Lava Systems Africa, an affinity partner of Canadian-based Open Text, and one of the companies within the Enterprise Content & Wireless (ECW) Group, today unveiled Open Text`s comprehensive, unified platform for enterprise content management (ECM).
Designed to meet the needs of Global 2000 companies, the platform extends the capabilities of enterprise content management in all directions by combining the ease of use and collaboration capabilities of Microsoft Office system products, such as the 2007 Microsoft Office editions and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, with the proven enterprise scalability, Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) and content management of Open Text`s industry leading ECM suite.
By building on Microsoft`s forthcoming 2007 Office system, Open Text is delivering the most complete and best integrated content management technology and solutions stack in the industry.
Open Text`s Livelink ECM storage and meta data services extend the collaboration and Web content management features of Office SharePoint Server 2007 and many other services to give companies a single platform to manage all enterprise content from creation to end of life. Building on this platform and the content services delivered by Microsoft and the Office SharePoint Server 2007 platform, Open Text is delivering a series of end-to-end solutions for such requirements as contract management, litigation support and regulated documents.
A result of an expanded strategic alliance between the two companies announced last fall, the unified ECM platform combines the power of the Microsoft .NET platform with Open Text`s deep understanding of business application solutions and the content management needs of large enterprises. The resulting enterprise content management stack encompasses four main layers:
* User experience layer. The primary user experience is provided within the familiar environment of Microsoft Office applications and Web browser. A key goal is to make enterprise content management such as records management and archival as transparent as possible, and to minimise specialised training requirements.
* Business layer. This layer consists of SharePoint Uniform Services, ECM Components and Open Text Functional extensions. In addition, Open Text composite applications provide complete solutions to meet specialised requirements, or to address specific industry needs.
* Transactional repositories. These are repositories for managing current documents used on a regular basis across the enterprise to conduct business. These can include SharePoint repositories, shared network files and Microsoft Exchange servers.
* Enterprise library. This provides long-term storage of enterprise content, either for historical purposes or to meet legal and compliance requirements. This reduces the burden on transactional systems while still allowing content to be readily accessed and migrated to low-cost storage mediums.
"Our close relationship with Open Text is a tremendous example of how close collaboration works to help our customers get more from their investment in our technologies," commented Robert Bernard, General Manager of the Global ISV Group at Microsoft. "This platform offers an unmatched set of content management capabilities that we`re confident will be quickly embraced by enterprise customers around the world."
End-to-end solutions
To quickly meet customer needs and speed up deployment, Open Text is delivering an extensive set of end-to-end solutions templates, each leveraging elements of the technology stack. Over time, solutions will be created to address the collaboration, content management and ILM requirements of every department, division or subsidiary in an enterprise. Initial solutions utilising the combined Microsoft and Open Text ECM stack are available to customers now based on Microsoft Office 2003, with expanded functionality and additional solutions to be added with the release of the 2007 Office system to businesses.
"Our customers are telling us that maximising investment in technology, ease of use and solving critical business problems are at the top of their priority lists," added John Shackleton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Open Text. "For that reason, our strategy is to collaborate with Microsoft and other industry leaders to facilitate complete solutions that help our customers solve complex business problems, while reducing compliance risks and increasing employee, customer and shareholder value."
For further information, please contact Ray Dalgarno, Lava Systems Africa: telephone (011) 675 3704, fax (011) 675 1021, e-mail rayd@lavasystems.co.za.
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ECW is the merged entity of Lava Systems Africa and Lava Systems Mobile (LSM).
The Lava Systems Africa (LSA) team originated in the late 1990s with the objective of becoming a premier supplier of enterprise systems based around knowledge management, document management, records management, image management, collaboration and workflow solutions. The emerging demands that were identified included government process re-engineering, supply chain co-ordination, customer relationship management, e-government and B2B processing.
In support of these business aims, the technology platforms chosen had to enjoy a proven global track record and adhere to open Internet architecture standards and developments. LSA is a South African-based company dedicated to the sales, marketing, support and consultancy founded upon the Livelink product suite from Open Text, a product that the staff have been involved with since 1998.
LSA`s user base embraces customers from both the private and public sector and includes organisations such as Bateman Projects Limited, Alexander Forbes, the Gauteng Provincial Government and the National Social Security Fund of Uganda.
Lava Systems Mobile, a company focusing on the development of mobile applications and tools, was originally created in 2005 and later that year absorbed KeyTools, a well established mobile applications software developer with international links.
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