B-Bop Associates, Inc announced the release of Xfinity Author wX 2.1, the latest version of its Microsoft Word-to-XML authoring software. The software, available immediately, offers new functionality to further simplify the creation of structured documents in XML directly from the Microsoft Word environment. Xfinity Author wX 2.1 allows users to save their content to any XML industry standard or user-defined DTD such as RiXML, NewsML, HR-XML, DocBook, XBRL or even HTML. Users can select the MS-Word objects they want tagged as XML elements. Support for the MSXML parser improves productivity and prevents errors by enabling users to validate their documents against an XML DTD. The new release also provides support for for both ISO-8859-1and UTF-16 character sets. Xfinity Author wX version 2.1 requires Microsoft Word 2000 and runs on Windows 98, Windows NT and Windows 2000 platforms. To view a sample output generated by Xfinity Author wX, please visit www.b-bop.com/authorwX_to_docbook.htm. www.b-bop.com

Tridion announced it is looking for additional partners to achieve 70% of revenue from channel-related activities. The company offers its partners free product training, free software, a partner extranet and marketing support, as well as sales leads. Two types of partnerships exist. Consulting partners deliver advice, expertise and implementation services around Tridion DialogServer. Software partners integrate Tridion’s solution into a range of products suited to customers’ content management needs. Companies implementing the product will be able to update, manage and re-use their content across multiple Web sites, channels and business applications in a consistent and cost-effective manner. Since the beginning of the new programme in July, eleven consulting partners have signed up; Aceion, Andel Consulting, Axialt, Labyrinth, LSC, Object 1, Rubus, Satsuma, Thales Information Systems Finance, Unified Solutions and Volt Europe, and four software partners: Infuzer, SealedMedia, Software AG and Verity. www.tridion.com

Software AG, Inc. announced the formation of the Trusted Content Alliance (TCA). TCA is spearheaded by Software AG, Lexign, Inc., and AuthentiDate. TCA is a consortium dedicated to developing industry standards for secure, digital content management. TCA’s mission is to provide organizations with secure and cost-effective solutions that meet specific industry needs. The first fully integrated solution developed by the charter members automatically captures data and forms via the Web, and integrates the data into existing systems through digital content management. The combined TCA product suite includes Software AG’s Tamino XML Server and EntireX Total Business Integration Server, and Lexign’s Lexign Suite for managing trusted transactions in the LAN, Web, or wireless environment. AuthentiDate adds evidentiary admissibility for data non-refutability to any system, service, or workflow. The organization is currently developing a standards committee to serve as a platform for the discussion and mind share of key regulatory issues within targeted industries. Additional information will be available at www.trustedcontentalliance.org in the coming weeks. www.authentidate.com, www.lexign.com, www.softwareagusa.com

XOR Inc. announced the release of Open Content 2.0, a content management
solution “without the costs and sophisticated technical support they often
require.” Open Content 2.0 is a simple content management tool that is modestly priced, easy to implement, and enables content owners to update web-based content in real-time. It is especially well-suited to the middle-market and individual units of the Fortune 500 that can’t or don’t want to invest in elaborate content management solutions that are expensive to implement and maintain. Content managers can easily add pages, create and update information, and change the navigation of a site in real-time without any involvement from the technical team. Through a dynamic workflow process, teams can create, edit, preview and approve content in a staging area before it is posted for end users. Open Content 2.0 is available on both Microsoft and Java platforms; the Java version works with popular application platforms like WebSphere, Apache/Tomcat, ATG Dynamo and BEA WebLogic. www.xor.com

Ascential Software Corporation announced its support for the release of BusinessObjects Application Foundation 2.5 from Business Objects. Application Foundation 2.5 offers users a framework for building dashboards and real-time analytics into their applications, enabling quick access to and easy visualization of customers’ critical business metrics. DataStage accesses and extracts data from multiple data sources, including enterprise applications, XML or e-business data, Web and e-mail logs, flat files, mainframes and data warehouse environments. DataStage also allows Business Objects customers to manage and bi-directionally exchange meta data within their business intelligence environments. www.ascentialsoftware.com

TopicalNet, Inc. has agreed to purchase substantially all of the assets of TeraLytics of Sunnyvale, California. Through the acquisition, customers will benefit from the combination of TopicalNet’s ability to understand and classify electronic content and TeraLytics’ highly scalable data analysis technology. TeraLytics’ technology analyzes detailed customer interaction data to help customers define strategies and actions, enabling them to increase revenue and customer satisfaction. www.TopicalNet.com

Zycus announced the release of AutoClass, a classification solution for e-Catalogs. AutoClass will assist marketers to accurately analyze spending patterns by product and supplier as well as provide a common platform for mapping different supplier and buyer plans to UNSPSC. AutoClass achieves this through a database engine that removes the concepts and then categorizes the product by statistically linking the models to product categories. The speed of automatic classification (100,000 documents per hour) enables rapid enablement. The AI based classification engine is trained on millions of product items where it separates statistically significant patterns. Built-in libraries and embedded domain intelligence help in automatic and accurate classification of the supplier’s/client’s plan into UNSPSC at a reduced cost, while version control is made possible through continuous update every two weeks. AutoClass is language and domain independent, and can process e-Catalogs on a real time basis using a web interface. www.zycus.com