Open Text outlines Vignette strategy, product plans

Issued by Global Research Partners for Open Text
Johannesburg, 15 Sep 2009

Open Text Corporation, a global leader in enterprise content management (ECM), today announced plans to expand its suite of next-generation Web solutions with the products and technologies from recently acquired Vignette playing a central role.

Open Text's plans are an extension of the company's strategy to maintain its leadership in comprehensive ECM solutions. Offered as part of the Open Text ECM Suite, the solutions will help organisations establish deeper connections to customers and use the Web as a channel for new revenue.

"We remain dedicated to all our customers and the Web content management solutions they rely upon. Our plan is not to eliminate products, but to offer solutions that help our customers effectively fulfil their unique organisational needs - from strategic online initiatives to day-to-day site management tasks," commented John Shackleton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Open Text.

Quickly evolving social networking, digital media and mobile applications are moving the Web beyond brand promotion to become a core component of business strategy. Bringing these technologies together for a more powerful online experience is critical to engaging customers in new ways, improving the effectiveness of marketing programmes and guiding changes in business strategy that can increase revenue and improve operations.

"Chief marketing officers, and now chief executive officers, recognise the need for a comprehensive Web business strategy," added Scott Bowen, Senior Vice-President at Open Text. "We're seeing this trend from more of our large customers, across more industries, and the demand is for more sophisticated solutions that meet the fast-changing expectations in online experiences. Vignette adds the right technologies to our portfolio at the right time."

As part of this strategy, Open Text will leverage technologies from both Vignette and its existing solutions to deliver new next-generation Web offerings. Vignette Content Management will form the foundation of Open Text's Web business solutions, providing personalised and multi-channel capabilities integrated with the Open Text ECM Suite.

Now the world's largest provider of Web content management (WCM) solutions, Open Text has said it will continue to develop both Vignette Content Management and Open Text Web Solutions as complementary offerings to meet the full range of WCM needs, from easy-to-deploy, departmental applications to more complex global deployments. Open Text will release Vignette Content Management version 8.0 and Vignette Portal version 8.0 later this year. The recently released Web Solutions 10.0 will be followed by the release of Web Solutions 10.1 in the first half of 2010. Within 24 months, Open Text will launch an offering that combines key strengths of Web Solutions with the Vignette Content Management platform, making it the undisputed market and technology leader for WCM.

Vignette Social Media Solutions (Community Applications and Community Services) will be the basis of a new social marketplace offering, which will be added to Open Text's Social Media solutions, targeting Internet-style social media interactions and enabling existing Web sites with social content. Current Open Text WCM customers will be able to take advantage of this new social marketplace package. In addition, Vignette Collaboration will continue to be enhanced as part of the underlying Vignette Social Media technology stack.

For further information, please contact Rob Shaw: tel +27 83 626-3811, fax +27 86 646-4178, e-mail rshaw@opentext.com.

Open Text

Open Text, an enterprise software company and leader in enterprise content management, helps organisations manage and gain the true value of their business content. Open Text brings two decades of expertise supporting 50 million users in 114 countries. Working with our customers and partners, we bring together leading content experts and trade to help organisations capture and preserve corporate memory, increase brand equity, automate processes, mitigate risk, manage compliance and improve competitiveness.

In southern Africa, Open Text's business partners are Accenture, Business Connexion, Datacentrix, Lava Systems, IA Systems and SAP Africa; and, its customer base includes organisations from across both the private and public sectors such as Alexander Forbes, Anglo Platinum, BMW, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Distell, Engen, Exxaro Resources, Mittal Steel, Office of the President, Provincial Government of the Western Cape, SABMiller, Sasol, Telkom SA and Toyota.

Safe harbour statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This news release may contain forward-looking statements relating to the success of any of the company's strategic initiatives, the company's growth and profitability prospects, the benefits of the company's products to be realised by customers, the company's position in the market and future opportunities therein, the deployment of Open Text ECM Suite and our other products by customers, and future performance of Open Text Corporation. Forward-looking statements may also include, without limitation, any statement relating to future events, conditions or circumstances. Forward-looking statements in this release are not promises or guarantees and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others, the failure to develop new products, risks involved in fluctuations in currency exchange rates, delays in purchasing decisions of customers, the completion and integration of acquisitions, the possibility of technical, logistical or planning issues in connection with deployments, the continuous commitment of the company's customers, demand for the company's products and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2008. You should not place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which are based on management's beliefs and opinions at the time the statements are made, and the company does not undertake any obligations to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management's beliefs or opinions change.

Copyright (c) 2009 by Open Text Corporation. OPEN TEXT and OPEN TEXT are trademarks or registered trademarks of Open Text Corporation in the United States of America, Canada, the European Union and/or other countries. This list of trademarks is not exhaustive. Other trademarks, registered trademarks, product names, company names, brands and service names mentioned herein are property of Open Text Corporation or other respective owners.

For more information on Open Text, go to: http://www.opentext.com.

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