Vignette Attempts to Get Media Attention

By Irina Guseva (@irina_guseva) Sep 19, 2008

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.”

Vignette Media Features

Single user interface to manage all web content
Pre-defined workflows and content types most commonly used by TME
Easier set-up of web site workspaces reducing IT load
Optimized workflow capabilities with more flexibility and collaboration capabilities
Integration with Video On Demand (VOD) platforms and Internet TV portals

This all sounds very familiar. The “new” offering looks more like a rebundled version of the previously existing modules, only marketed to specific verticals. So implies Dave Dutch, senior vice president of products and marketing at Vignette, by saying “We are building on our Vignette Digital Services Hub by giving organizations the opportunity to create a unique entertainment experience across multiple online channels.”

Vignette’s Media Solutions Modules

We’ve told you about some of Vignette’s Media Solutions not so long ago, when the company released Vignette Video Services and the latest incarnation of Vignette’s Rich Media Services. The entire Media Solutions product line consists of:

Rich Media Services Asset Module - with features specific to the management of images, podcasts, Adobe Flash files and video metadata
Rich Media Services Video Module - for management and delivery of video assets
Video Services Module - for deploying video to web, mobile, podcast and IPTV platforms

Story Behind the Story

It’s that time of the year — getting close to Q4 — the last quarter that will determine Vignette’s overall financial performance for 2008. So far, Vignette has not been having a good year. In the Q2 2008 financial results, the company announced that revenue was down (again) and the year on year income dropped 73.5%.

Given the very disappointing Q1 and Q2 results, anyone would attempt to please the shareholders and make it up to them. Even if it entails repackaging, repurposing and rebundling existing solutions, sprinkling a pinch of freshness all over and hoping to sell more licenses.

[Editor's Note]

Hot off the press, this article prompted Vignette to ask for more media attention. In this case, the attention of yours truly CMSWire. It is our pleasure, V.

Challenging our article, Vignette’s PR firm said: “The launch of Vignette Media is a significant addition to the Vignette suite. There has been a dedicated engineering team working on this product for 12 months.” “We would very much invite you to view a demonstration to show the differences between the products,” the firm continued.

We were very much eager to go beyond the press release and the scarce amount of information available at the time on V’s corporate site. So, we had a chat with Lee Shepstone, CTO of Vignette's Media group, who demoed some of the features of Vignette Media. While not much difference between the products was demonstrated, we got a chance to view a Vignette Media Overview presentation.