News

XML Content Management Made Easier

• By Linda L. Briggs
• March 1, 2005

Although the XML market has so far been focused mostly on data management and Web services, XML also works well for content management. With the right tools, it's a natural for tracking information created by humans, including the contents of product manuals, technical material, Web sites, and program documentation.

And with companies more and more concerned with compliance regulations, which might require tracking how and why a document reached its final form, XML-based document management tools are a growing market.

One XML content authoring solution is XMetaL, which Blast Radius acquired from Corel Corp. last year. XMetaL is a set of tools designed to simplify the implementation of XML-based authoring tools across an organization. Now Blast has announced a product enhancement called XMetaL Reviewer, a Web-based collaboration and reviewing platform for XML documents. Among other things, it allows multiple participants to add comments and suggested changes to XML documents in real-time, a huge potential time-saver during virtually any document review process.

Blast says Xmetal Reviewer's real-time collaboration feature is unique, along with its ability to work with native XML files. The product includes integration for Word documents; integration with external applications can be done through APIs on the XMetaL Reviewer server.

According to John Holden, a senior research analyst with the Butler Group, features of the product that make it stand out include the Web-based user interface and its embedded contextual collaboration. That last feature, Holden says, can help make XML authoring part of a company's overall business processes.

The product can also be useful in helping companies with compliance requirements, Holden says. Since XMetaL Reviewer records the history and evolution of documents, he says, it "can lead to more accurate, timely, and quality documents."

Pricing for XMetaL Reviewer begins at $15,000; the product is offered on a perpetual server- and concurrent usage-based license.