Documentum 6.5

EMC has hit a couple of ECM market hot spots with the latest release of its Documentum ECM platform. Documentum 6.5, which was announced this morning, features improved user interfaces, as well as upgraded transcational content management capabilities.

The two major improvements directly related to document imaging applciations are an improved user interface for the TaskSpace transctional content management (TCM) client and a new Documentum High-Volume Server module.

The High-Volume Server is designed specifically for imaging-intensive applications like transactional content processing and archiving. Basically, it's designed to streamline meta data management to reduce database footprints related to objects like images and e-mails and as a result, improve performance.

"Let's say you're archiving e-mails," explained Andrea Leggett, a senior product marketing manager for EMC. "You don't necessarily need version control and a lot of meta data fields for those files. With Documentum 6.5, we've created a lightweight object model to more efficiently store those files within the High-Volume Server. This can dramatically reduce a user's database footprint and impact their software licensing in a positive way. It helps streamline and optimize file storage and lowers the amount of resources needed to support objects.

"It's also important to note that even though a user might not be utilizing all its object meta data in the High-Volume Server environment, that meta data is not erased. If the users needs to go back and get it for another process downstream, it is still available."

Leggett sees three use cases for the High-Volume Server. "The first is transactional content management, the second is archiving, and the third is being able to efficiently migrate content from other repositories into Documentum," she said.

TaskSpace TCM Client Improvements
Documentum first introduced its TaskSpace TCM client last year with Documentum 6.0. The new version incorporates some of the ease-of-use concepts that are prevelent throughout the release of Documentum 6.5. EMC is actually touting Documentum 6.5 as featuring "Web 2.0" capabilties. "We've embraced some of the consumer technologies that are out in the market and worked on ways to bring them into the enterprise," said Leggett.

One of the Web 2.0 examples that Leggett shared with us was the incorporation of technology similar to an iPod's Cover Flow interface for reviewing documents. "Because users are already comfortable with that interface through their consumer applications, it makes for a smoother adpotion in the enterprise," she said. "For knowledge workers, we've estianmated our improved UI can create a 25-37% improvement in the efficiency in which users can click through content."

Specific to TaskSapce, EMC has introduced integrated high-fidelity forms and monitoring capabilties into the client. "Through the same dashboard used to access transactional content, a user can now also design high-fidelity forms and set up customized monitoring processes," said Chris Preston, senior director, content management and archiving, for EMC.

The high-fidelity forms capability is brand new and enables Documentum 6.5 users to better design electronic forms that have the same look and feel as their paper forms. EMC has also incorporated 2-D bar code capabilities for forms that need to be printed signed and captured. Task-based monitoring has always been available with TaskSpace, but with the new version the design environment is accessible through the standard UI.

"TaskSpace was created as a great out-of-the-box tool for working with transactional documents," said Preston. "We've now added some more rapid application development tools to TaskSpace that will enable our customers to more quickly customize their interfaces."

EMC making the right moves to maintain position as market leader
Overall, we'd say that EMC continues to make great progress in its efforts to maintain its leadership position in the ECM market. Documentum began life years ago as a specialist in electronic document management, but has come a long way in the past five years in the imaging/TCM space, which, thanks to compliance concerns and the realization that paper problems need to be addressed because they aren't going away, has emerged as an important piece of the ECM equation.

EMC's acquisition of Documentum a few years back has really helped accelerate the evolution of the Documentum product line, by providing the company with resources to make strategic acquisitions like the Captiva purchase, as well invest more heavily in internal development. We are very impressed with EMC's stratetic view of the market and the dynamic stategy it has taken to address the evolving and emerging needs of customers, especially at the enterprise level.

Dennis Retires From Visioneer

We must admit that this announcement caught us a bit by surprise. I mean, by all accounts, Murray Dennis helped turn around Visioneer, from a company caught in a market with rapidly declining sales and margins, to a leader in the emerging market for document scanners. Before going any further, let me first state that I have no insights at the moment was to why Dennis has left Visioneer.

I do know that he has been there a long time. I have him quoted in DIR as far back as 1998, when Visioneer was going through some intense battles over false advertising and intellectual property with its competitors in the consumer scanning market. I remember discussing with Murray Visioneer's planned transition from consumer to document scanners and his guiding it through the ramp-up phase. By all accounts, he was instrumental in Visioneer's brand-licensing deal with Xerox, which the company has always touted as a successful arrangement. Dennis also helped orchestrate the acquisition of JFL Perihperhal Technologies, the TWAIN development specialist that now spearheads Visioneer's OneTouch driver development. And OneTouch has emerged as the future of the company.

Not that there haven't been missteps. The biggest was probably the whole Don McMahan era at Visioneer. While McMahan, who was brought in by Dennis after he abruptly left competitor FCPA, did a lot to increase Visioneer's presence in the market, he left Visioneer after only a year-and-a-half in a less-than-ideal breakup. Visioneer hoped to continue to ride some of the momentum McMahan had created without having him on the payroll, but we're not so sure how well that has worked out. Meanwhile, McMahan has moved to Kodak and is targeting the same sales channels he helped build at Visioneer.

