Category: Content technology news (Page 623 of 645)

BlueGill Technologies, announced the BlueGill i-Series, a set of Web-based software applications and tools that enable companies to transform legacy data, such as billing, statements and business to business communications, into interactive customer applications (ICA). The i-Series assists companies in improving customer loyalty, increasing customer retention and building market share in the new Internet economy. The BlueGill i-Series consists of five Web-based software applications, including i-Banker, i-Broker, i-Biller, i-Telco, and i-Insurance, and is packaged around BlueGill’s experience in implementing interactive, customized communications and transactions between businesses and customers in several different industry segments. While many of these implementations were for consumer EBPP, BlueGill has also implemented several other applications outside of EBPP, including telco business-to-business communications, manufacturing applications (EDI RFQ response), insurance administration and online investment statement applications. With the BlueGill Engine, the i-Series combines a modular set of industry specific functions for billing management, business-to-business bills, statements, payment linkage, administration, e-commerce, customer service and marketing, and data management. The BlueGill Engine manages the transition of legacy data into XML-based “Smart Objects,” by transforming the data into an object model and storing it as an XML construct. BlueGill Smart Objects are used to transform customer data into interactive applications, creating a customized, flexible business applications. www.bluegill.com

Corel Corporation announced the launch of WordPerfect Office 2000. With this latest release Corel has concentrated on delivering greater performance and increased compatibility. Various versions of WordPerfect Office 2000 will hit store shelves in May, and in addition to the standard office offerings will also include Dragon NaturallySpeaking; and web site creation agent, Trellix 2 Compatibility has been improved in a number of ways. For example, WordPerfect Office 2000 has enhanced file support / conversions with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and supports PDF, VBA, HTML, ODBC, SGML, XML, and OLAP. The WordPerfect 9 file format remains unchanged since WordPerfect 6.1, so users can easily import or export their files to and from WordPerfect 9. Users can also import WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS files into WordPerfect 9. WordPerfect Office 2000 Standard Edition will be available for a suggested retail price of US $109 (CDN $149). Voice Powered Edition will be sold for a suggested retail price of US $159 (CDN $199). WordPerfect Office 2000 Professional Edition will be available for a suggested retail price of US $209 (CDN $249). WordPerfect Office 2000 Standard Edition will sell for a suggested retail price of US $399 (CDN $599). The full Voice-Powered Edition will be sold for a suggested retail price of US $449 (CDN $699) and WordPerfect Office 2000 Professional Edition will be available for a suggested retail price of US $499 (CDN $769). www.corel.com

Idetix, Inc., an Internet and new media company focused on developing content management products and services, announced the release of Revize v2.0. Revize is a client/server content management software system that enables Web developers to build content editing capabilities into new or existing Web sites quickly and easily. Priced at $895.00 U.S., the software is platform and web server- independent and enables content contributors to use any Java-enabled browser to edit content while site and page layout remain protected. Revize v2.0 is priced at $895 US per web site. Per web site licensing is defined by the base URL entered for each running copy of the Revize server, or each separate entity or organization using Revize. There are no additional costs for content contributors, but third party licensing is required to resell content management services. Revize v2.0 is available through the company’s network of resellers and VARs, or can be downloaded and purchased from www.revize.com

Akamai Technologies, Inc. announced that George H. Conrades has been named Akamai’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. He will spearhead the commercial launch of FreeFlow, Akamai’s Internet content distribution service. Mr. Conrades, who has been representing Akamai investor Polaris Venture Partners as a member of the Akamai Board of Directors since last December, will also continue in his position as a venture partner at the venture capital firm.Before joining Polaris in 1998, Mr. Conrades served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BBN Corporation where he led the commercialization of this prestigious high-technology research and development company. After BBN was acquired by GTE in 1997, he led the integration of GTE’s overall Internet and data communications activities as Executive Vice President of GTE and as President of GTE Internetworking. Mr. Conrades began his career at IBM, rising to become the head of IBM United States, where he led the creation of IBM’s services business. www.akamai.com

