Monday, December 18, 2006

Online collaboration Over the past several weeks, I've interviewed Isaac Garcia, CEO of Central Desktop, and several product managers from Adobe Systems. Both companies have announced "on-demand" collaboration tools. I have started an account at Central Desktop and have started playing with it. I just received my copy of Adobe 8 that includes Acrobat Connect (Web conferencing tool). Automation World has need of some light-weight collaboration tools, so I'm trying them there. I'm sure that all of you, whether in engineering or marketing, have many collaboration needs. Here are a couple that look interesting. The following is from the news item I wrote for the magazine. Online Collaboration Tools Multiply Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server and Document Center enable knowledge worker collaboration, while Central Desktop offers online collaboration targeted toward small-to-medium businesses. Adobe Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif., introduced LiveCycle Policy Server 7.2, an enterprise rights management (ERM) solution for protecting and controlling documents throughout their entire life cycle, from creation, through distribution and collaboration, to archiving and destruction. Now, organizations can conduct critical business processes more securely by protecting a broad range of financial, government and engineering documents or other files across multiple formats, including Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Dassault Systèmes CATIA V5 files. "Collaboration is the heartbeat of business. Whether working with a colleague in the same building or a partner across the globe, it is crucial to have persistent control of sensitive information wherever it goes," says David Mendels, senior vice president, Enterprise and Developer Business Unit, Adobe. "Now, businesses can accelerate the pace of innovation and reduce time-to-market by allowing collaboration to occur earlier in the process, with greater assurances that proprietary information is more effectively protected against intentional or accidental disclosure." With the Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server 7.2, organizations can update or revoke usage rights regardless of where the information is stored or distributed, while monitoring document activity captured in an audit trail. In addition, the Adobe software  offers a multi-platform solution that enables organizations to aggregate group information and check user credentials against existing authentication directories. Works with engineering tools Additionally, Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server 7.2 for CATIA offers engineering professionals the ability to apply document-level access and usage controls to Dassault Systèmes CATIA V5R16 engineering and design documents. CATIA users can apply policies to separate parts of an assembly that may require different levels of protection. Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server 7.2 extends back-end systems such as product lifecycle management (PLM) and enterprise content management (ECM) systems to help protect valuable engineering workflows, including supply chain collaboration and external version control. Adobe also introduced Document Center, a new hosted service that enables knowledge workers to better protect, share and track the usage of Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel documents as part of day-to-day communications and collaboration. This Web-based service gives business professionals the power to grant and dynamically revoke access to documents distributed inside or outside the firewall, as well as audit actions such as opening, adding comments or printing those documents. Users can customize access settings, closely audit usage of their documents, and retain control over the files regardless of where they travel. Users also have the ability to set expiration dates on documents, supersede an older version once a new version is distributed and revoke access after distribution. They also have the ability to track who has received the documents and what recipients have done, or attempted to do, with the files. Business Collaboration Software Central Desktop provides web-based collaboration tools for business teams. Central Desktop users create online workspaces where they invite colleagues to share team information and manage business projects in a secure, collaborative environment. For teams located within small and medium sized businesses, as well as project teams in larger companies, Central Desktop is an alternative to traditional groupware such as Microsoft SharePoint, Groove or even Lotus Notes. The core team collaboration features in Central Desktop are: * consolidated file and document management * enterprise-grade search capabilities * user permissions and rights management * tasks and milestone coordination for light project management * searchable group discussion threads * real-time integrated Web conferencing Because Central Desktop is delivered on-demand, deployment time is faster than traditional software and is available both inside and outside the firewall through a Web-browser. The on-demand business model enables the company to deliver a business-grade solution at a very low price by spreading the development and maintenance costs across thousands of users. 12:41:58 PM    comment []

Big company or small company Amit commented on my report of Wonderware's new platform wondering if this solution was only for big companies since it doesn't support legacy products. Actually, this issue has been a blessing and a curse for companies that become established. Microsoft, for instance. When does making technology backward compatible get in the way of true advances? Wonderware is taking pains to connect to legacy products of a variety of kinds, but like everyone it eventually ceases to support older products. And this is not just a big company/small company issue. Some small companies budget for upgrades. Imagine the purchase and support cost within a large company for a major upgrade--for instance the impending Vista change. He brings up open source SCADA as a solution. People think open source is nirvana because it's free. But few things that are valuable are free. The trade off is usually that companies give the software for free but make money from services. It's either that or no company. Only Santa Claus has an ongoing operation based on giving things away with no source of income. Besides, open source would have the same problem of trying to connect to everything. That's not easy--or cheap. Amit specializes in machine to enterprise connectivity--sometimes called M2M (I don't know much about him or his company, just what I've gleaned from the Web), and has a post here about whether big companies are slowing the adoption of enterprise connectivity because of the "good old boy" network. I've been trying to follow the M2M space for about 6 years. It's been difficult. One way to look at the health of a market is to look at advertising in relevant trade publications (remember how thick Red Herring was in the dot com heyday? or InfoWorld when IT spending was huge?). There's an M2M publication that has only a few ads. That's one indicator. Another is the technology. Most M2M connectivity is wireless--and the initial connectivity I heard about was cellular. We all know about cellular pricing pain and signal reliability from our mobile phones. Do you want to put machine monitoring on that network? During my workout this morning, I was listening to a panel discussion on IT Conversations where Om Malik brought up device to device connectivity. He doesn't think the technology has caught up to the vision. I think he's on to something--plus pricing can be a huge drawback. Most of my career has been with small companies--or small divisions operating relatively independently of the big holding company. I'd lust over the supposed dollars the big guys had until I learned about the other side of the fence. Big companies can afford to hire lots of bean counters. They usually serve as a brake on spending. We've talked about the benefits of device connectivity in an enterprise, but the pain point within those companies has just not gotten big enough to make them look for solutions to buy. Malik thinks it's a few years away. I think he's right. 11:40:12 AM    comment []