NetSanity, Inc. announced an aggressive plan to create a standards-based platform for the delivery of web content to mobile devices. The new technology will deliver a user’s favorite web-based information onto any wireless device that is mobile-Internet ready. This month, Nokia and NetSanity will demonstrate the delivery of Digital Pebbles, or pieces of Internet information, to WAP-enabled mobile phones. NetSanity also announced that over 70 content partners and 1500 affiliates have adopted NetSanity’s XML application, making their content immediately available on the NetSanity SmartBar, NetSanity’s current Windows desktop product — and soon on mobile devices. Over the next few months, NetSanity plans to partner with additional wireless hardware manufacturers and telecom carriers to offer NetSanity technology on a variety of mobile devices. www.netsanity.com, www.nokia.com
Day: April 26, 2000
Interwoven, Inc. and BEA Systems, Inc. announced an alliance and the integration of Interwoven TeamSite enterprise-class content management software with BEA WebLogic Personalization Server 2.0 and BEA WebLogic Commerce Server 2.0. The integration allows businesses that serve the e-generation to rapidly and reliably create, manage and deliver dynamic, personalized Web content to enrich their customers’ e-commerce experiences. Interwoven TeamSite software includes a workflow engine that enables organizations to develop, manage and ensure the integrity of the content, and streamline complex project management. TeamSite’s content architecture manages the development of all types of Web assets. BEA WebLogic Personalization Server enables companies to apply business rules to customer profile information and to personalize the customer’s Web experience and create dynamic, tailored interfaces. BEA WebLogic Commerce Server provides highly customizable, out-of-the-box e-commerce functionality that is fully Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) compliant. Together, these solutions enable companies to create value for their customers by developing and delivering personalized content within a flexible, extensible e-commerce application. The complete integration package, which includes documentation and pre-configured sample template and workflow, are available today from Interwoven. BEA WebLogic Commerce Server 2.0 and BEA WebLogic Personalization Server 2.0 are available from BEA. www.interwoven.com, www.bea.com
SoftQuad Software, Ltd. announced MarketAgility, an XML-based content solution that gives businesses more power and control over the creation, management and real-time delivery of product information to e-marketplaces and e-procurement systems. MarketAgility provides suppliers with an efficient and cost-effective way to move product information from their enterprises to multiple electronic distribution channels. MarketAgility 1.0, formerly code named Global OnRamp, is scheduled for release in September, 2000. Suppliers until now have had trouble collecting their product information, which has generally been located in disparate sources throughout their enterprises. It’s also been difficult to translate that information into the various distinct formats required by different e-marketplaces. Even after these initial barriers have been overcome, suppliers have still found it hard to maintain up-to-date product and pricing information and to target and differentiate their products across multiple distribution channels. MarketAgility lets suppliers quickly leverage their existing infrastructure and business processes to collect product information from wherever it resides in the enterprise, whether in content management systems, electronic resource planning systems, enterprise databases, or Microsoft Word or Excel files. It then automatically delivers this information in a format that is fully customized for different e-markets in their specific dialect of XML. In addition, MarketAgility allows suppliers to maintain their competitive advantage by rapidly and incrementally updating product and pricing information across all channels. MarketAgility is comprised of three major components: the MarketAgility XML Connector, the MarketAgility XML Server, and the MarketAgility XML Transporter. MarketAgility also incorporates SoftQuad’s XMetaL technology, an enabler for XML content applications. MarketAgility allows content revisions to be made directly within XML. Suppliers can now easily supplement their product data with rich content and better differentiate themselves in e-markets. MarketAgility supports common industry standards such as BizTalk, W3C Schemas, xCBL and cXML. www.softquad.com
Xerox Corporation and Microsoft Corp. joined forces to launch ContentGuard, Inc., a new Internet company that will deliver comprehensive software solutions to protect and manage books, documents, music, software and other valuable content distributed over the Web. The solutions give publishers and authors more control over their digital material, thus allowing them unprecedented freedom and innovation in delivering and marketing digital content to consumers. ContentGuard, Inc.’s technology, originally developed at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), is the foundation for various products and services to deliver secure, user-friendly solutions for protecting and distributing digital content over the Internet. These digital rights management (DRM) solutions are designed to allow content developers and publishers to establish and retain control over how their materials are used, copied and purchased. Xerox will retain a majority stake in ContentGuard, Inc., formerly the Xerox Rights Management group. Microsoft will be a minority investor, and other investors are expected to be announced in the future. ContentGuard, Inc., Microsoft and Xerox also will collaborate on future development of DRM technology and standards, including the establishment of XrML (eXtensible rights Markup Language) as a common standard for all forms of digital information and entertainment. XrML will be licensed royalty-free to the industry to enable interoperability across rights management systems. Microsoft will use ContentGuard’s technology to extend future versions of Microsoft’s DRM solutions. Microsoft Reader, a new software product for displaying eBooks, will be the first Microsoft product to incorporate the ContentGuard technology when it debuts this summer. ContentGuard technology will also enhance future releases of Windows Media Player and Windows Media Rights Manager. The ContentGuard portfolio includes the ContentGuard Internet content protection software suite and the electronic Publishing Clearing Service (ePCS) offered jointly with Reciprocal Inc. Today ContentGuard can protect and manage digital content such as market research, business reports, patent applications, books, sheet music and academic course packs. Plans are under way to enable DRM solutions for audio and video material. In addition, ContentGuard products and services enable publishers or authors to deploy materials over the Web in new ways; for example, to create free time-restricted previews, single-chapter previews or one-time use scenarios. www.xerox.com, www.microsoft.com
Google Inc. announced the beta availability of a new version of its search engine optimized for wireless phone and handheld computer users. Available now, users of WAP mobile telephones and Palm handhelds connected to a wireless modem can now search the web using Google while on the go. This wireless technology marks the availability of a search engine that brings the entire World Wide Web to mobile devices. With less than 1 percent of websites available in Wireless Markup Language (WML), Google offers mobile users the ability to view and browse traditional HTML websites. Unlike other search engines that index only web pages that are available in WML, Google brings more than 500 million web pages to the palm of a user’s hand. When a wireless user requests a traditional HTML page, Google’s innovative technology translates the requested HTML document on the fly into WML. Interested users can type “Google” into their WAP microbrowser, or can enter www.google.com. Palm users can visit www.google.com/palm to access this special wireless version of Google. Although still in beta, mobile web surfers will have complete access to the Google search engine, including an easy-to-use interface, quick loading pages, and highly relevant search results. Google supports access by any common Internet-ready mobile device and microbrowser. www.google.com
