SAQQARA Systems, Inc. introduced SAQQARA ContentWorks, a new application that speeds, simplifies and automates the complicated and labor intensive task of acquiring and transforming product data from multiple sources into ‘product content’ – technical, marketing and business information about products that is organized and structured to drive Internet-based transactions. ContentWorks is part of the comprehensive SAQQARA solution for B2B suppliers (manufacturers, Net market makers and distributors) to help them to implement a Transformation, Management and Exchange (TME) product content strategy. TME defines the processes necessary to ensure the creation of branded and differentiated product content that allows B2B suppliers to effectively market and sell on the Internet. ContentWorks streamlines the process of creating and maintaining fully branded and differentiated product content that gives B2B buyers all the information they need to make informed buying decisions. ContentWorks allows suppliers to acquire product data from a variety of sources, including structured databases, word processing formats, flat files, HTML and XML, and transform it based on rules created by the supplier’s product domain experts. The resulting product content can easily be published in an e-catalog or syndicated to trading partners in any required market taxonomy and interchange format including XML, cXML, xCBL, CIF, etc. With SAQQARA ContentWorks, B2B suppliers, especially Net market makers and distributors, can leverage their product domain expertise to simplify and automate the acquisition, cleansing, translation and classification of product data from multiple sources and in different data formats and taxonomies. SAQQARA ContentWorks is available today. www.saqqara.com
Page 774 of 929
Semio Corporation announced a new version of its content categorization solution, Semio Tagger, offering open interfaces to categorization information. Version 4.1 makes the content categorization information generated by Semio Tagger readily accessible to other programs, for easier integration with online content solutions and business portals. Semio Tagger extracts key concepts from a wide variety of document sources to build customized content categories. These categories may be integrated in a variety of online applications, including content navigation and personalization in portals. With Semio Tagger 4.1, Semio Corporation offers a comprehensive and open interface to the results obtained through its patented categorization processes. This interface will support future partnership integration efforts through published interfaces and toolkits. Semio Tagger 4.1, Semio Taxonomy Viewer 4.1 and Semio Map Viewer 4.1 are currently available from Semio Corporation, available on Sun Solaris 2.7 and above, Windows NT and Windows 2000 platforms. www.semio.com
Kinecta Corporation announced plans to deliver a free content distribution tool, Kinecta Syndicator Lite. Kinecta Syndicator Lite enables organizations to set up open, dedicated channels for automating ongoing business-to-business content delivery instead of relying on manually intensive and error prone methods such as e-mail or FTP (file transfer protocol). It also avoids unscalable and inflexible click-back methods such as linking and framing. Kinecta Syndicator Lite also manages delivery of multiple content types, formats, content sources and delivery frequencies. Like Kinecta Interact, Syndicator Lite automates the distribution of any type of digital asset in a wide range of file formats, including XML, HTML, text, PDF, graphics, audio, video and streaming media. Users can download the Kinecta Syndicator Lite Java-based server application, and then authorize a limited number of partners to distribute content to. Businesses that need access to more advanced functionality and support for larger distribution networks can easily upgrade to the enterprise-class Kinecta Interact syndication platform. Kinecta Syndicator Lite is expected to be generally available on February 1, 2001 as a free download. Interested users can begin registering online today. Basic support will be provided for free along with an online community of users of ICE technology and Kinecta ICE-based products. Kinecta Syndicator Lite will also come with a “Getting Started” guide which will provide a step-by-step process to enable users to quickly get their syndication networks up and running. For easy set up, Kinecta recommends running Syndicator Lite with Windows NT and the Microsoft Access database. For experienced information professionals, Syndicator Lite can be run with Sun Solaris or Linux and a relational database, and it can be customized and extended using a free Software Development Kit. Additional services and support can be purchased online. For more information on ICE, visit www.icestandard.org, www.kinecta.com
Chuckwalla, Inc. and Eprise Corporation announced a partnership to provide customers with a complete solution for accelerated delivery of rich media to the Web via integration of Chuckwalla’s rich media management products with Eprise Participant Server. The agreement includes cooperative marketing and promotion of the solution by the two companies. By integrating Chuckwalla technology, rich media can be delivered through the Web in one, streamlined process, providing customers an even more robust environment for improving Web site effectiveness to drive e-business success. www.eprise.com, www.chuckwalla.com
