Open Market Inc. later this month will release a version of its Integration Centre software that allows companies to pull content available in existing enterprise systems and deploy it to their e-business sites for their users – all done through a single Web platform.
Integration Content Centre Enterprise Edition 3.6 now supports XML and Extensible Markup Stylesheet Language (XSL) that creates a style sheet describing how data is sent over the Internet – via XML – and presented to users.
The software would allow customers to access content in databases, mainframes, ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM (customer relationship management) systems, and other applications, and do searches on items such as real-time inventory, shipment status, fund performance data or customer-transaction records.
It also features webMethods adapters, allowing applications to automatically use content from other systems such as accounting from the likes of SAP, PeopleSoft and Siebel. For example, companies would be able to make weekly price changes to their catalogs.
Rob Perry, an analyst at Yankee Group, says the Integration Centre upgrade keeps Open Market on par with its competitors Vignette, Interwoven and Documentum, though the vendor’s strategy remains unclear because it’s about to be bought by Divine, a professional services and software company. Divine last month announced it would acquire Open Market in a stock deal worth about US$59 million.
“Open Market is going through a tough period as it continues its strategy with the acquisition about to be finalized,” Perry says. “It’ll be interesting to see what Divine is really thinking about Open Market to put into its offerings.”
Open Market develops Java 2 Enterprise Edition-based content management and content delivery applications. Divine says it plans to integrate Open Market’s software with its e-business applications.
Integration Centre 3.6 is priced at $250,000.