Latest Digital Asset Management News & Articles

If your preference is for open source solutions, here's one that may interest you. They didn't make it to the list of Digitial Asset Management Systems in the CMS Watch Digital Asset Management Report for 2009, but that may be because they are a solution for smaller businesses who are just starting to examine their DAM needs.

Can't get enough information on SharePoint? Web Content Management? A little in the dark about DAM? Are you interested in learning? AIIM and CMS Watch have announced a new series of technology-based education programs covering topics such as web content management, SharePoint, eDiscovery and digital asset management.

When it comes to Digital Asset Management, most of the players are divided between low-end solutions and high-end solutions. According to the recent DAM report from CMS Watch, the mid-market offering is going by the way side. One would think this is somewhat odd, considering the middle market is probably the largest one out there.

High-impact rich media is a goal of many companies in regards to their websites. Adobe is here to help solve that problem and keep it cost-effective to publish such media. They bring to you Adobe Scene7, a comprehensive SaaS platform that provides scalability, ease of use and the use of integrated technologies.

Earlier this fall Mimosa released a new solution — email archiving — as an addition to its NearPoint product. Tomorrow, they'll announce another new addition, aimed at classifying and tagging archived content.

Mimosa NearPoint Retention and Classification Option (RCO) is an add-on module to the Mimosa NearPoint platform that can help organizations lower storage costs and expedite eDiscovery by enabling automated management of user-generated content based on policy.

Digital asset management is coming to Europe. North Plains Systems, provider of digital asset management (DAM) and video asset management (VAM) software solutions, plans to expand its global channel of strategic partners over the coming months, including a European base of technology partners.

The expansion comes as a result of the increased demand of its TeleScope digital asset management platform, known for enabling securing access, management and distribution of all digital and rich media across an entire organization.

BrandActive, a consultancy specializing in brand planning and management, has teamed up with ADAM to provide digital asset management services. ADAM, most recently known for its SharePoint connector, is a hosted DAM service that allows creative agencies, companies and other stakeholders to manage and deliver media between stakeholders. ADAM software can either be run at on-site in a company's data center or as a hosted, Software-as-a-Service model.

According to Philip Guiliano of BrandActive, clients stand to benefit from the new service offering. He goes on to say, “The introduction of a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Digital Asset Management (DAM) offering, with ADAM as the platform, is a natural fit for BrandActive’s clients as it will not only enhance the level of service we provide in managing physical brand transitions, but also enable us to deliver a completely customizable, highly-valuable tool for ongoing brand management without the complexities, limitations and costs associated with an on-site installation.”

By combining their services, ADAM and BrandActive deliver a one-two punch for companies and organizations looking to deliver a consistent and powerful brand powered by a proven hosted software platform.

Open source DAM anyone? It has arrived — an open source enterprise-level DAM system named Razuna. Fathered by a Swiss company called SixSigns, Razuna comes to the world with its latest release 1.1.2. Albeit a point release, this version has a lot to offer (to some scenarios).

Interwoven released an enhanced version of Interwoven MediaBin. The company's flagship Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution is now faster, more interactive and allows for better control for managing and deploying rich media assets. Some of the enhancements are quite expected, while others just don't make much sense.

MadCap Software, known for their integrated applications that provide workflow solutions for publishing multilingual print and online content, has announced the launch of MadCap Capture 3.0.

Capture 3.0 is MadCap's screen capture and graphics editing software, designed specifically to address the needs of documentation professionals.

Nexsan, a storage solutions provider, has announced Assureon 6.0, the latest version of an energy-efficient and long-term storage solution.

This is the first green archive-as-a-service solution for the storage industry, and it will allow users to easily manage secure and efficient archives. Corporations interested in an external archive-as-a-service model might be interested in Nexsan's offerings.

Pegasus Imaging Corporation, a digital imaging vendor, released a new version of Prizm Viewer — the browser-based image viewer.

With Prizm Viewer v8 users can navigate, view, annotate and share images, CAD and PDF files residing in document management or Enterprise CMS's via a web browser.

Caringo Inc., a vendor of content storage software, has recently announced the release of an interface that will allow Alfresco, a provider of open source content management software, and CAStor, Caringo's flagship storage product, to operate seamlessly.

This interface replaces the existing file-system based storage of Alfresco and utilizes CAStor instead. Users now will be able to distribute data to CAStor without putting in additional effort.

And by “media,” in this case, we mean TME — Telecommunications, Media and Entertainment — companies. These verticals are being targeted by the Enterprise CMS provider Vignette with its new publishing platform designed specifically for the TME. It is called, naturally so, Vignette Media.

Re-using many of the already existing modules, Vignette gets creative in Q3 with the new solution that promises to “allow content-based companies to create and manage digital storefronts, online games and UGC-based communities from a single interface.”

Isilon Systems, a hardware and software enterprise storage provider, has completed integrations between its Isilon IQ and NFS Maestro by Hummingbird, a subsidiary of Open Text, to improve access and delivery of file-based critical business information.

This solution will benefit enterprises running on Microsoft Windows by providing a faster and more secure Network File System (NFS) protocol for data access.

ASG Software Solutions, a provider of enterprise archiving and records management solutions, recently announced the integration of its ASG-ViewDirect product with Hitachi Data Systems' Hitachi Content Archive Platform.

This deal came together as a result of ASG's desire to address the challenges involved with managing enterprise content, while allowing users to easily interact with it. The partnership with Hitcachi Data Systems (HDS) helps ASG achieve these goals.

pTools, an enterprise content management vendor, announced new enhancements to its Enterprise CMS software for Microsoft SharePoint. It is now integrated with Equilibrium’s digital asset management software — MediaRich DAM for SharePoint.

Several research firms have been looking into the future of digital asset management (DAM), web content management and web 2.0. In a nutshell, the future is bright — with all three markets experiencing high growth in the next several years. We are talking millions and billions of $US.

As expected, there are also many challenges that will affect the markets in the near future.

Every Content Management Solution Provider seeks to find and market what makes them unique. For Nstein, it's a little about their ability to produce a multi-lingual content management solution for the digital publishing industry. But that's not what makes them unique — they have a “secret sauce”. And it may just be the thing that pushes them ahead of an ever growing and growling pack.

eZ Systems, a Norwegian Open Source Web CMS provider, joined forces with Apple to provide a “unique production and workflow solution for digital media.”

The new product is designed for a more efficient management of video every step of the way: from production in Final Cut to multi-channel delivery.