Global Web CMS Solution Bears EU€ 69 Million Price Tag

UK-based SDL International, a leading provider of Global Information Management (GIM) solutions, has solidified an agreement with Tridion, a leading provider of enterprise Web CMS solutions. The EU€ 69 million agreement awaits shareholder approval but is expected to augment the breadth and offerings of SDL's info management solutions significantly.

A unique challenge associated with global enterprise content management solutions is language. Good solutions must be equipped to translate content in a multiplicity of tongues, a difficult task due to its sensitive timing, complex workflows and other factors including the evolving nature of language itself.

As businesses broaden beyond their own horizons, however, they must face the language dilemma head-on. A running discourse seeking to simplify multilingual enterprise communication is the one revolving around component content management which, once well-defined, may provide quantifiable answers to the troubles around distributed, large-scale documentation and translation.

Mark Lancaster, CEO of SDL, notes, “global trade is an imperative that companies cannot ignore. The combination of SDL’s translation management system, providing supply chain management and a virtual centralized multilingual repository, combined with Tridion’s advanced WCM technology will enable corporations to conquer the significant language barriers that often stifle the globalization of their businesses.

“The combined solution creates a Global Web Content Management solution which will allow companies to not only create, but specifically maintain multilingual web experience for their customers.”

The SDL/Tridion collaboration draws from the strengths of both enterprises, including:

• SDL's ability to drive global brand consistency and accelerate time-to-market conversion.
• Tridion's goal of bringing consistent, targeted and interactive customer experiences across Web channels and sites.
• SDL's capacity to disseminate corporate information into different languages worldwide. In particular the integration of SDL's Translation Management System with Tridon's WCM system will make them one of the first to deliver a global solution that enables corporations to interact with global audiences in a more timely manner.
• Tridion's XML-enabled CMS, capable of adding depth and speed to SDL's existing translation process.
• Tridion's site inheritance model, known as BluePrinting, enables enterprises to “copy” master sites and translate them into local language or a localized version.

Tridion CEO Pieter Varkevisser expresses delight with the pairing, acknowledging that “SDL and Tridion share a joint vision and the combination of our solutions provides a compelling proposition for anyone using the web to compete on the global stage. We are convinced that the transaction brings value to all of our key stakeholders, our investors, our customers and our employees.”

Adding to that, Lancaster elaborates on the vision: “Information assets are critical to the current and future competitiveness of any organization.”

An online discussion about the merger among the CM Pros Benelux Community suggests a general sense of guarded optimism about its potential. While some agree tight integration could yield a highly competitive solution, others wonder whether consumers who have committed to other tools will be willing to jump ship for a combined CMS and GIM offering.

Time will tell, and when it does, we hope the news interprets well.

SDL purveys enterprise software and services that help businesses manage global information, guiding the process from authoring to publication, as well as throughout the distributed localization supply chain. Its hive consists of over 50 offices in 30 countries, with clients like Audi, Bayer and Deutsche Bank. Read more at the SDL website.

Tridion enables organizations worldwide to deliver interactive, targeted and consistent customer experiences across numerous websites and channels. With headquarters in Amserdam and New York, global brands like Sanofi-Aventis, Emirates, Unilever and Lexus utilize their solutions. Get to know them at the Tridion website.

The CM Pros (Content Management Professionals) Benelux community blog provides a discussion space for content management professionals. CMSWire.com's Brice Dunwoodie is one of the group's founding fathers.

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