IBM, Context Media Team On Content Management

Content-management systems remain limited in terms of the assortment of content repositories they can access. IBM has teamed with Context Media Inc. so users of IBM's DB2 Content Manager can use Context's content-integration software to access and present content from multiple repositories.

Context has created an adaptor built on Web-services standards that lets Content Manager, Context's Interchange Suite, and various repositories share content. Users can view the content via Content Manager, Interchange, or a WebSphere portal, potentially reducing licensing fees associated with proprietary client software for viewing content from specialized repositories.

Bob Markham, an analyst with Forrester Research, says what he calls content virtualization—two-way information flow in which the origin of content is transparent to users—is an emerging concept for expanding the capabilities of content management. "I think this is a very important announcement for IBM," Markham says. "Context Media has done all the integration on the back end."

Markham notes that Context's DB2 Content Manager adaptor applies security, digital-rights management, and auditing capabilities to content being accessed from third-party repositories.