Ektron, Inc. announced version 4.0 of Ektron CMS300. In version 4.0, Ektron delivers several new features including the version 4.0 of Ektron eWebEditPro+XML. Beyond the latest version of Ektron’s XML editor, Ektron CMS300 version 4.0 adds: improved audit trail capabilities, index searching to ensure more precisely matched search results by leveraging XML (through partnership with Ixiasoft), enhanced international language support to enable management of metadata and teasers with XML, content randomization functionality, internal search to improve capabilities for locating and accessing content being managed in the system, improved meta-tagging, and industry-specific sample sites to help organizations in hospitality, healthcare, education and other verticals. Ektron’s component-based application is used in Microsoft ASP, ASP.Net, PHP or ColdFusion Web application server environments. Pricing is USD$4,999 for a 10-user license and USD$19,999 for enterprise licensing. www.ektron.com

North Plains Systems Corp. announced that it will offer an integrated enterprise digital asset management solution for the Adobe Creative Suite. North Plains’ integrated support of the Adobe Creative Suite includes three new components for TeleScope Enterprise 7.1: The I-Piece for Adobe XMP enables metadata to be captured at the asset creation stage and maintained within TeleScope throughout the asset’s lifecycle; the I-Piece for Adobe InDesign gives non-creative users the ability to search, preview and dynamically interact with InDesign documents directly from a web browser and without the need for the InDesign application; and the Conversion I-Piece for Adobe Graphics Server allows all users to perform complex transformations, regardless of their knowledge of graphic manipulation. The TeleScope I-Pieces for Adobe Creative Suite will be available later this month. www.northplains.com

Dialog announced the launch of its Dialog API, a Web Service that enables Dialog’s content collection and search engine to be integrated transparently into Web sites, enterprise portals, corporate intranets and extranets, software applications and other interactive services. Dialog API is designed for Web site developers, software programmers, enterprise information managers and others to integrate slices of the more than 14 terabytes of premium content — a vast and continuously updated electronic warehouse of news, business intelligence, current and archived journal articles, patents and research across an array of industries and topics — along with the Dialog search engine that allows users to pinpoint the specific documents they need within the content sets. Dialog and Cymfony announced that they are now bundling Dialog content — including business, trade and consumer publications; content from the pharmaceutical, medical and healthcare industries, among others; comprehensive local market intelligence; and worldwide news coverage from 80 countries in 11 languages — with Cymfony Brand Dashboard, a media measurement and analytics application. Dialog API is based on XML & SOAP. www.dialog.com, www.thomson.com, www.cymfony.com

INSCI Corp. announced that document management systems integrator IFIN Sistemi will add INSCI’s WebWare ActiveMedia digital asset management software to its product offerings throughout Europe. IFIN Sistemi is an Italy-based value-added reseller (VAR) for INSCI products. The agreement broadens and expands INSCI’s European product distribution, and expands IFIN Sistemi’s suite of document management solutions. IFIN Sistemi will market ActiveMedia, which integrates rich media into content management systems, marketing and communication portals, web publishing systems, and e-commerce portals to its client base. www.insci.com

Plumtree Software announced the release of a new add-on to its Enterprise Web Development Kit (EDK), for creating interactive portlets using Microsoft .NET Web Controls. Part of Microsoft’s .NET Framework, .NET Web Controls are visual drag-and-drop elements that developers can use to create Web applications. .NET Web Controls created by Microsoft and the .NET development community can now be used without any coding to create portlets within the Plumtree Enterprise Web Suite. The Plumtree EDK offers services, sample code and documentation for using Java and .NET development tools to build portlets and Web services. Plumtree supports JSR 168 and WSRP portlets, Apache’s Java Struts, Sophia, Java Server Faces, C#, Visual Basic.NET and Java Server Pages. The newly released add-on to the EDK allows .NET Controls to function as-is within the Enterprise Web as portlets. Using Plumtree’s Active Portlets technology for communications between portlets within an application, the Control-based portlet can refresh within the page without causing the rest of the page to refresh. www.plumtree.com

Adobe Systems Incorporated announced Adobe FrameMaker 7.1. FrameMaker 7.1 introduces conditional text support for XML to allow multiple variations of an XML document to be stored in a single file. FrameMaker 7.1 also extends its cross-referencing features to allow links between XML documents. New filters enable PageMaker and Quark XPress files to be migrated into FrameMaker.
Corporate publishers can import Photoshop files directly into FrameMaker 7.1. Other additions include support for the JPEG 2000 graphics format and improved filters for handling artwork in Adobe PDF, including native files from Adobe Illustrator, and expanded support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). Adobe FrameMaker 7.1 for Windows and Sun Solaris will be available in January 2004 in the United States, Europe and Canada at the Adobe store at www.adobe.com. FrameMaker 7.1, desktop version, for Microsoft Windows has an estimated street price of US$799 for the full version and $199 for the upgrade. On Sun Solaris, the full version has an estimated street price of $1,329 and $279 for the upgrade. www.adobe.com

Aquent and Interwoven have formed a strategic alliance to deliver joint clients integrated enterprise content management solutions for their branding initiatives. Aquent will integrate Interwoven’s ECM solution into its brand management solutions. Aquent’s consulting division includes its Marketing and Branding Technology (MBT) practice, the division that is partnering with Interwoven. www.aquent.com, www.interwoven.com

P.H. Brink International, a provider of language solutions, was selected by Progressive Information Technologies to be included in their Vasont Important Partner (VIP) Program. This alliance will combine P.H. Brink’s automated workflow system, Otto, with Vasont’s content management features and functionality to provide an integrated solution for managing content translation and localization for multilingual publishing in global organizations. Vasont is a content management system for cross-media publishing that centralizes and manages content for multilingual technical documentation, user’s guides, and other publications. Vasont’s integration with P.H. Brink’s Otto allows companies to automatically evaluate and reuse previously translated content. Vasont routes only the new content through P.H. Brink’s ISO 9001:2000 certified process, where it is translated. The newly translated content is automatically returned to Vasont where it is managed and ultimately delivered to multiple publications in various formats (e.g., print, CD, Web). www.vasont.com, www.phbrink.com