IKON Office Solutions announced that it has formed a strategic relationship with IntraNet Solutions, Inc. IntraNet Solutions agreed to license its Web-based content management products, including its Intra.doc! software products, to IKON as the core architecture for IKON’s Digital Express 2000, a document repository system with hosted document and customized order management capabilities. Digital Express 2000 features print-on-demand and distributed printing options, allowing business users to send print jobs from their desktops via the Web for printing and distribution. In addition, IKON was awarded the exclusive right to sell IntraNet Solutions’ Intra.doc! products to the graphic arts/commercial printing industry, as well as non-exclusive rights to market Xpedio, IntraNet Solutions’ popular Web content management system designed for business-to- business customers, in the United States and Canada. Digital Express 2000 is scheduled for release in January 2001 as an ASP model for the graphic arts market. www.intranetsol.com, www.ikon.com
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Microsoft Corp. announced the next version of its Office suite and confirmed that the new product’s first technical beta has been sent to a select group of customers. The next version of Microsoft Office will be a major product release and will be the first Office suite to begin delivering on the Office.NET vision by integrating Internet-based services, enabling users to be more productive using Office with the Web. New features include: Smart Tags that appear on the screen while individuals work, providing useful information for completing tasks or accessing data; New Task Panes offer views that expose a wide range of new and popular features; Speech recognition; Hotmail and MSN Instant Messenger integration; Word Count toolbar; Application and document recovery; Document routing for review; Team workspaces; Excel and Access now support XML as a native file format and can easily import and export XML data; Extensible Smart Tag architecture; New tools for workflow and collaboration (“Tahoe”); and improved Web Components that enable Excel users to easily publish interactive Web pages that have data contained in spreadsheets, pivot tables and pivot charts. www.microsoft.com
Liaison announced the availability of Liaison Content Exchange 2.0. Liaison Content Exchange automatically extracts, aggregates and rationalizes data, providing B2B exchanges with the descriptive content necessary to drive purchasing decisions. Liaison Content Exchange software is used by eMarketplaces and large manufacturers. eMarketplaces (trading exchanges) use Content Exchange to automate the process of building and maintaining substantial electronic catalogs consisting of thousands of suppliers and millions of products. Large manufacturers use Content Exchange software to automatically structure product content for e-procurement applications used by their customers, as well as private and third-party eMarketplaces and commerce portals. Liaison Content Exchange automates the gathering of data and is based on Adaptive Content Recognition technology that extracts content from Web pages and other sources, then transforms the content into structured data, greatly reducing the time and expense associated with gathering this type of information. Liaison Content Exchange 2.0 will be available in September directly from Liaison and solution partners. The software is licensed on an annual licensing basis, starting at $140,000. The software requires a Pentium II 450 MHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, 6 MB of free disk space/250 MB for data capture and audit logs, ISDN 128 K, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or later, and Windows NT 4.0 SP 4 or later for operation. www.liaison.com
Interwoven Inc. announced the launch of Interwoven Content Interchange, a new framework that addresses the needs of the exploding B2B marketplace. The Interwoven Content Interchange Framework consists of three core elements: eBusiness Network Collaboration, Enterprise Integration, and Integration to Exchange-based Services. eBusiness network collaboration offers content management services across the extended enterprise. eBusiness network collaboration enables disparate entities to share information and coordinate development in a secure, distributed environment. The framework includes an XML repository, distributed authoring and versioning, distributed XML-based workflow for inter-enterprise, advanced content replication and re-use, advanced XML syndication, index and search of XML-based objects, and directory service-based rights management. Enterprise integration includes the comprehensive set of eBusiness data adapters and catalog management services needed to access diverse information sources, drive content development and tagging, and format and deliver content to varying audiences. Leveraging the open, standards-based architecture of Interwoven and partner solutions, the Interwoven Content Interchange framework addresses connections back to supply-chain and legacy information. Exchange-based services include the set of value-added applications used to drive complex, document-driven transactions and supply-chain integrations over the Web using the collaboration services of an eBusiness network. Examples of content being exchanged in an e-business network include bid/offer, SKU’s and product specifications, identity management, insurance and financial services, and logistics. www.interwoven.com
