Category: Semantic technologies (Page 71 of 72)

Crescent Deviceware, Inc. announced that it has licensed DataChannel RIO from DataChannel, Inc. to extend Portals to wireless devices. Crescent’s wireless server, codename Blue Moon, will leverage XML in conjunction with RIO to facilitate access to enterprise data resources. It builds on the company’s first wireless product, SmartFinder, a microsearch engine optimized for searching desktop or corporate data using wireless devices. Crescent will offer advanced wireless communication capabilities through the DataChannel RIO 3.2 platform to address the market for mobile information appliances, including smart phones, pagers and PDAs. The company is developing wireless solutions that are based on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). Under the OEM agreement, Crescent will integrate RIO with its products to provide publishing, entitlement, notification, organization and personalized delivery of content to wireless devices via a browser-type interface. www.crescentware.com

Vignette Corporation announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Diffusion Inc., The acquisition adds an important component in broadening the capability of Vignette’s StoryServer technology by enabling companies to exchange information with their customers through any preferred media, including Web, e-mail, fax, telephone and pager. The result is closed-loop communications between companies and their customers leading to increased customer satisfaction and improved returns on companies’ online investments. Vignette will acquire 100 percent of the outstanding stock and assume all stock options of Diffusion in exchange for approximately 400,000 shares of Vignette common stock. Vignette will account for the transaction using purchase accounting and expects to close the acquisition by June 30, 1999, subject to approval by the shareholders of Diffusion and other customary closing conditions. Vignette expects to incur one-time acquisition costs and integration related charges associated with the transaction which include costs associated with product integration, cross training, and other merger related costs. Additionally, Vignette anticipates a portion of the purchase price will be allocated to In Process Research and Development and expensed upon the consummation of the transaction. Diffusion technology will enable Vignette customers to manage the distribution and delivery of personalized information across any delivery channel, including the Web, e-mail, fax, pager and telephone, regardless of the channel the communication originates from or is routed through. The result is multi-channel information delivery solutions for automating personalized, closed-loop interaction between an enterprise and its client. For example, through this integration, a financial services company could immediately and proactively alert a client, via the client’s preferred method, when trading events, such as confirmation of block trades, buy/sell decisions, IPO filings and stock price changes. If the customer cannot be reached through the primary channel, the communication will be escalated to the next level, until the customer receives the message. The company then receives confirmation of delivery, an additional benefit in mission-critical business situations. www.vignette.com

Xerox Corporation revealed a strategy to mobilize its global direct- sales force behind an initiative that, over a 10-year horizon, will grow to represent as much as 50 percent of Xerox’ business and act as a catalyst for the company’s sustained digital growth. Xerox unveiled the first 17 offerings in the Xerox “Global Industry Solutions Portfolio.” These solutions, many of which are Internet enabled, link people-based services, hardware, software, and network services in a package that solves a customer problem, improves a work process or creates a market or competitive advantage. They address industry-specific needs for Xerox customers in the document-dependent environments of financial services; manufacturing; graphic arts; and the public sector. The company also introduced a suite of tools for Knowledge-Sharing designed to help customers leverage their intellectual assets. The end-to-end solutions announced today bundle replicable packages of software, hardware and services — each custom-tailored by Xerox industry specialists to meet individual customer requirements. Many build on the advantages of the Internet. The company is initially concentrating on the graphic arts industry, where publications are the product, and on financial services, manufacturing and the public sector, where documents — either digital or hard copy — are critical to their business processes but are outside the organization’s core competency. Xerox also announced a suite of tools that will enable customers to share and leverage knowledge throughout an enterprise and realize a greater “Return on Knowledge.” The suite ranges from tools to improve individual productivity to solutions. Among the new introductions: AskOnce, an interface to web search engines, data information retrieval facilities and knowledge databases. It provides unified user access to external and internal knowledge sources to simplify search, retrieval and use of information; MobilDoc, a tool that combines software and services to provide mobile professionals with remote access to their documents from anywhere, at any time via thin clients such as smart phones, two-way pagers and personal digital assistants; EcoWorx, a solution that can cut the cost of compliance with environmental health and safety and ISO regulations, improving productivity by automating document workflow processes; and High Impact Custom Catalogs, a start-to-finish marketing solution developed in partnership with RTMS (Milwaukee, Wis.). It will enable customer-centric businesses – from department stores to telephone companies – to create and produce completely individualized marketing campaigns, even when communicating to millions of customers. www.xerox.com

Blue Angel Technologies announced MetaStar Enterprise, an integrated XML solution that makes it easy for organizations to create Web based knowledge solutions using the latest technologies. Enterprise combines database, search engine and Web technologies to provide a turnkey knowledge solution that is quickly and easily implemented. MetaStar Enterprise lets users add, update and delete records in MS SQL or Oracle databases from their Web browser. The changes are reflected in the database in real time and are automatically indexed so they are also available on the Web in real time. Enterprise also includes workflow features that can be configured to automatically take specific actions when user-defined events occur. It uses XML as an underlying data interchange format. MetaStar Enterprise is available immediately. Prices range from $35,000 – $60,000. www.blueangeltech.com