Kapow Releases On-Demand, Customizable Web Data Services

Best known for content management system migration technologies, Kapow Technologies also does web data services and feeds. In a recently announced partnership with StrikeIron, the vendor released Kapow Web Data Services v7.0, focusing on web data access for small and medium sized businesses.

The Kapow partnership with StrikeIron, a SaaS provider of data on demand as REST or SOAP service calls, introduces an on-demand or SaaS service, while taking a different approach to classical data integration methods, said Andreasen. Note that subscription, billing, account support and user handling is taken care of by StrikeIron. Kapow acts as middleware.

The model here is three-fold:

1. Access
2. Enrich
3. Serve

That, plus the concept of robots, which are automated scripts that you “teach” how to interact with a website. Robots then execute a scripted behavior. One of the benefits is auto access to any data you see in the web browser as RSS feeds or REST services, even if that data is behind personal logins.

The robots you write can, for example, access your personal banking accounts (if you supply login information) and generate various reports based on the data and rules you put around it. Creating a robot is rather simple and looks like a flowchart in RoboMaker, a visual point-and-click desktop tool.

This Web Data Services offering can be quite useful in many scenarios, including the collection of real-time web intelligence and market data.

In the travel industry, the search and planning site GoWaza is one of the examples of how the service can be used. GoWaza collects data and makes it available to customers, who research travel providers to get the best deals.

More on CMSWire.com

Amazon Debuts With (More Secure?) Virtual Private Cloud

Ever thought that the cloud is not secure enough for your organization to even consider adopting it? You may want to give that thought another swirl. And the reason for that is the new Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

Albeit in limited beta, the offering aims to provide the best of the both worlds by securely bridging your existing IT infrastructure and the AWS cloud-based resources in hybrid architectures.

In essence, Virtual Private Cloud works just as a regular AWS public cloud, but with isolation and additional encryption.

Is this the ultimate solution for security concerns? Hardly.

Can it support regulatory compliance requirements in the cloud? The short answer is “no.” But, hey, it’s not a bad start.

More on CMSWire: Amazon Debuts With Virtual Private Clouds

CIA Pours Money Into Open Source Lucene, Solr Search

Yes, the Central Intelligence Agency is among 18 U.S. Intelligence organizations to benefit from the Apache Lucene/Solr enterprise search technology.

In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s VC arm, has announced its investment into Lucid Imagination, a commercial provider of open source search technologies.

This may mean a lot of things (just scratching the surface here): great exposure for Apache (not bad of a present for the ASF’s 10th birthday), promotion of open source adoption, better data mining opportunities for the U.S. intelligence — you name it.

Facebook and Google, interestingly, are also (indirectly) in the mix.

Full story on CMSWire: CIA Invests in Open Source Lucene, Solr Search

Open Text Adds a Visible Sizzle With Vizible Acquistion

Had an interesting chat with Open Text’s head for Digital Media Scott Bowen today. We talked about the Vizible acquisition — one of the many that Open Text has completed recently, yet quite different from the previous ones.

For one, it’s the deal size. Bowen referred to it as “non-material” by Open Text’s balance sheet standards. Which leads me to guess that it was probably in the neighborhood of around US$ 5-10M or so. For comparison purposes, the Captaris acquisition carried a US$ 131M price tag.

Secondly, it is quite unusual to see the conservative Open Text grab a 3D, digital media interfaces maker. eMotion (bought for approximately US$ 5 million) and Artesia acquisitions were done with a clear intent of enhancing Open Text’s Enterprise 2.0 and Digital Asset Management capabilities. Captaris acquisition is a winner on the Document Management front.  But Vizible?

Then again, the ever-growing interest in rich and social media is something OTEX wouldn’t want to miss on from a market opportunity perspective. Open Text wants the “sizzle part” of Vizible’s compelling rich media offerings, as well as the “clever bit” behind the scenes — the technology stack and the widget platform.

This is where Vizible comes in with its content personalization and syndication, and web analytics features.

At the heart of Vizible’s unique, patented IP is the concept of the “Cell” — a container for content. The Cell is the basic building block in Vizible’s object-oriented assembly model (VOM) for representing media in 2D and 3D environments.

Vizible Client Interface

According to Vizible’s website, their technology was showcased in the MoMA Workspheres exhibition in 2001 — a little detail the artsy geeky part of me likes.

It doesn’t look like there will be any major restructuring changes from the HR perspective. Anthony Gallo, former founder and CTO of Vizible, will join Open Text as Vice President of Digital Media Experiences. Another 15 or so people from Vizible will come on board as well.

More details on CMSWire: Open Text Goes for Sizzling Experiences With Vizible Acquisition

Open Text Puts RedDot to Enterprise 2.0 Use

Yup, Open Text and I have finally found a mutually-suitable time on both our calendars. The news — new release of RedDot.

Open Text has announced today the release of “next generation” Web Solutions. The fancy name is, in essence, a new release of the company’s Web CMS child — RedDot. It’s a name change and a total rebranding makeover. With all the underlying RedDot WCM technology still in the backbone, it is now called Web Solutions.

The focus of this new release is on intranets, extranets, Enterprise 2.0 solutions and Web 2.0 tools that come armed with greater security and control over social media initiatives.

Full article: Open Text Puts RedDot to Enterprise 2.0 Use

Gartner: SaaS is Hot, Revenue Will Keep Rising

Not so long ago, I was thinking (out loud) about the future of SaaS CMS’s.  Now, we’re looking at a bigger picture — enterpise markets.

If you were worried about the present and future of SaaS— Gartner says don’t be. Worldwide Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) revenue in the enterprise application markets is going strong.

Gartner predicts it will surpass US$ 6.4 billion in 2008, a 27% increase from 2007 revenue. Moreover, the market is expected to more than doublewith SaaS revenue reaching US$ 14.8 billion in 2012.

Full article: Gartner: SaaS is Hot, Revenue Will Keep Rising