IBM updates Content Manager suite

NEW YORK - IBM is updating its IBM Content Manager to offer faster search and load capabilities while adding an automatic report-distribution feature for disseminating documents such as financial statements, invoices and shipping records.

IBM Content Manager software is designed for organizing a range of corporate information and documents.

Although it includes some features for publishing information, the package is intended to work in conjunction with Web content management and publishing tools such as IBM's WebSphere Application Server or its just-released Lotus Web Content Management Solution, says IBM's Vice President of Data Management Jim Kelly.

New add-on applications for accessing Microsoft Exchange and FileNet documents also are being released.

IBM Content Manager can be customized for companies of all sizes, IBM says. Customers include the Royal Dutch Library, card maker American Greetings, Cable News Network (a unit of AOL Time Warner) and Indiana University.

Pricing for the software starts at $15,000 per server and $1,200 per concurrent user. IBM Content Manager is available for a variety of operating systems, including IBM's OS/400, z/OS and AIX; Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX; Sun's Solaris; and Microsoft's Windows NT and 2000.

Cowley is a correspondent with the IDG News Service, working from the New York bureau.