Ingres: Open Source Alfresco-Based Enterprise CMS Appliance

Although I am not sure what exactly this “appliance thing” means, here’s the news. When I think of an “appliance,” I think of me hugging a Google Box.

Ingres Corporation, a provider of open source database management, released the Ingres Icebreaker Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Appliance.

The new appliance is powered by Alfresco and aims to lower the total cost of ECM ownership. Will the customers respond to this new offering in the saturated ECM market and with tight IT budgets?

So, what is this ECM appliance, how does it actually work and who does what in this appliance model offering? The appliance = ECM + database + application server + OS. The roles are distributed within the corresponding expertise domains (which is always good news).

Full article on CMSWire: Ingres Engages Alfresco for Open Source Enterprise CMS Appliance

The End of an Era for RedDot. aka RedDot is Gone

It’s the end of an era for RedDot.

Enterprise content management vendor Open Text has retired its web content management arm RedDot in a recent consolidation/rebranding attack. The Web CMS software is staying put, but it is no longer called RedDot.

Say hello to the new Web Solutions family and to Daniel Kraft. Kraft was nice enough to spend some time to have a chat with me about what happened to RedDot. Kraft is Open Text’s SVP for Corporate Strategy who I tracked down via Twitter @danielkraft.

Q: You so fondly say in your blog “We will keep RedDot in our hearts.” What was the OTEX internal reaction to the announcement?

“On December 2008 we had to say good bye to one of our dearest friends – the RedDot. In an emotional ceremony all of his fellow co-workers gathered together to share great stories and express their respect for one of the greatest web visionaries of all times. When we had to enable everybody to change the web, RedDot was there for us! When 3,000 companies knocked on our doors to help them with their web solutions, RedDot was there for us! When two Canadian software companies looked for great acquisitions in WCM, RedDot was there for us. He was always there for us, our great friend, co-worker and admired leader. We have to say good bye now, but we promise that we will keep RedDot in our hearts…”

A:
It is no secret that we love the “RedDot” and saying goodbye is never easy. But the team is even more excited to see the transition from a web technology provide to a leader in web centric solutions. This is not an end; it is the next step to underline our leadership position in that space.

Full article on CMSWire: Farewell, RedDot. Viva Open Text Web Solutions

Sitefinity CMS 3.6 Enamors Developers With a Slew of New Features

Telerik, the maker of Sitefinity CMS, and developer tools and components for .NET; has announced the release of Sitefinity CMS v3.6.

In the new version, developers will see new backend architecture and a new API for improved extensibility, among other multiple enhancements that will make you dizzy with excitement. The goal of 3.6 is to “empower developers to tweak every aspect of [the] core system.”

The Slew of New Features in Sitefinity 3.6

• New Backend Architecture and Modules
• New Sitefinity API
• Control templates to Ease Upgrading Pains
• New Video Libraries’ Handling + native integration with Telerik’s Silverlight media player
• Hierarchical Categorization
• Dynamic Linking
• New Release of RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX, support for .NET 3.5 framework

Full article on CMSWire: Sitefinity CMS 3.6 Enamors Developers With a Slew of New Features

Kentico CMS 4.0 Marries Social Networking and Content Management

Kentico Software, a Czech Web CMS vendor, released a new version of Kentico CMS for ASP.NET. The 4.0 version, out of beta announced in December of last year, brings to the table Web content management packaged with social networking.

The majority of new Kentico CMS 4.0 features are revolving around the oh-so-popular social networking, online communities and Web 2.0 technologies.

Is Web 2.0 and Social Networking Still Relevant?

With Kentico CMS 4.0 so determinedly focused on Web 2.0 and social networking, is this a good development? We’ve seen many vendors in the Web content management space completely avoiding anything that has to do with Web 2.0 technologies. At the same time, quite a considerable amount of them embraced Web 2.0 in the Web CMS’s.

