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

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

CrownPeak Lures In Marketers With New CMS Features

CrownPeak, a provider of SaaS web content management solutions, has its eye on the online marketing folk.

The latest release of CrownPeak CMS sports multiple new features designed to make CRM and web content management easier. If campaigns, lead conversions, tracking and revenue generation are part of your lexicon, CrownPeak has news for you.

Finally, CrownPeak has introduced a WYSIWYG authoring environment in a partnership with Ephox. There are also other new features and enhancements targeted to developers and marketers. Social media and web 2.0 integration is done in somewhat a childish way, but overall CrownPeak seemed to have found its niche.

Finding a niche could be one of the answers to remaining competitive in these market conditions, as long as the provided CMS functionality meets customer needs.

Full article on CMSwire: CrownPeak Targets Marketers with New CMS Features

Vignette Releases a Tool Thingy, Readies for Social Media Action

Despite recently losing some of its workforce (and revenues), VIGN not only tackles the latest Vignette Content Management 7.6 release, but also releases a new admin module called Vignette Transfer Tool.

More interesting news will come when Vignette will release updates to the company’s Social Media Solutions around web 2.0, social media, etc.

Full story on CMSWire: Vignette Simplifies Dev, QA Processes; Readies New Social Media Tools.

OmniUpdate Tags Web 2.0 With Live Delivery Platform

OmniUpdate, a CMS vendor in the trendy SaaS CMS space, announced a new Live Delivery Platform (LDP) for its core Web CMS product — OU Campus. The goal is to provide a vehicle for delivery of dynamic content that is an essential part of many Web 2.0 applications.

The platform, however, will not be available until May 2009. What’s in it and is it worth the wait?

OmniUpdate’s rivals in the SaaS CMS space like Clickability already offer some social media and Web 2.0 capabilities. Let’s wait and see what OmniUpdate has in store for us.

Full story on CMSWire: OmniUpdate Tags Web 2.0 With Live Delivery Platform

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