Avantstar Inc., has announced the latest version of Transit Solutions, a Web publishing software application developed by Stellent. Transit Solutions 7 allows users to build Web sites from standard business content. The software accomplishes this by using a single-source publishing model whereby business employees leverage content from standard office suites and productivity applications such as Microsoft Word, Word Perfect or Visio. Transit then analyzes this content and incorporates the navigation and overall look and feel for the site. New features include WML publishing options for wireless devices; support for Microsoft Office 2003 and WordPerfect Office 12; and support for business productivity applications, such as Microsoft Visio 2003 and Microsoft Project 2003. As a stand-alone application or integrated with Web development applications, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive, Transit Solutions 7 helps users publish and maintain content on the Web. Common uses of Transit Solutions include the rapid publishing of policies and procedures, documentation or regularly changing business content. Transit Solutions 7 is available immediately. Pricing begins at $4995. A 30-day evaluation version of the software is available.

Open Text Corporation announced that it has formed the Artesia Digital Media Group to help customers address growing competitive and regulatory pressures to improve the management of digital content, such as audio, video, photos and graphics. Open Text’s Artesia subsidiary is the core of the new group, providing its digital asset management (DAM) software as part of Open Text’s suite of Livelink ECM Solutions. The Artesia Digital Media Group will provide sophisticated support for the production, management, collaboration and distribution of all types of rich media content. This specialty business within Open Text will lead the company’s horizontal strategy for digital media as a key component of ECM. Open Text has appointed Scott Bowen, Co-Founder and former President of Artesia Technologies, to lead the Artesia Digital Media Group. http://www.opentext.com

Idiom Technologies, Inc. and Blast Radius Inc. announced the launch of a joint solution that provides a single, comprehensive system for global content delivery. The integrated solution is based on Idiom WorldServer and Blast Radius XMetaL software. Combined, WorldServer and XMetaL enable global organizations, especially those with complex content communications requirements, to speed the transition to modern, topic-oriented approaches using XML. Users can capitalize on the benefits of a structured, single-source environment for the delivery of global marketing materials, products and websites. Blast Radius recently announced availability of its XMetaL Author DITA Edition, an XML application built exclusively for authoring and publishing content using DITA. XMetaL Author DITA Edition complements Idiom WorldServer OpenTopic. , http://www.blastradius.com

Thunderhead announced the availability of version 2.2 of its XML-based Thunderhead Platform. Version 2, which was designed to accelerate business processes around document generation, automates the use of standard content across multiple documents and can assemble specific content according to pre-defined business rules set by the customer. Version 2 also offered streamlined approval procedures and document testing functions. Version 2.2 introduces full support for business user controlled XML generation across the range of industry specific schemas. Thunderhead now includes out-of-the-box XML transformation support which enables the business users to dynamically add in new XML Adapters for their industry standard XML schemas without the need to change any code. Both DTCC DerivSERV FpML and LIXI XML versions of this generic Adapter are included in version 2.2. Thunderhead is embarking on an on-going program of support for emerging industry schemas. In the first instance this will include MISMO, ACORD, ICE and EFET. Version 2.2 also provides improved scalability and new management features. A new management information reporting module has been added to the administration client which enables users to select and report comprehensively on any data within the Thunderhead system. http://www.thunderhead.com/

Alfresco, Inc. announced that it is partnering with Siennax to offer a trusted, hosted service for Enterprise Content Management (ECM). Siennax offers a utility computing platform with services for application management, learning management, billing and payment and sourcing. In this hosted model Siennax applies a “pay-as-you-go” model whereby clients pay only for the services they actually use. Siennax has a Trust Services Certification. This is an auditing standard established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA). Alfresco also announced the release of a Dutch Language Pack.http://www.alfresco.org

PaperThin, Inc. announced advanced content classification and discovery capabilities in CommonSpot Content Server version 4.6. New features include a taxonomy term editor and a taxonomy API, along with a facet-based navigation element. The taxonomy term editor lets organizations build and manage taxonomies directly within CommonSpot. Each taxonomy defines one or more facets or hierarchical views into the data by defining ‘broader than’ and ‘narrower than’ relationships between terms. Terms can also be defined to have other relationships in accordance with the ANSI Z.39 standard. Content can then be assigned to terms using the taxonomy classification custom metadata field. The taxonomy API allows developers to programmatically access any of the terms and relationships within a taxonomy. Also included in version 4.6 is a container element which provides Web designers and developers increased control and flexibility over the positioning and scheduling of content on a page. The element delivers support for table-less layout of content using Cascading Style Sheet Positioning (CSS-P). http://www.paperthin.com