Content Management Matters ™

JustSystems, a Japanese software vendor specializing in XML and information management technologies, announced that XMetaL, the company's XML-based software for structured authoring and content collaboration, has been selected as a 2008 KMWorld Trend-Setting Product.

The latest release of XyEnterprise's ContentaView seeks to ensure that information is provided to the right people, at the right time and that the use of that information is carefully tracked. With the web-based distribution capabilities, the need for a lot of hardware may be only a distant memory.

When we talk about the Semantic Web we mean more meta-information hidden in the page code, but derived from the content itself, with the aim of letting Web services and search engines know exactly what's there without having to guess from keywords and tags. XML is one format which can structure content to contain more classification material. RDF is the preferred data model used, which splits content into entities and relationships, and the RDF model most usually utilizes XML to structure content.

They've supported Red Hat Linux in their publishing software, XML Professional Publisher (XPP). Now it's time to support it in their content management system and that they do with Contenta 4.0. But that's only the start of the enhancements to this latest release.

After navigating the murky lands of translation and globalizing content, I attended a panel at Gilbane that was a detailed look at XML and its importance in content management. The overall message I left with at the end was that XML was "tremendous technology" and as one panelist put it, "the most important integration tool in software today".

Concluding a partnership that has lasted over 15 years, XyEnterprise, provider of XML-based content management systems has announced that it has brought XSystems into the fold permanently through acquisition. The acquisition will result in the creation of a new business unit focusing on editorial tools development, standards expertise and consulting services and a new set of tools for the Contenta product suite.

Ovidius GmbH, one of the leading suppliers of XML-based Content Management Systems on the European Market, recently acquired EasyBrowse EP-Service GmbH. An established developer of solutions for electronic publishing, which aims to meet the special needs of publishing houses and the publishing industry, EasyBrowse is poised to expand Ovidius' portfolio as supplier of end-to-end solutions for creating, managing and publishing technical documentation.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group has published the Candidate Recommendation of “CSS Namespaces Module.” This module defines the syntax for using namespaces in CSS and may have wide spread implications in the design world.

JustSystems is continuing its growth strategy to expand across North America and Europe by designing new partnership levels designed to recruit more value-add partners to sell and integrate their software into organizations.

Their focus is to recruit experienced vendors and system integrators in the areas of structured authoring and dynamic publishing. JustSystems, as you know, is a provider of document management solutions that implement DITA. So it only makes sense they would be looking for new partnerships with companies experienced in this area.

They have defined three new partner participation levels that will enable potential partners to grow their relationship with JustSystems slowly. These include:

• Associate - initial commitment and basic support
• Authorized - More formalized and predictable sales of JustSystems products
• Premier - Designed for system integrators who want to build a solution offering around their technology

The higher up you go in the partnership levels, the more marketing, sales and technical support you get. In addition JustSystems will product discounts and sales opportunities to higher level partnerships.

If think you have what it takes to become a value-add partner for JustSystems, go to their site and read more details.

XyEnterprise, a provider of XML content management that support the OASIS DITA specification has announced the latest version of their product: Contenta for DITA v1.5.

Enhancements to this product come on the tail of the latest release of ContentaView 3.5, their suite for publishing and delivering interactive technical manuals and publications.

CMS Watch has a new report out that many organizations are sure to want to read. It's called The XML & Component Content Management Report 2008 and it's review of the leading Component Content Management vendors and XML tools on the market today. With all the conversations happening around DITA today and the number of vendors coming out with XML-based solutions, you need to understand the market well to know how to work within it.

EMC Documentum has released a couple of new products based on XML technology. The products: XML Store and Dynamic Delivery Services are expected to help XML become a driver for any type of content-rich application when integrated with the Documentum enterprise content management system.

Gartner is getting a little more hip naming their reports and JustSystems is one content management vendor benefiting from it. After all, being named a "cool vendor" can't hurt a company can it?

Looking for a content management system that enables to you author and publish DITA-based technical documentation? Take a gander over this way. Canadian vendor, IXIASOFT, have just unwrapped the latest release of their XML-based solution -- DITA CMS Framework 2.1.

Compatibility with DITA 1.1 is one of several interesting improvements bundled-up in this latest push.

Here's another must attend event if you live on the west coast -- or just feel like visiting Vancouver, British Columbia -- home of XFiles series.

For content management professionals who need to look more strategically at their content, the Content Convergence and Integration 2008 conference could be the trick.

The 3 day event March 12-14, 2008 is brought to you by the Strategy A Consulting Group.