The bottom line is that Dennis in many respects helped make Visioneer what it is today - one of the leading players in the distributed document scanner market, and a company with some intriguing and potentially valuable intellectual property. J. Larry Smart, the long-time Chairman of Visioneer, as well as the owner, is now taking over the reigns as CEO. Smart has been way more than a figurehead over the years, so he knows the market, as well as his company, and we don't expect Visioneer to miss a beat. That said, depending on the reasons for Dennis' departure, we could also see some serious changes as Visioneer, as Smart has a history of success in the technology industry that he fully expects to continue at Visioneer.

Best regards,

Ralph

Kofax Wins IBM ISV Award

Congratulations to Kofax for recently being named IBM's Enterprise Content Management “Independent Software Vendor of the Year” for 2007. Kofax and IBM have been long-time partners, a relationship that was strengthened when IBM acquired FileNet, which has an OEM deal with Kofax. In our upcoming issue of DIR, Kofax CEO Reynolds Bish discusses his plans to increase Kofax's business development efforts, which are designed to improve Kofax's relationships with large ISVs and systems integrators. With Captiva having been acquired by IBM storage rival EMC a few years back, it seems the Kofax-IBM relationship should only get stronger... As for the prospect of IBM acquiring Kofax, let's wait a few years. Kofax has plenty of dance partners, and even though this could potentially create a bidding war, because of the company's relatively low market cap, the current starting price would likely be too low for Kofax's shareholders liking.

OB10, ReadSoft Partner

Interesting announcement yesterday about a partnership between e-invoicing specialist OB10 and forms processing leader ReadSoft. On the surface, you would think that OB10 would be the competition, as their charter is to reduce the number of paper invoices a vendor is dealing with. By all accounts, they handle this transition pretty well through the creation of what they call "vendor networks." Basically, they attempt to convert the print stream of any invoice output system into an e-invoice that can be integrated with the accounting systems of their vendor customers. Once you become part of their network, and they get used to working with your data streams, the challenge becomes easier.

According to Bob Fresneda, the president of ReadSoft North America, with whom OB10 has formed the partnership, there are still exception processing workflows that need to be executed for e-invoices, and this is where the ReadSoft partnership comes in. Over the past few years, ReadSoft has emerged as a leading vendor of not only automated data capture for invoices, but through a couple of acquisitions, workflow for invoices inside ERP systems from SAP and Oracle. With the OB10 relationship, ReadSoft is evolving further from its origins as a data capture vendor and moving more deeply into the BPM space. This gives brings the company into an additional, but related market, which is typically the most economical way to expand. Look for more BPM-related expansion from ReadSoft in the future.

Ralph

AIIM 2008

Just returned from our industry's annual technology fest. Unfortunately, it seems the show has turned into more a conference that a true, old-time exhibition. By that I mean, that nobody, but nobody, expects to get a good stack of leads out the event anymore. However, the reviews for the event are by no means all bad. There are still a few good leads that do come out of the event. This makes sense, as we've mentioned with the conference growing consistently, there are more educated, advanced users attending the show, rather than just tire kickers.

However, it did appear that overall attendance numbers were down. The first day, floor traffic seemed healthy, but for whatever reason, momentum didn't carry over into Day 2 (Wednesday). Thursday, of course, you had the usual tumbleweed rolling through the aisles, with the vendors treating the day as a mixer. It's always been my view that they should roll out the cocktails early on Day 3 and really let things fly. It would be interesting to see what kind of partnerships came out of that!

Anyhow. we'll have plenty more on the show in our next couple issues of our newsletter.

Cheers.

Ralph

Captaris-ODT

Captaris has agreed to acquire Oce Document Technologies (ODT) for some $15 million net, when considering ODT's $29 million in the bank. ODT brings fax-server market leader Captaris some serious document capture technology as it attempts to transition into the world of document capture. We first learned of Captaris' close ties with ODT when discussing a new capture-for-SharePoint module that is being introduced for their RightFax product. [See article in our latest issue.]

The deal also includes Captaris accepting responsibility for some $17 million in retirement and bonus obligations, so it will end up costing Captaris somewhere around $30 million. For this, Captaris' receives a 180-employee company, headquartered in Constance, Germany, with a run-rate of approximately $33 million. This is down from the 300-employee, $40 million company that we reported Oce acquired when it bought CGK in 2000 [see DIR 5/5/00]. Oce, does, however, through ODT's CGK roots, continue to develop some of the premier OCR/ICR technology for data capture on the market. Almost all the market leaders in the IDR and forms processing space utilize ODT's technology. It will be interesting to see how Captaris manages these relationships, while at the same time pursues its own distributed capture initiatives.

In North America, ODT focuses primarily on OEM sales, while in Germany, it has a full-service capture solutions business.

J&B Acquisition

Payment/remittance processing specialist J&B Software, out of Bala Cynwood, PA was recently acquired by India-based software and services provider 3i Infotech. According to a J&B press release, 3i has $300 million in annual revenue. According to 3i's latest financial report, 31% of the compay's business last quarter was in India, 25% in the U.S., with Western Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific combining fo the remaining 44%.

J&B was founded by Indian-native Bala Balasubramanian, who resigned from the company following the completion of the acquistion.

One thing we will keep an eye on is the relationship between 3i and document and data capture specialist Top Image Systems (TIS). From all accounts, TIS and J&B had been executing fairly successfully on a recently formed partnerhip, which we expect to continue through the acquisition. Looking forther down the road, both TIS and 3i have global ambitions and global infrastructures. We suspect these shared visions could lead to an even tighter relationship.

Cheers.

Ralph