Category: Content technology news (Page 542 of 640)

E-Sync Networks, Inc. announced that a beta version of TotalChain, its new end-to-end web supply chain solution, would be available for testing in February. The company also confirmed that the product would be available commercially during the second quarter of this year. TotalChain will enable companies to collaborate over the Internet with their business partners, suppliers, service providers, manufacturers, distributors, and customers, by facilitating the secure exchange of information among disparate systems. For example, a manufacturer’s material resource planning system will be able to transparently communicate with a supplier’s planning system in a seamless and integrated manner. E-Sync Networks will initially focus on two vertical markets, insurance and distribution. www.e-syncnet.com

ForeFront, Inc. announced the release of its ForeHelp Premier 2000 product line which supports JavaHelp, HTML Help, WinHelp 3.1 and WinHelp 95, ForeFront’s InterHelp and Windows CE Help formats. ForeHelp Premier 2000, which includes ForeHelp 4 and ForeHTML Pro 4, simplifies the creation of professional online Help, electronic newsletters, online catalogs and product or company information. ForeHelp Premier 2000 can also be used to develop reference materials that are delivered to the end user in a variety of ways including CD-ROMs, intranets, extranets, even Web sites. Learning WinHelp or HTML codes and macro syntax is not necessary because of ForeHelp’s WYSIWYG authoring environment. The most significant new and enhanced features found in ForeHelp 4 include: the ability to import FrameMaker .mif files; set up, add, import, export and maintain headers/footers that can include replaceable stamp fields. ForeHelp 4 can also import selected topics, keywords, macros, styles and/or windows from other ForeHelp projects in order to support multiple authors and projects; plus it enables live edits within a topic list for easy organiza

Bowerbird Computing has announced the release of XDBM, a free embedded database designed specifically to handle XML. There are currently many options available to programmers who want to make their program XML aware, but they all have three shortcomings: They are slow because they need to read the entire file to find out what it contains; They do not supply any way to search an XML file; and they consume a lot of memory because they need to load every part of the file required right from the start. XDBM overcomes all of these problems for software developers through its new database design. www.bowerbird.com.au

Sterling Commerce, Inc. announced the availability of Edifecs’ SpecBuilder as a value-added optional component for its GENTRAN business process integration offering. Using GENTRAN and SpecBuilder, corporations can set up E-business relationships that support the integration of business information in XML, EDI, and other proprietary business formats. Companies can now define a partner relationship and export the guidelines via the Web to their entire E-business communities for rapid deployment. www.sterlingcommerce.com, www.edifecs.com.

Inso Corporation announced that it has sold its PDM Division for approximately $12 million in cash and net assumption of liabilities. The transaction is in the form of a stock purchase by Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (SDRC) of outstand-ing stock of Inso’s subsidiaries, Sherpa Systems Corporation and Inso France Development. The sale was completed on January 5, 2000 and should result in a transaction loss to Inso estimated at approximately $3 million in the fourth fiscal quarter. In addition, a compensation charge of approximately $1.7 million will be recorded in the fourth fiscal quarter for the cost of option vesting or cancellation for certain PDM Division employees. www.inso.com

OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, welcomed Scott McGrath to its staff in a newly-created position, Member Services Manager. In his new role, McGrath will have responsibility for activity coordination and communication for the more than 130 members of the non-profit international consortium dedicated to XML interoperability. McGrath brings to OASIS more than 10 years experience developing customer service systems and staff, most recently with the world’s second largest member organization, the American Automobile Association. As senior liaison between members, all AAA business units and suppliers/contractors, McGrath served as ombudsman, mediator and conflict resolution expert, supervised mediation and quality measurement staff, executive service call center, and correspondence staff and developed quality tracking, measurement, reporting/organizational learning systems. McGrath also brings a wealth of experience in developing database-driven business systems and service quality assessment/manage

Intraspect Software, Inc., announced that R&D Solutions, a major supplier of web integration services in France, has signed a strategic agreement to resell Intraspect products. These include Intraspect Knowledge Server (IKS) 3.0, a platform for developing, deploying, and managing collaborative business solutions. Intraspect and R&D Solutions are targeting major French multinational organizations. R&D has been delivering the full suite of Intraspect c-business services including IKS 3.0, implementation, customization, training, and local support. www.intraspect.com More small U.S. companies should look at France and other European countries. We wouldn’t recommend expansion before you are ready to devote the necessary energy. On the other hand, as Europe continues to accelerate their catching-up with North America in the use of internet technology there will be more and more opportunities lost. European software companies should look at more aggressive growth for the same reason.