Percussion Software announced the release of Rhythmyx Content Manager version 3.5. This upgrade of Percussion’s XML-based content management system includes a significant new feature – the Content Editor Engine – which reduces content development time from days to hours. Rhythmyx v3.5 also offers a completely revised Publisher Engine, enabling companies to centrally manage all publishing activities, whether remote or local. Rhythmyx Content Manager v3.5 is available immediately and will be offered in a 30-day product evaluation kit that enables potential customers to trial the whole product with full technical support. The 3.5 evaluation kit is available on a CD that can be installed in production mode with a sample Web site already under management. Percussion Rhythmyx Content Manager V3.5 supports Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and Solaris 2.6, 7, and 8 on the SPARC platform. The Rhythmyx Workbench runs on Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. www.percussion.com, www.wellstream.net

A2i Inc. announced that its xCat electronic catalog system now supports product applications. Application-based search provides yet another way to locate products within a large catalog, so that in addition to drill-down search by manufacturer, category, attributes, keyword, and other traditional criteria, a user can also search for products by their application. Applications are especially important in industries where application-driven product selection is the traditional way to locate products within a large catalog of complex product information. For example, in the automotive parts business, customers typically select parts based not on the category or manufacturer but rather on the particular year, make, model and engine type of the vehicle. There are millions of parts, tens of thousands of different vehicles, and since each part can be used in more than one vehicle, tens of millions of applications. The A2i xCat system features a data model for product applications that: (1) eliminates the duplication of both product data and application data typical of previous systems; (2) efficiently enforces validation against the table of valid applications; and (3) is more efficient for storage and searching. In addition to applications and application-based search, xCat also supports the ability to add rich product content — such as pictures, diagrams, specifications, repair information and text — not only to the parts themselves but also to the vehicles and applications. www.a2i.com

OASIS announced that its recently expanded XML.org industry portal has been enhanced to include an online, categorized listing of the ZapThink XML Standards Report and Analysis. This new data features key details about more than 400 XML specifications from 300 organizations worldwide. XML.ORG offers detailed summaries from ZapThink’s quarterly Standards Reports. Developers who require an in-depth analysis of a particular specification are able to purchase the full report through ZapThink. http://xml.org, www.zapthink.com, www.oasis-open.org

Mozquito Technologies launched a product that will put the power of eXtensibilty into Allaire’s HomeSite. Mozquito FML for HomeSite is made up of two components: the Mozquito Matrix and the Mozquito XHTML-FML component for HomeSite. XHTML-FML, or Forms Markup Language, is an XML-based language created by Mozquito Technologies, which simplifies creation of interactive online applications for retail, surveys, and other uses by eliminating the use of applets and scripting. Mozquito FML for Homesite enhances Allaire’s editor by running the user’s work through the Mozquito Matrix, transforming XHTML-FML tags into HTML and JavaScript that will run regardless of platform or browser. The XHTML-FML tags allow the developer to perform various tasks easily, such as toggling, calculations, and input validation. These 20 new tags also give the developer a functionality that they could only otherwise get with a great deal of complex JavaScript code. Mozquito Technologies is also working on FML for ColdFusion Studio and JRun Studio. The beta versions will be available online June 25. Mozquito FML for HomeSite retails for Euro/$69 plus sales tax. It is available in the U.S., Canada, South America and the Middle East from Lifeboat Distribution, as well as Mozquito Technologies’ resellers worldwide. Users may also download the program from www.mozquito.com.

Lightspeed Interactive, Inc. unveiled Lightspeed LiveSite, an XML Web content management application that allows non-technical content authors to add, delete and edit their Web site in real time. Lightspeed LiveSite is a flexible, scalable product that enables users to dynamically share and reuse information via a Web browser. LiveSite provides multiple authors the freedom to contribute directly to the final product and the ability to share vital information with other users throughout the enterprise. LiveSite’s XML-based structure offers templates for administering content preferences, business rules, and controlled user access. This gives authorized content managers the ability to keep up with digital growth while freeing up IT resources. The combination of Lightspeed’s iENGINE platform and the LiveSite product enhances the company’s overall enterprise content management solution. www.lspeed.com

NQL Inc. announced the release of NQL Components, offering application developers access to the advanced capabilities of NQL’s Network Query Language core technology through a collection of individual building blocks, which can be used within other programming languages or environments. NQL Components are packaged as both ActiveX and COM components and can enhance applications built in virtually any language, including VB, ASP, C++, MS Office, VB Script and many other environments. The NQL Components released today are priced at $99 each. NQL plans to release more components over the next few quarters with pricing to be determined as those components are released. The NQL Components now available include: NQL Crawl, which crawls web sites; NQL Export, which allows automatic insertion of text, tables and images within MS Office documents; NQL Mail, which sends and receives email programmatically; NQL Neural, which makes it possible to create, train and run neural networks; NQL News, which reads messages from newsgroups and discussion boards; NQL Terminal, which connects to and captures responses from terminal- based systems such as UNIX server, minicomputers and legacy systems; and NQL Web, which retrieves web pages and web page headers. NQL Components are royalty-free once licensed, and come with sample VB and ASP programs. For a free, 30-day evaluation visit www.nqli.com/components/

Open Market, Inc. released Catalog Centre 3.5 and Marketing Studio 3.5. Both solutions are intended to provide solutions for companies whose e-business requires the management and delivery of specialized content for successful and productive site visitor experiences. Both new releases debut support for IBM WebSphere 3.5 and iPlanet Application Server 6. Open Market’s Catalog Centre creates easy-to-update, highly navigable content catalogs. Core to the Catalog Centre architecture is the ability to manage and present content in customizable hierarchies. Marketing Studio 3.5 is designed to enable non-technical business managers to collect data about site visitors and store it for analysis and use in developing marketing campaigns including promotions, up-sells, cross-sells, and content recommendations. Using Marketing Studio, business managers can group site visitors into meaningful segments and recommend products and other relevant content-based segment membership. The new Marketing Studio release also introduces the Analysis Connector, which enables Open Market’s Content Server 3.5 to deliver information to any reporting or analysis tool. Analysis Connector can be customized to work with third-party analysis tools, such as data analysis engines, to draw conclusions from information gathered from Web site visitors. Analysis Connector collects and stores data such as clickstream data, visitor demographics, content views, cart item information, abandoned cart information, and orders and can be customized to collect other kinds of site data. Catalog Centre 3.5 and Marketing Studio 3.5 are built on top of the WebLogic 5.1, IBM Websphere 3.5 and iPlanet Application Server 6. Catalog Centre 3.5, Marketing Studio 3.5, and Analysis Connector 3.5 are available for immediate download and on CD-ROM. www.openmarket.com