VeriSign, Inc. announced a range of XML-based specifications and services designed to enable enterprise developers, B2B exchanges, independent software vendors (ISVs) and service providers to link their applications to Web identity, online authentication, authorization, digital signature, encryption and payment services. These specifications are being introduced in conjunction with today’s release of the XML Key Management Specification (XKMS) by VeriSign, Microsoft and webMethods. Currently, developers choosing to enable applications to handle digital keys for authentication and digital signatures are often required to purchase and integrate specialized toolkits from a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) software vendor which only interoperate with that vendor’s PKI offerings. With the new XKMS specification, those functions are no longer built into the application but instead reside in servers that can be accessed via easily programmed XML transactions. XKMS is also compatible with the emerging standards for Web Services Description Language (WSDL) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). More information on XKMS can be found at: www.verisign.com/developer/xml. The new XML specifications are designed to work with VeriSign’s existing Web identity, authentication, payment and validation services and greatly simplify interoperability of e-commerce transactions. In addition to XKMS, VeriSign has developed a suite of XML specifications. Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) supports an XML-based management utility for vendors of online identity services. EPP will enable VeriSign’s accredited registrar partners to sell domain names, telephone numbers and future identification assets through a new extensible protocol. VeriSign is working with multiple industry partners, including Netegrity, to develop S2ML, a common language for sharing authentication and authorization services through XML documents. VeriSign’s XML Pay is an XML specification for payment requests and responses in a distributed, web-based payment transaction environment. The typical user of XML Pay is an Internet merchant or merchant aggregator who wants to dispatch consumer credit card, debit card, corporate purchase card, automated clearinghouse (ACH), or other payment requests to a financial processing network. www.verisign.com
Bowstreet Interwoven Inc. announced a co-marketing, co-selling and product integration alliance. This alliance is designed to enable businesses to manage and deploy custom content across XML-based “business webs,” including B2B marketplaces and portals. Interwoven TeamSite content management software allows both technical and non-technical contributors to develop and test web content prior to publishing, and to integrate and web-enable content from disparate sources including database data, word-processing documents and presentations. The Bowstreet Business Web Factory allows non-technical business people to use a graphical point-and-click interface to deploy TeamSite-managed content in customized combinations to an infinite number of customer, partner and supplier sites. This process automates the proliferation of content across business webs of interconnected companies, saving all parties the time and expense of hard-coding customization features into each partner web site. www.interwoven.com, www.bowstreet.com
Arbortext, Inc. announced the launch of its most recent version of e-content software, Epic 4.1, which supports the conversion between Interleaf and Adobe FrameMaker files and XML. This latest release also enhances Epic’s capability to convert between Microsoft Word files and XML. Epic 4.1 significantly expands the reach of authors who can leverage XML within an enterprise. Occasional authors who contribute content and are accustomed to a particular type of software can continue authoring in that environment while downstream processes can leverage that content for multiple purposes by converting it to XML. Epic 4.1 also maintains and further enhances features introduced in the previous Epic version such as rapid applications development, global support and adherence to W3C XML recommendations. Epic 4.1 will ship in December 2000. All Arbortext customers under maintenance are eligible to receive the Epic 4.1 upgrade at no charge and will automatically be shipped the upgrade. The XML conversion capabilities are available as Epic Interchange, an option to Arbortext’s XML editors, Epic Editor and Epic Editor LE, and are included as a standard part of Arbortext’s server, the Epic E-Content Engine (E3). www.arbortext.com
Kinecta Corporation announced Kinecta Interact v3.2 with enhanced features for increased stability and reliability. New features extend the functionality of the Kinecta Interact platform to allow for more flexibility in syndication environments. The Kinecta Interact content distribution infrastructure, based on the ICE (Information and Content Exchange) protocol, automates the distribution and management of information and content between networked partners and affiliates. Key new features include: FTP Content Source Monitor — enables content providers and aggregators to access content directly from an FTP server; Internationalization — supports double-byte and other non-Latin characters for entry and display. In addition, the Kinecta Interact AdaptiveContent transformation capabilities can now handle content encoded in the most popular single- and double-byte character encodings, including Unicode; and Extended database support — Kinecta Interact now supports Sybase databases. www.kinecta.com
Subscribe to the Gilbane Advisor