IntraNet Solutions announced the release of Xpedio 4.0, a new version of the Xpedio Content Management system with enhanced security and business personalization features for B2B and business-to-employee (B2E) customers. Xpedio 4.0 is designed to meet businesses’ growing demand for the ability to contribute, manage, publish and personalize content for business Web sites more efficiently. Xpedio 4.0 includes Xpedio’s two primary components – Xpedio Content Publisher and Xpedio Content Server. This upgrade enhances those components’ ability to simplify and automate the contribution and conversion of any type of content, ranging from desktop applications to forms and reports, to any Web format, such as PDF, HTML, XML or WML, with new security, business personalization and Web site development features. Xpedio 4.0’s business personalization features are based on centralized user authentication and security mapping combined with business rules. Xpedio 4.0 enables security integration with popular existing systems, such as LDAP, NT, Netegrity and NDS, and allows extensible user information for greater business personalization. Additionally, Xpedio 4.0 provides HTML form-based contribution and HTML page preview for converted content. Xpedio 4.0 also includes query-driven publishing, which allows the system to automatically select and publish content based on metadata. Xpedio 4.0 will also include product modules available in Xpedio: Xpedio WAM, a system for managing Web assets, and Xpedio Reporter Parser, which parses reports from enterprise applications and converts them to XML, HTML, PDF or text formats for secure publishing to the Web. Xpedio 4.0 is shipping now and is priced from $40,000-$180,000 USD. www.intranetsolutions.com
arcadiaOne, Inc. and easypress announced a partnership to provide end-to-end publishing and syndication solutions. The integrated offerings will empower publishers to automate the way they acquire content from other publishers, and sell both aggregated and internally created content into virtually any digital media channel, such as Web, broadband, WAP, etc. As part of their agreement, easypress will offer both an ASP-style online service for electronic-syndication as well as resell arcadiaOne’s Enterprise server, along with providing consulting and technology integration services to joint customers. The ASP service – easySyndicate Online – is powered by arcadiaOne, and will enable publishers to rapidly and cost-effectively automate distribution of selective and defined content to multiple media channels. To content creators, this opens up new opportunities to expand their distribution and market reach, while preserving their brand. www.arcadiaOne.com, www.easypress.com
eGrail Inc. released the kernel of its commercial software product to the Open Source development community. The eGrail Source software will be available at www.egrail.org. This site will focus solely on providing technical services to Open Source developers. eGrail also announced its adoption of a hybrid business model that represents a new and improved approach for the building, distribution and support of Internet software. eGrail is committed to developing efficient Open Source software that can be produced at a lower cost than most vendors currently in the market. eGrail is an enterprise-capable content management software that runs completely on Open Source infrastructure. www.egrail.com
OverDrive, Inc. announced the release of its ReaderWorks Standard software which is available as a free download at www.readerworks.com. ReaderWorks Standard is an authoring tool that allows educators, authors, publishers, business professionals and others to convert their documents, text, images, or web content into Microsoft Reader eBooks. Concurrent with the release of the free Standard version, OverDrive also announced the release of its commercial eBook product, ReaderWorks Publisher. Publisher provides all the capabilities of Standard plus the ability to customize cover art and other title data used by resellers and eBookstores to promote, manage and protect digital rights for online sales. Publisher is available at the readerworks.com web portal at an introductory price of $119, a 20% discount off the suggested list price. The announcement also included the release of ReaderWorks Software Developers Kit (SDK), Version 1.0, which provides an ActiveX toolset to automate the production of eBooks in Reader format, and allows developers to add “save as Reader” capacity to their applications or for development of large eBook conversion applications. ReaderWorks software brings point and click technology to the ePublishing industry for conversion of text, HTML, images, and other content to Microsoft Reader and Open eBook format. The Commercial ReaderWorks suite is designed to support marketing and metadata in XML, XrML, OEB, ONIX formats for eBook resellers. www.readerworks.com
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