Documentum has acquired content management assets from copy machine titan Xerox.
Documentum, the enterprise content management (ECM) division of storage systems maker EMC, acquired the askOnce content integration technology from a Grenoble, France-based Xerox
division for an undisclosed sum.
Pleasanton, Calif.’s Documentum said the purchase has enabled it to construct a product called Virtual Repository, which provides access to content from any source, including repositories, file servers, Web sites and applications. It does so by taking snapshots, or virtual images of data, which help users access content.
In an example of how it works, Documentum said users can then edit the content, render it a PDF, deliver it to a Web site staging area, send it to an outside printing agency, translate it into multiple languages and distribute it as an XML content chunk for reuse on regional Web sites or localized packaging or collateral.
Content management as a sector has been gaining traction since the advent of a number of government compliance issues, including SEC 17a-4 and Sarbanes Oxley, both stringent financial reporting rules. Documentum is competing with Interwoven, FileNet
and Open Text
in this space for market share.
Documentum, which EMC acquired last year to bolster its own information lifecycle management (ILM) strategy for corralling content, made the announcements at the Documation Conference and Exposition in Paris. Documentum will keep askOnce in Grenoble for further development.
The askOnce integration technology will be demonstrated in the Virtual Repository product there. The Virtual Repository product will be available to the public in the second quarter of 2004.