News

Corel's new tack: XML, content management

• By John K. Waters
• February 27, 2002

[FEBRUARY 27, 2002] - Struggling Corel Corp. unveiled a new brand name and a new strategy at last week's Seybold Seminars conference in New York. Corel CEO Derek Burney claimed that his company's new "Deepwhite" platform for enterprise content creation would significantly impact the way companies create, exchange and interact with content.

During his conference keynote, Burney said that it has become increasingly difficult for corporations to deal with burgeoning information stores, especially when faced with progressively more complex ways for re-purposing that information for various media, from print to Web to wireless. "If you look around, there's oceans and oceans of content," he said.

Deepwhite will leverage XML and other open standards for more efficient management of all that content, Burney said, through the use of "smart content." Smart content is XML-based, highly structured content associated with rules and logic, enabling it to change dynamically in response to its environment, user interaction or data input. According to Burney, this approach gives enterprise customers the ability to create content once and distribute it to multiple devices. More than just document publishing, smart content remains dynamic and interactive whether it is delivered to a desktop computer, PDA or cell phone, he said.

Corel plans to use its Deepwhite brand to develop an architectural framework for the development of interactive applications. The company has announced that it will create process management tools, Web services and components, and a development toolkit that can be used by system integrators, corporate IT departments and others to build custom solutions without proprietary standards or specialists, whom Burney referred to as "content magicians."

Corel's Deepwhite announcement coincides with the company's pending acquisition of XML toolmaker SoftQuad Software Ltd., which Burney said should be completed in March. SoftQuad's Windows-only XMetaL 3 XML editor was selected as a Hot Pick by Seybold Seminars at this show.

The first products under the Deepwhite brand are expected to launch later this year. For more information, click on http://www.deepwhite.com.