Context Media, Inc. announced the immediate availability of Interchange Suite 4.0, the latest version of their content integration software solution. The new version of the Web-services-based Interchange Suite includes a number of enhancements that together will improve content management, access and distribution capabilities. New features include additional application and infrastructure platform support; new metadata management capabilities, enhanced security, scalability and high availability features for business performance and continuity; and a number of end user enhancements that improve productivity and demonstrate substantial ROI. Content organized by Interchange Suite can also be accessed by Intershare, Context Media’s Web services client, which acts like a shared drive allowing “desktop level” access to all content. The solution bypasses the need for companies to standardize on a single vendor’s content management, digital asset management or document management system. www.contextmedia.com

The Gilbane Report announced that it will host an ongoing webinar series on content technology best practices as told from the enterprise consumers’ perspective. The series complements the popular Gilbane Report conferences and publications and further extends the Gilbane Report community. This webinar series is the first public work to come from the Content Technology Works Program (CTW) announced in September and provides the industry with direct access to leading enterprises that are making content technology work today. The first seminar, “Content Categories That Work”, will be held on Dec. 16, 2003 at 12:30PM EST. Learn how three companies, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mattel and Unisys, make sense of the content technology world for the benefit of their organizations, partners and customers. Other scheduled webinar topics include “Tips and Techniques for Adoption” and “Measuring Value, Managing Expectations.” To register, visit select “View Scheduled Events” and then the “Register” icon. www.gilbane.com/technology_works.html,

GlobalSCAPE announced the availability of PureCMS 2.0. PureCMS 2.0 empowers organizations to share responsibility for Web site content management with non-technical team members, provides security and control for multiple Web sites from the same interface, and enables workflow for change management. PureCMS runs on a server with Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) and it can publish to any Web server. Non-technical users browse to a copy of their organization’s Web site hosted on the PureCMS staging server, click the page they want to edit, login and make textual or graphic changes on screen. They can copy and paste content into the Web page from Windows applications such as Microsoft Word or Excel. Once proposed changes are saved, that individual’s team leader is notified of pending activity via e-mail. They are able to compare proposed changes to the previous version, approve, and publish, or schedule for publishing. PureCMS is available immediately from GlobalSCAPE based on a tiered, per-user license basis. Pricing begins at $350 per user. www.globalscape.com/purecms

Open Text Corporation and Momentum Systems, Inc. said they will introduce a correspondence management and collaboration software solution that helps government agencies improve communication and comply with laws designed to move government online, such as the U.S.’s Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA). The solution, called Correspondence Management with Livelink, offers tools for capturing, tracking and managing correspondence with the public, with legislators and with other government agencies. Correspondence Management with Livelink lets organizations track correspondence from a variety of sources, including scanned letters, e-mails, faxes, electronic documents and hand-written notes, and manage them through automated processes to ensure proper handling of requests and a timely response. Correspondence Management with Livelink transparently captures and stores all communication in virtual work packages. The system uses a tabbed interface which logically organizes correspondence and related information into Web pages. Within each work package, users can place or access relevant documents, tracking data, status information and queries for that correspondence. www.opentext.com

Entopia, Inc. announced the integration of its Entopia Knowledge Locator solution into the Microsoft Office System programs. The Entopia Knowledge Locator is integrated through web services to allow knowledge workers to find content and experts from throughout the enterprise without leaving Word 2003, Outlook 2003, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 or Microsoft Office Excel 2003. The Knowledge Locator uses the Microsoft Office applications’ Research Task Pane to provide contextual access to all information and people available in the organization. For example, an information worker who is creating a new legal contract in Word 2003 might need to find a standard legal paragraph for use in the contract. To automatically retrieve documents that match the document he or she is working on, the worker can either type search terms in the Knowledge Locator query box available on the Research Task Pane or just right-click to initiate an enterprise wide search. The results, drawing from network folders, e-mail servers, the Web, intranets, portals, extranets, local hard drives, databases, content management systems and other enterprise application repositories, are presented inside the Research Task Pane. Entopia’s Microsoft Office System integration is available immediately. www.entopia.com

Verity Inc. announced the availability of its initial Verity Taxonomies, six customizable classification structures for the organization and management of content in large-scale global enterprises. The six Verity Taxonomies are based on industry standards and built using the same query language used in Verity K2 Enterprise content organization products. Each of the taxonomies, together with Verity classification solutions that combine both automation and domain expertise, are designed to provide an enterprise’s taxonomy project with a head start to deliver content organization. Verity Taxonomies are also customizable by customers to serve their business requirements, both enterprise-wide and departmental. This customization can be performed by an enterprise’s administrator, or by Verity Professional Services. Verity Taxonomies include: The National Library of Medicine’s MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) thesaurus published by the U.S. Department of Defense, a Verity Homeland Security Taxonomy, a Verity Human Resources Taxonomy, a Verity Sales & Marketing Taxonomy, and a Verity Information Technology Taxonomy. www.verity.com

Percussion Software introduced Rhythmyx Express Portal. Rhythmyx Express Portal is a Workgroup – as opposed to Enterprise – Portal, designed to enable organizations to achieve standard portal benefits in less time and cost. Key capabilities of the Rhythmyx Express Portal include out-of-the-box personalized content delivery, a library of pre-built and sample portlets, project collaboration capabilities and content integration through a content capture feature. In addition, Rhythmyx users can choose to “live” in the portal and, using the Rhythmyx portlets, access the content contribution and management capabilities of Rhythmyx. The Rhythmyx Express Portal is J2EE-based and requires 25MB of system memory and 65MB of disk space. It supports JAAS (Java Authentication and Authentication Services) providers for portal security and supports standard directory services, such as LDAP and Active Directory. Additional portlets can be developed using standards such as Java, JSP, Velocity and HTML. Pricing for the Rhythmyx Express Portal starts at $40,000 (USD). The product is available now for immediate delivery. www.percussion.com

Macromedia unveiled Macromedia Flex. Flex expands the Macromedia MX product family to address the requirements of enterprise IT departments seeking to deliver end user experiences that combine the responsiveness and richness of desktop software with the broad reach of the web. Previously code named “Royale,” Flex offers a standards-based, declarative programming methodology and server runtime services for delivering user interfaces with the Macromedia Flash client. The Flex beta program is now accepting applications, in preparation for release in the first half of 2004. Flex developers define user interfaces using an XML-based language that the Flex server renders into intelligent client applications running in the Flash Player. The Flex application framework combines a programming syntax; an extensible class library of building blocks for creating applications; and runtime services for data connectivity, deployment, and experience management. The initial Flex release will run on top of J2EE application servers and a .NET version is planned for future releases. Flex is based on XML, ECMAScript, SOAP web services, and the Macromedia Flash (SWF) file format. Macromedia Flex is expected to ship in the first half of 2004. The Flex server will be licensed as an enterprise server software product. Free licenses are planned for evaluation and single user workstation development. Additional information on Brady, Partridge, pricing, licensing, and configurations will be available at a later date. www.macromedia.com/go/flex/