Recent Forrester research shows that enterprise spending on web 2.0 technologies is expected to grow strongly over the next five years with better enterprise adoption of social networking, mashups and RSS. The market for enterprise web 2.0 tools will be defined by commoditization and eroding prices.

Others say that Web 2.0 implosion is imminent and blogs and wikis are among the first to suffer. But social networking seems to continue to evolve and grow from 8% percent in 2005 to 35% in 2009, according to the latest Pew research.

Web 2.0 tools can be fragile and vulnerable. But as with any technology, it is essential to evaluate all the pros and cons and make decisions based on your organizational goals and not on fashion trends of “orange is the new black”.

Full story on CMSWire: Kentico CMS 4.0 Marries Social Networking and Content Management

Web Content Management and Recession — Unlikely Duo?

It is the time of recession, they say. We wonder: do companies still invest money in Web Content Management?

Recent research indicates that WCM will live despite the economic downturn. Better yet, the CMS industry may even experience growth.

According to a recent report from Forrester, Web Content Management is an industry in which organizations still invest and will likely continue to do so.

The research also shows some unsettling findings. The bad news is that customers expressed overall dissatisfaction with WCM, but not always with Web Content Management vendors.

Powers writes that “Dissatisfaction with current WCM initiatives remains, largely driven by lack of IT and business alignment, unrealistically high expectations and corporate politics.”

Sounds very familiar, doesn’t it? Even when an organization makes a decision to buy a certain WCM system, it’s only half of the struggle. Taking the power away from IT is, in most cases, an organizational change that brings considerable amounts of pain. “Oh, but we used to do it this way!” “You want to let Marketing have access to the CSS files – no way!” And it goes on and on.

Full article on CMSWire: Web Content Management and Recession — Unlikely Duo?

Open Text Extends eDiscovery Capabilities to eDOCS

Open Text has extended its Open Text eDiscovery Early Case Assessment solution released in partnership with Recommind late last year to its records management eDOCS customers.

Open Text eDOCS customers will get eDiscovery capabilities woven into their overall content, records and e-mail management practices. Will this solution play the get-out-of-(recession)-jail-free-card for struggling lawyers?

Legal Market and Importance of eDiscovery, or Open Text Got You Covered

Open Text is certainly at the top of its game in the legal market. The company says that 70% of the AmLaw 100 firms are using Open Text’s content management solutions. It is only logical to continue embrace the customer base by providing a full range of applications and legal industry expertise to support law firms’ business practices. No one is going to say “no” to support throughout the legal matter lifecycle from client intake to final disposition.

With 2009 eDiscovery trends being discussed here and there, there’s a direct impact of these trends on Enterprise Content Management in the legal market.

The current global economical crisis has affected everyone, law firms included. The legal market (just like everyone else) is looking to cut down costs and improve efficiency. One way to do it is to engage better tools to get the job done. Most likely, if the solution is essential to operations and (somewhat) easy to implement, IT will invest in it even in these times of economic downturn.

As Open Text outlines, these are some of the projects at the top of the IT list:

• Elimination of duplicate systems: This happens as a result of migration from one vendor to another and comes with a need to stop maintaining separate hardware and software.
• Integration with MS Office and SharePoint: With Office and MOSS being popular in the legal industry, there’s always a need for extensions and connectors, and Open Text has demonstrated its support for MOSS on a number of occasions.
• Automation of e-mail filing: Regulatory and firm policies require good record keeping practices around e-mail, and Open Text is again ready and eager to help. Automation of e-mail filing, as part of e-mail lifecycle management, requires specific tools along with integration with e-mail clients like MS Outlook.

With eDiscovery certainly being a hot topic lately, make sure to check out our eDiscovery coverage and learn about many other players in the market. When looking for a new technology solution, it’s always best to do your homework and research several vendors before deciding on the one that seems to be the best fit for your organization and business goals.

Full article on CMSWire: Open Text Extends eDiscovery Capabilities to eDOCS