WavePhore, Inc. announced the availability of the beta release of WavePhore NewsPak. NewsPak enables easy integration of streaming real-time news, selected from more than 70 industry categories, into web sites. NewsPak includes both real-time news feeds and the NewsPak Software Developers Kit. The NewsPak SDK is based on XML, the new universal standard for information exchange. The SDK contains the tools necessary for web site owners to accept a real-time streaming XML news feed from WavePhore, store extracted content on their local server, then display this content in a style consistent with the rest of their site. The NewsPak architecture supports such enhancements as Internet broadcasting of streaming audio and video. www.wavephore.com, www.newspak.com

Alpnet, Inc. announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent with EP Electronic Publishing Partners GmbH in Nuremberg, Germany, which is expected to result in the acquisition of all shares of EP Electronic Publishing Partners by Alpnet before the end of May 1999. Completion of the transaction is subject to due diligence and the execution of a definitive acquisition agreement. EP designs and develops custom-built systems for document, information and translation management. During the past three years, EP has developed and implemented a sophisticated translation management system for a large European institution, providing a unified translation management tool for more than 2000 users. EP was created in 1993 and was formerly the research division of TA Triumph Adler. The company employs 15 people who are active in system integration and consulting projects for German publishing companies. EP also has ongoing projects for a large European institution developing and maintaining translation and information management systems. EP currently projects 1999 revenues, prior to being acquired by Alpnet, to be approximately $1.3 million with profitable operations. www.alpnet.com

Rick Thoman was elected chief executive officer of Xerox Corporation by the Board of Directors. The announcement was made by Paul A. Allaire, who is relinquishing the title of CEO but remaining as board chairman for about another year. Also today, two executive vice presidents, William F. Buehler and Barry D. Romeril, were elected to the board and named to the newly created position of vice chairman of the board. Buehler is also president of Industry Solutions Operations for Xerox and Romeril is also the company’s chief financial officer. Allaire became CEO in 1990 and chairman the following year. Richard “Rick” Thoman, 54, joined Xerox in June 1997 from International Business Machines. From 1994-1995, he was senior vice president and general manager of IBM’s personal systems group, which included the PC Company; and later he became IBM’s chief financial officer. Prior to joining IBM in 1994, Thoman was president and CEO of Nabisco International, beginning in 1992. Before that, he was president and CEO of American Express International and chairman and co-chief executive officer of American Express Travel Related Services Company. Before joining American Express in 1979, Thoman was a senior associate with McKinsey and Company. Buehler, 59, joined Xerox in 1991 after 27 years with AT&T. His organization, Industry Solutions Operations, is responsible for developing and delivering industry-specific document solutions to customers in North America and Europe. Romeril, 55, joined Xerox in 1993 from British Telecommunications in London, where he had served as group finance director since 1988. At Xerox, he is responsible for all finance, treasury, tax and audit aspects of the company, as well as its internal services and real estate operations. In addition, he is responsible for Xerox Technology Enterprises, which oversees emerging businesses; the company’s intellectual property unit; and Xerox Engineering Services. www.xerox.com

Microsoft Corp.and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) jointly announced newly proposed guidelines for the Privacy Preferences Project (P3P). The new technology and standards-based solution is designed to accelerate the widespread adoption of P3P. The proposed guidelines, which will be submitted to the W3C, simplify the process by which Web sites of all sizes can post privacy policies. Microsoft and EFF’s proposed P3P guidelines are intended to simplify the process by which P3P-ready privacy policies can be created and posted. A P3P-based privacy statement is an XML document that states the information practices of a Web site or page. The first application of the P3P syntax to privacy statements will be available as a Web-based service called the Privacy Wizard. It is a simple-to-use and easy-to-implement privacy solution for Web site owners who have limited technical and policy resources. The Privacy Wizard was developed by Microsoft and TRUSTe, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building consumer trust on the Internet, and will be available by the end of the week through MSN LinkExchange ). MSN LinkExchange is a provider of services that helps small businesses and Web site owners promote, improve and earn revenues from their Web sites. More information about the development and deployment of practical solutions for online privacy can be found in a case study, co-authored by EFF, Microsoft, and Ernst and Young, titled “Architecture Is Policy: Cooperative Development as a Means for a Standards-Based Implementation for Privacy on the Internet” www.eff.org/privacypaper/, www.microsoft.com