations, particularly in sectors such as financial services, insurance and government, to improve customer service in effect offering customer “self-service.” Tower IDM Corporate Document Portal is shipping immediately. www.towertechnology.com
Month: November 1999 (Page 3 of 13)
Hynet Technologies and Viador Inc. announced a joint development effort designed to help companies with time-to-market challenges to easily access and deliver dynamic, personalized information through Viador’s enterprise portal. As a result, users will be able to access the Hynet Directive XML repository via Viador’s E-Portal Suite, giving Viador customers access to business-critical information such as sales proposals, marketing collateral and globalization of e-Content. Viador’s E-Portal Suite is a single, web-based access point that provides an entire business community – employees, customers, and trading partners – with desktop access to the specific information they need to make better business decisions. Hynet Directive is expected to increase the value of Viador’s offering by incorporating sources of data that were previously difficult to integrate so that users can utilize all relevant information, regardless of its source. www.hynet.com, www.viador.com
OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, announced that Craig Chevrier has joined the consortium as managing editor of XML.org. In this new position, Chevrier will drive editorial strategy and content for XML.org, an industry portal that provides vendor-neutral information about the application of XML in industrial and commercial settings. Chevrier brings extensive experience in web site production and editing to his position at OASIS. Most recently, he served as internet content manager for Trans World Entertainment, the largest music retailer in the United States. At Trans World, Chevrier led several XML implementations on www.TWEC.com, the company’s online retail and entertainment site. www.oasis-open.org
Content Technologies revealed its strategic vision to address the future of this rapidly changing market. Content Technologies’ vision is to move beyond just protecting network and business content integrity, to managing content within host-based services, in Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) environments and in e-commerce transactions. A key part of Content Technologies’ vision includes the creation of a global alliance that brings together vendors, integrators, security specialists and applications providers. This alliance will provide a forum for the development and deployment of a range of solutions addressing the breadth and depth of e-content evolution. Additionally, it will offer businesses and channel partners standards-based solutions in the areas of content security, management and routing, and will promote awareness of the full scope of content-related business issues in everything from e-mail, to e-commerce transactions. In a market estimated by IDC to be worth $4 billion by 2003, this strategy will offer a means for a select group of e-content specialists to develop solutions built around MIMEsweeper, deployed by users world-wide. www.mimesweeper.com
Hummingbird Communications launched the Fulcrum Portal Builder Kit, a toolset that provides enterprises with the ability to construct compelling knowledge portals. The Fulcrum Portal Builder Kit is a complete solution designed so that it can also easily plug into Hummingbird’s Enterprise Information Portal (EIP), scheduled for beta release next month. Priced as one bundle, the Fulcrum Portal Builder Kit consists of DOCSFulcrum 3.0, Hummingbird’s Web-accessible enterprise knowledge management offering; Fulcrum SearchServer 4.0, the latest version of the company’s information retrieval software; and the new Knowledge Manager Workstation 1.0 (KMW), which uses neural network technology to automatically create a business taxonomy. KMW adds the power of document mining to the DOCSFulcrum product family, making it easier to offer users a portal into the unstructured information stored in corporate repositories. The Fulcrum Portal Builder Kit will be released on November 26, 1999. www.hummingbird.com
STEP UK Ltd. announced the beta programme of X2X the XML XLink engine. X2X allows for the creation, management and manipulation of links. X2X allows linking between documents and information resources without needing to change either of the source or target documents that are being linked. X2X removes the requirement to insert link information inside document content. The Links are NOT in the document. X2X has an extensible architecture to allow resources to reside in any data repository. X2X stores links independently of any documents and provides facilities to dynamically insert external link structures into documents on-demand. X2X stores all the link information within an ODBC/JDBC enabled database, e.g. Oracle or SQL Server. X2X is initially developed in Java for cross platform operation. X2X is implemented using fundamental linking concepts and understands links defined using the latest draft of the W3C XLink proposal. This scalable technology delivers the ability to associate different data resources regardless of their location. X2X allows for the retrieval of resources and can dynamically add the external link information without altering the original document/ information. The power of linking has been harnessed to allow structured information objects such as XML to be associated with information lacking structure. The architecture enables organizations to store data in the repository of their choice; while XLink adherence means that link information can be authored using a variety of applications. X2X works independently of the storage, authoring and delivery applications. X2X exposes its powerful functionality allowing it to be integrated into any static or dynamic application or service. With X2X it is possible to deliver richer information streams to users with little or no impact on existing data management procedures. The X2X technology preview is available for download at www.stepuk.com/x2x/x2x_dem.asp
webMethods, Inc. announced strategic alliances with consulting firms Intelligroup, Inc. and Lante Corporation. As part of their expanding e-commerce practices, these consulting firms will incorporate webMethods B2B into their methodology and provide customers with a broad range of consulting and implementation services to execute B2B e-commerce strategies. webMethods B2B provides a business community integration platform that makes it possible for companies to pursue direct integration with trading partners, while also participating in emerging B2B Marketplaces such as mySAP.com, the Ariba Network and Clarus SupplierUniverse. webMethods B2B utilizes XML and open Web standards, such as RosettaNet, OAG, OBI and ACORD, to connect integrated business communities and enable companies to conduct business over the Internet with minimal stress to corporate resources and existing IT infrastructure. www.webMethods.com
Eloquent, Inc., and Gilat Communications Ltd. announced a partnership to offer a joint business communications and distance learning solution. This solution leverages Gilat’s live broadcast and interactive capabilities and Eloquent’s on-demand rich media capabilities to provide a complete “live to on-demand” business communications and interactive learning platform. Gilat’s TrainNet is an IDL system which enables a live, interactive instructor-led classroom experience by providing full-screen, full-motion video broadcast to classrooms and individual PCs over broadband, LAN or Internet connections. TrainNet also features instantaneous application projection, collaboration tools and feedback buttons that enhance the communication and interaction between teacher and student. The TrainNet platform is a robust and fully scalable solution for both corporate as well as educational institutions. Eloquent’s rich media format-synchronized video, audio, text and graphics-will capture, organize, and archive live TrainNet sessions. Customers can now make TrainNet content available on demand over the Web at typical Internet bandwidths, extending the value of the original broadcast to students, employees, and partners who are not able to attend the live sessions. In addition, personalized, pre-event presentations from Eloquent enable participants with different backgrounds to prepare appropriately for TrainNet sessions. Eloquent’s rich media format and the Eloquent Enterprise Communications Portal Server also enable customers to create a fully searchable and navigable archive of TrainNet materials, extending their useful life and enhancing their value to the organization. www.eloquent.com
