IXOS 6 será el nombre de la primera solución de ECM lanzada conjuntamente por ambas compañías desde que se hiciera pública en octubre del pasado año la compra de IXOS por parte de Open Text. IXOS 6, que estará en el mercado el próximo mes de mayo, incluirá funcionalidades para cumplir con las nuevas reglamentaciones sobre gestión de documentos empresariales.
La Suite IXOS 6 está diseñada, según los responsables del producto, para satisfacer un amplio abanico de requerimientos empresariales respecto al contenido que abarcan desde su creación hasta el almacenamiento y archivo final. La suite incluye un set integrado de gestión de documentos, gestión de contenidos, gestión de procesos de negocio y soluciones de archivo, todo ello diseñado teniendo en cuenta la gestión de grandes volúmenes de contenido dispar desde un único repositorio.
Desde la compra de IXOS por parte de Open Text ha existido cierta expectación sobre cual podría ser el resultado tecnológico de esta adquisición que supone la unión de un especialista en soluciones de almacenamiento como IXOS con Open Text, conocida por sus aplicaciones de colaboración y gestión del conocimiento.
Más información sobre las funcionalidades y características técnicas del Suite IXOS 6 en la siguiente nota de prensa en inglés.
MUNICH, Germany & WATERLOO, Ontario Feb. 10, 2004 – IXOS SOFTWARE AG and Open Text today announced the IXOS 6 Suite, a robust ECM platform that will enable corporations to securely and compliantly manage, archive, and retrieve enterprise content — regardless of content type or format. IXOS 6 Suite, with its advanced capabilities for meeting regulatory compliance, will become a key part of both companies’ ECM solution portfolios, designed to address the full spectrum of enterprise requirements, from content creation through final archival and disposition.
IXOS 6 Suite includes an integrated set of Content Management, Document Management, Business Process Management and archiving solutions that allows enterprises to successfully manage and leverage large volumes of disparate content within a single repository. By connecting departmental islands of information within an organization, IXOS 6 Suite creates one enterprise-wide stream of data to enable companies to universally access, manage and archive business critical content in real time, as well as significantly improve business processes, reduce total cost of ownership and meet stringent regulatory compliance requirements.
IXOS and Open Text will create an unprecedented force in the ECM market by helping customers better manage corporate knowledge, and the flow of business information within and beyond the borders of an enterprise throughout its lifecycle. IXOS already is the archival and document management platform of choice for leading storage vendors, including StorageTek, Hitachi Data Systems, and Network Appliance, while Open Text is considered a market leader in collaboration and knowledge management. With the IXOS 6 Suite advantage, Open Text will be poised to seize the leadership position in one of the fastest growing information technology sectors.
«The ECM market is expected to exceed $10 Billion by 2004,» said Andrew Warzecha, vice president, META Group. «As organizations increasingly seek single-source solutions, vendors that can support the broadest set of ‘content’ in an integrated environment will benefit the most.»
IXOS 6 Architecture
Unlike other ECM solutions, the IXOS 6 Suite delivers a fully integrated, modular solution set for ECM strategies based on a core repository architecture that focuses on business requirements. This modular approach allows customers to buy and deploy ECM components together or individually at their own pace to gain key efficiencies, despite size or budget constraints, while building a scaleable ECM foundation for future needs.
At the core of this architecture is robust functionality that provides a single point of access to all structured data (content that is managed by a database, such as ERP) and unstructured data (such as e-mail, word processing and spread sheets files, scanned faxes and images, web content, etc.) within an organization. The IXOS 6 Suite central repository system enables companies to store all relevant content, along with its descriptive information (Meta data) such as author, creation date, version, etc. in one place. The IXOS 6 repository leverages IXOS’ proven strengths in archiving and integration into leading business applications. This gives enterprises the ability to securely share content seamlessly across applications including SAP, Siebel, PeopleSoft, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange and MS Sharepoint, etc., regardless of whether the application is running on individual desktops, to dramatically improve content re-use, problem solving and decision making.
Because a single unified repository architecture is used, companies also can significantly enhance the control and ownership of data in the following ways:
— Enterprise-wide standards for content, along with Meta data, can be established to improve content security, personalization and re-use.
— One consistent lifecycle policy, from creation and long-term retention through disposal, can be implemented across all content types to make information accessible at the earliest possible moment, regardless of whether the data is being requested from inside or outside of the original application.
— Enterprise-wide business processes can be developed and optimized through the access of existing content, saving time and reducing the probability of human error to significantly increase efficiency.
— Enterprise-scale compliance procedures and common audit trails can be applied to control access, safeguard content, and reduce the risks associated with current and emerging compliance regulations.
— Global view of content can be set up to allow authorized employees to have immediate access to all documents that relate to a topic, such as customer service representatives handling inquiries on accounts. Additional DMS features such as document check-in, check-out, versioning, retention management, logging, folders, workflow, etc., further improve efficiency by allowing organizations to implement strategies like «change once, apply many» to all related content.
With the strength of the IXOS 6 single repository architecture, organizations dealing with extensive compliance issues are empowered to perform full-text searches to quickly and accurately access all data, documents and records that include specific phrases, names or figures. This dramatically improves productivity while reducing the costs of discovery, which is particularly important for organizations that need to manage litigation risk.
«Enterprise information is the most important building block of a company’s value chain,» said Robert Hoog, CEO, IXOS. «By taking a holistic approach to managing information, the IXOS 6 Suite breaks down the barriers among different departments and software systems within a company to provide a single point of access for managing corporate knowledge and improving the flow of business information.»
«The combined technology strengths of Open Text and IXOS will literally transform the way people work by bringing unparalleled levels of content management and collaboration to enterprises everywhere,» said Tom Jenkins, Chairman and CEO, Open Text Corporation.
Customers Already On Board
Energen Corporation, a leading energy company with expertise in the oil and gas industries, is just one customer ready to strategically manage its data using the IXOS 6 Suite. Energen will use IXOS 6 to connect the entire corporation and create universal access to information to improve efficiency, boost productivity, lower costs and reduce corporate compliance risks.
«Our vision is to use one enterprise content management solution to maximize efficiency across our entire organization,» said Bruson White, Chief Information Officer of Energen Corporation. «After reviewing other offerings, IXOS 6 stood out as not only the most compelling solution available on the market today, but as the most flexibile. It will allow us to retrieve information in a matter of seconds across multiple applications and departmental functions, and to easily build on additional functionality as our ECM strategy grows.»
The IXOS 6 Suite will be generally available in May. Pricing is dependent on suite configuration and number of users.