The deal marked the third content management-related acquisition in a year for IBM Software.
CRN: What does Green Pasture bring to IBM's table?
PERNA: What it brings to us is compound document management. It's the ability for multiple people to prepare complex documents in a collaborative way, to keep track of versions and so forth. It's used widely in industries that are regulated, like pharmaceutical industries for drug submissions and companies that need to keep track of engineering drawings.
You can think of personal documents that you and I might use--that is, personal documents we create and retrieve. Then there are workgroup documents, where you and I might work on documents one at a time. And when you think of many people working on the same document, you need to preserve and manage the integrity of that document as people are check it in and check it out. That's really [what we mean by] compound document.
CRN: So you're talking about simultaneous access?
PERNA: Yes, simultaneous. So you and I can both check out pieces of a document, and each one can work on it and check it back in.
MACINTYRE: Also, the whole set of links--the spreadsheet or diagram--has to go into this part of the document and is being contributed by this person. And before it can go into the document, it may need approval. It's the work process to create the document and permissions.
CRN: So going forward, will IBM integrate this into DB2 Content Manager or make it a separate product? Can you discuss product plans and packaging?
PERNA: Green Pasture has been a partner of ours. They've taken compound document management capability and integrated into DB2 Content Manager. What that means is the content that's created is stored within the Content Manager already.
What we've delivered is a content repository in Content Manager that is high-performing, scalable and reliable, and that's the base infrastructure. We have capabilities on top of that for imaging, report generation and now compound document management, multimedia, web content management and the like -- as well as the content semantics that go with that.
Not only did we announce the [Green Pasture] acquisition, but we also announced the delivery of a product called DB2 Document Manager, which will be available by the end of the week.
CRN: Not only was Green Pasture a partner of yours, but also it was closely tied to FileNet. Can you use that to win new customers from FileNet?
MACINTYRE: Green Pasture was a spin-off from a company called Thermo Dynamics. [Green Pasture] has been on the market for a number of years and supported a number of repositories, starting with FileNet Panagon, as well as IBM Domino.doc and Content
Manager repository. Going forward, we'll continue to support the people who have used IBM's [DB2] Content Manager at FileNet.
FileNet has released a new repository called P8, which many customers are looking at and seeing that it has a totally different architecture. We're working with these customers.
CRN: So I guess the answer is yes.
MACINTYRE: Well, it's not a forced march.
CRN: What's going on in the content management market these days? For example, EMC bought Documentum, and there have been a number of other deals. Is the consolidation going to continue?
PERNA: If you look back at interviews we've done in the past two years, every time you ask what's new I talk about the emerging area of enterprise content management. We can see the consolidation taking place now, but it's something we've been working on for a
number of years. What's driving it today?
First, there's a great desire among companies to save money, and they can do that by digitising content previously stored on paper, microfiche or other media. Not only is it cheaper in terms of physical real estate, but it's also easier to share.
Second, they're learning that they can improve operational productivity now by doing things like automating their claims-processing applications and really being able to implement digitised workflow. It gives them better productivity and a way to provide better service to customers with call-centre access to all that content when a customer calls.
It costs four times more to make a call back than to answer the question on the first call. Third, all the regulations now around things like [the] Sarbanes-Oxley [Act], SEC compliance, HIPAA and Basel II have to do with life-cycle management of pieces of content. And fourth, if you look at end-to-end business integration and on-demand computing, they require seamless flow of information, and that information comes in all forms--some in documents, some in relational databases.
But to get the value and optimisation of this requires digitisation of content. A lot of things are coming together there to help companies save money, improve service and be in compliance with new regulations.
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