Vignette shines content management guiding light

By IT-Director 01 Nov 2002 | IT-Director.com, Special to SearchWebServices.com

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Market Analysis

Vignette shines content management guiding light
Vignette sought to extend its lead in the content management space this week with the unexpected acquisition of portal vendor Epicentric. It's said that the buy-out will cost Vignette around $32 million in cash and stock but it's a wise move that should pay considerable dividends to Vignette.

The deal is still a long way from completion as it needs to be run through shareholder and regulatory approval. That should be nothing more than a formality however. Once it's complete the Epicentric product suite will be integrated with Vignette's content management software platform to provide what could well be an industry first: content management through a portal interface.

In this respect the combined product offerings should make a compelling and effective solution. It's actually a very shrewd move by Vignette and one that will undoubtedly have the competition wondering what they can do to compete against this barrage of effective solutions. They will have some time to work on it of course as the combined Vignette/Epicentric solution won't appear until mid 2003.

Vignette's market stance has always been a robust one. It considers itself a thought leader in the area of content management and has always argued that its future lies in reinforcing and extending what it sees as the three pillars of content management: namely content management itself, content integration and content analysis. With the acquisition of Epicentric, Vignette shores up all three with considerable aplomb. Further still, Epicentric's portal solutions will give Vignette the edge as far as delivery of the solution--something Vignette has always argued is paramount--is concerned.

A portal type of approach to content management makes considerable sense. As organizations grow and expand physically and online, the need to manage a multitude of disparate content sources is paramount. This is where the portal effort will come into its own, providing seamless content management across a whole range of systems and targets.

In many respects Vignette has taken the high ground with this acquisition, not just for content management but also the portal marketplace too. Whilst the content management side has always needed some form of portal front-end, so too has portal software needed a specific function. This perfect combination covers both aspects and will no doubt lead to a rash of copycat moves throughout the industry.

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