PureEdge and XMLSolutions have signed an agreement to combine PureEdge’s award-winning InternetForms Commerce System with XMLSolutions’ XEDI Translator. Together, PureEdge and XMLSolutions will allow organizations to leverage their investment in EDI by integrating legacy systems with partners and processes that were previously excluded from EDI-based relationships. The PureEdge-XMLSolutions integration will enable organizations using EDI to establish full trading relationships with partners of any size. InternetForms provide a legally binding XML front end to EDI systems, and appear as human-readable and familiar form interfaces to trading partners accessing them from Web browsers. A partner at a small or medium-sized enterprise can use a browser to open an InternetForm — such as a purchase order, invoice, or other contractual agreement — and fill, save, sign, and submit it for processing, thereby interacting with an EDI system that was previously available only to other EDI systems. www.PureEdge.com, www.xmls.com
Day: June 11, 2000
SoftQuad Software, Ltd. announced XMetaL 2.0, a major upgrade to its XML content creation solution. The new version of XMetaL makes it easier for everyone to create XML content, and provides integrators even greater flexibility in deploying effective content solutions for real world production environments. Key features to this upgrade include well formed editing, a new Structure view, support for more advanced XML constructs and expanded customization options. XMetaL 2.0 provides new features and functions for deploying effective content creation environments that integrate seamlessly with an organization’s applications and workflow processes. XMetaL 2.0 features built in access to script engines and a Script Editor that supports code coloring and pretty printing. XMetaL 2.0’s Forms Editor facilitates the creation of custom dialog boxes to bring windows dialogs and behaviors right into the document interface. XMetaL provides support for inline ActiveX controls and features an extended object interface that allows embedded ActiveX controls to be hosted within a Resource Manager tab. Plus, XMetaL 2.0 features enhanced support for advanced XML constructs like internal subsets, parsable external entities, the DOM, OASIS catalogs, and UTF-16 (Unicode) encoding. XMetaL 2.0 also supports well-formed editing, so users can open and edit documents without associated DTD and work with document fragments. As well, XMetaL 2.0’s new Structure View provides a quick way to navigate and edit documents. XMetaL 2.0 will be available in late June 2000. New users can purchase XMetaL 2.0 for $495.00 (US) per single user license. Registered owners of XMetaL 1.0 or 1.2 with a support and maintenance contract can upgrade to XMetaL 2.0 for $75.00 (US). Without a maintenance contract, the upgrade price is $195.00 (US). The product is sold directly and through VARs and OEMs. Volume discounts, site licenses, partner programs and on-site training are all available. www.softquad.com
Engage, Inc., a majority-owned operating company of CMGI, Inc. announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately held, Acton, Mass.-based MediaBridge Technologies, Inc. This acquisition is expected to advance Engage’s marketer-focused strategy by connecting web site software applications for merchants with Engage’s large online advertising network. Upon the close of the acquisition, which is expected by late summer and subject to MediaBridge shareholder approval, MediaBridge will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Engage. Bob Angelo, MediaBridge’s president and CEO, will report directly to Paul Schaut, president and CEO of Engage. Under the terms of the agreement, Engage will issue approximately 14.5 million shares of Engage common stock to the shareholders of MediaBridge, subject to adjustment under certain circumstances. MediaBridge currently has over 200 customers and employs 185 people in offices in Acton, Mass., Los Angeles, Chicago and London. The company’s fiscal year 1999 revenues were $17.8 million. Many marketers that run both offline and online promotional campaigns spend a significant amount of time and money managing two separate programs. A combined Engage and MediaBridge solution will allow the marketer to bridge all programs through a single solution set: The MediaBridge content.server solution allows media, retail and catalog marketers to efficiently manage and reuse product information, including images, descriptions and SKUs, and plan both online and offline promotions based on this product information; Engage ProfileServer allows marketers to build permission-based profiles and anonymous interest profiles by observing customer behavior across their web sites and using that information to deliver more relevant promotions and offers; Engage AdManager allows marketers to manage multiple campaigns overtime targeted at any individual audience. www.mediabridge.net, www.engage.com
Chrystal Software announced the availability of Eclipse, a solution that incorporates traditional Web pages with dynamic, personal content. With Eclipse, businesses can precisely manage their Web-based information and assemble personalized information for each site visitor. The software provides rich support for XML to structure information for dynamic content delivery to the Web and to other formats including graphics, PDF files and HTML pages. Eclipse also provides specific capabilities to users who are involved in creating, managing and delivering Web content. The system is very flexible and requires few additional resources because it allows the use of familiar tools and applications. It provides full content management and is compatible with existing Web pages, Web design tools, Internet browsers, Web servers, and XML authoring software. With its multi-lingual support, Eclipse also addresses the growing need for Web sites that are presented in multiple local languages. www.xerox.com
Open Text Corporation announced the next evolution of BASIS and Techlib-the document collection and library automation components of the Livelink product family- myBASIS, the collaborative portal interface. The customizable portal framework of myBASIS allows users to organize multiple information sources. With the interface, library users can define on a single page, different areas to deliver internal news channels, external news feeds, content subscriptions and favorite URLS. myBASIS also provides search access to predefined resources like the organization’s Techlib library catalog, any BASIS or Livelink repository or content from b2bScene.com’s Content Services (www.b2bScene.com/contentservices). Users personalize their own page according to individual need and preference. The optional development toolkit can be used to configure new content choices for internal and external sources. This announcement follows last year’s release of the Livelink Cataloged Library, an integration of the Techlib OPAC (Online Patron Access Catalog) with Open Text’s Livelink collaborative enterprise application. Continuing Open Text’s strategy to advance an organization’s ability to organize multiple information sources, a second-generation Web OPAC is planned. Available independently or as the Advanced Search option from the portal interface, this new OPAC uses Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) for data access and includes a fully standardized Java Development Toolkit (JDK) to support local extensions and customizations to integrate library collections with other enterprise information assets. www.opentext.com
