IBM debuts content management server
Big Blue said that DB2 Content Manager Express is available for $9,375 per server and $1,063 per user, which includes a year of maintenance. The software is used to store and track corporate documents or other information such as images and media files.
DB2 Content Manager Express includes features meant to appeal to smaller organizations, such as quick installation and self-management to simplify ongoing administration. The slimmed-down version of IBM's existing DB2 Content Manager software is the latest in the company's line of "express" editions of its infrastructure software.
Deb Taufen, director of marketing for DB2 Content Manager, said that the pricing of the product is intended to make it more attractive to business partners such as resellers, which are an important sales and distribution channel to small- and medium-size businesses. Smaller organizations tend to purchase finished applications from consulting companies, rather than buy software infrastructure products directly from tech giants such as IBM.
"Express is a key offering to help business partners get to the price point that makes sense in many types of applications," Taufen said. "We're opening up the content management capabilities and providing services that can be offered in other applications."
Content management is a key area of growth for the software industry, analysts say. Events such as the Enron fiasco and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have driven interest in centralized document retention processes.
Although there are already a number of companies that specialize in content management, such as Vignette and Interwoven, analysts expect that technology generalists, such as IBM and Oracle, will focus more on adding content management capabilities to their portfolios.
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IBM has singled out the content management business as an important area of growth. The company earlier this year said it will boost its research and development in the industry by 25 percent and shift about 2,000 people from its sales force to data management.
Last year, Big Blue purchased Tarian Software, a company that specialized in records retention and management. IBM has recast the Tarian product as DB2 Records Manager and, with version 3.1, converted the underlying code to Java.
Other tech companies are making similar moves to enhance their content management offerings. Storage company EMC last week spent $1.7 billion to acquire document management company Documentum, and Open Text on Tuesday purchased Germany's Ixos Software for about $206 million.
Along with the release of DB2 Content Manager Express, IBM announced details on some related products.
DB2 CommonStore for Exchange Server and Lotus Domino is a way to archive e-mail from customers' in-boxes on the DB2 Content Manager document repository. The edition, which is scheduled to be available at the end of the month, is priced at $29,000 per server, $30 per registered user, and $12,500 for a gateway between the e-mail server and content database. A version of CommonStore for SAP, which is set to be available Oct. 31, will cost $29,000 per server and $244 per user.
On Tuesday, IBM also released a version of DB2 Content Manager on Linux at $29,000 per server and $2,500 per user.