Vignette Attempts to Get Media Attention

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 portalsThis 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. During the demo, Shepstone outlined that Vignette Media is different from any other product because, as we’ve mentioned before, it is specifically designed for TME’s and contains several new features, including:* Two Modules: Editorial and Marketing (for managing different types of content)* “Automations” capability for flexible automation ofrepetitive tasks* AJAX-powered UI: The new approach is called “workspaces,” as illustrated below

Vignette Media Interface

There are also pre-built content types. Examples include article, news, image gallery to address TME’s unique requirements without the need for customizations.Along with highlighting what is really new in Vignette Media, the company admitted that it did re-use an already existing product -- Vignette Video Services -- as well as the general, core CMS technology. The Video Services component is something that was inherited from V’s acquisition of a video publishing vendor Vidavee earlier this year. We can’t help but wonder why it was so difficult to find information about Vignette Media on the company’s web site at the publish time of this article. The new product wasn’t even featured on the main page of the corporate site. Vignette admitted it was probably a “timing issue” and referred us to a micro site for their new product. The micro site is now also prominently featured on Vignette web site’s main page in a nice promo box. In any case, we would like to thank V for giving us an opportunity to get a clearer picture of the product.