Arbortext Targeting Life Sciences Industry

“Arbortext has long been a pioneer in XML authoring and publishing software,” said Ron Schmelzer, an analyst at ZapThink LLC, in Cambridge, Mass. “Arbortext has shown that it is able to offer focused software to support every aspect of the drug development lifecycle–from discovery, clinical trials and regulatory approvals to manufacturing, marketing and medical affairs.”

Read more at: eWeek

Arbortext’s XML Authoring Push

Analyst Ron Schmelzer of ZapThink says that, until recently, companies have had no option but to create these kinds of documents by hand. XML authoring expands the possibilities by automating paperwork. “It’s for any document that has some sort of structure.” Putting in XML by hand, while an alternative, is far less efficient; in a document-deluged business environment “no one wants to code more than once.”

Read more at: Line56

“OASIS fuels security agenda”

“OASIS has become a popularity party,” said Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst at Boston-based XML and Web services research company ZapThink. “It has less to do with 56 [companies] having something to really contribute than it has to do with 56 [companies] wanting to jump on the bandwagon.”

Read more at: InfoWorld

XML in the Content Lifecycle

The process of creating content — information meant for human consumption — is almost always extremely effort-intensive. People must spend time organizing information prior to creation, constructing the content, and laying out the information so that it is easily read. With so much time, cost, and effort invested in content, it makes sense to reduce costs by reusing content as much as possible. Furthermore, content-oriented processes involve a complex set of interactions that progress in a “Content Lifecycle” consisting of five major stages: content creation, management, publishing, syndication, and protection. Each of these phases requires different technologies, processes, and resources.

By rearchitecting content representation technologies to treat content as another asset in the corporate IT infrastructure, businesses can realize the benefits long promised to us by reusable and agile content. But first, we need to move from ad-hoc content creation to content componentization, and then to content services. XML and Web Services are the key to this transition that can help organizations maximize the value of their content.

ZapNote: Corel

In 2001, Corel began an aggressive campaign to add XML to their advanced publishing products line. They realized that XML could take content development and management to a new level. XML lets users create content that they can categorize, search, re-use, and format automatically. No one understood the power of XML better than SoftQuad, which Corel acquired in 2001. SoftQuad had long played an instrumental role in the development of document-centric technologies.

Corel recently shared with ZapThink its strategy for tying together its SoftQuad, Ventura Publisher, and other product lines into a cohesive mix applicable for content developers and publishers alike. The results offer a compelling set of solutions for the corporate enterprise looking to adopt XML as a component of its content development and delivery.

XML in Financial Services

The Financial Services Sector covers a wide range of businesses and industries revolving around the management and exchange of financial instruments. There are a number of factors that contribute to financial service’s role as a leading implementer of XML technologies. The potential opportunities and pitfalls, and current ways in which XML is being used by this industry sector are explored in detail in this report.

ZapNote: Percussion

Rhythmyx offers a low total cost of ownership (TCO) for enterprise-class content management system by using XML, standards, Rhythmyx Accelerators, extensible "engines" for core system function, and Active Assembly and Dynamic Workflow to control how content is entered and used on Web pages.

ZapNote: Userland

Userland has pioneered a variety of technologies that have all one thing in common — making it easier for users to create, manage, and share content in a Web environment. Their goal is embodied in Userland’s three main applications: Frontier, Radio, and Manila.

ZapNote: Epicentric

Portals are being used to provide access to content sources or applications such as Siebel and SAP, and enable a common composite application that is accessible via a web browser-based interface. There is a strong intersection with this application-centric use of portals and what is going on with Web Services. Portals provide a compelling means for application delivery of Web Services in a familiar development and management environment. Epicentric has produced a number of advanced products and services to address this capability, and has championed the development of XML-based formats for specification of presentation-layer interfaces for Web Services.

“XML Portal Adds XML Spec Listings”

“This relationship with OASIS and XML.org is extremely important and very exciting to ZapThink,” Schmelzer says. “It allows us to provide high-quality information regarding the current status of XML standards to a much wider audience. XML.org is a valuable, non-commercial resource for bringing XML communities together.”

Read more at: Application Development Trends