An Enterprise Content Breakthrough? - Page 2

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Prototype using CMIS debuts

REST , or Representational State Transfer, is a collection of network architecture principles that outline how resources are defined and addressed in distributed systems such as the Internet. SOAP, formerly known as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol for exchanging XML-based messages over computer networks. It is a W3C recommendation.

CMIS is development platform- and language-agnostic, and supports composite application development and mash-ups by business or IT analysts.

The first prototype using CMIS is already out -- Open Text this week announced that it has worked with SAP to create a prototype that uses CMIS to manage content from SAP applications with Open Text Enterprise Library Services. "We wanted to work alongside SAP to create a standard way to ingest content from the SAP solution to keep it for the long term," Open Text's Anstey said.

There are reports that CMIS will be applied to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007, which Microsoft has been touting as its ECM solution. A Microsoft spokesperson would only say by e-mail that "because we are just beginning the process to standardize the CMIS specification, we have nothing to announce today regarding how it will be used with specific Microsoft products."

However, Ethan Gur-esh, program manager for Microsoft's CMIS team, said on the ECM team blog that "we'll provide more information on when and how you'll see support for CMIS for SharePoint and other Microsoft products."