Microsoft Launches Content Management Server 2002 at MEC

.NET and Web Services Capabilities Draw Enterprise Customers Such as JetBlue Airways, Universal Forest Products and the Graduate Management Admission Council

ANAHEIM, Calif., Oct. 6, 2002 — Tomorrow at MEC 2002, Microsoft Corp. will launch Content Management Server (CMS) 2002, part of the Microsoft® .NET Enterprise Server family, which also includes BizTalk® Server, Commerce Server and SharePoint (TM) Portal Server. After a year of increasing sales, Microsoft has invested in Content Management Server to provide deeper integration with Microsoft .NET and support for industry standards, resulting in a more extensible, flexible and powerful Web content management solution. Integration with the .NET Framework and Visual Studio® .NET provide developers with an environment to rapidly build and assemble content management-enabled Web applications and content-driven Web services. Integration with Microsoft Office improves business user productivity by allowing content creation and direct Web publishing from Microsoft Word..

"As companies expand their business practices over the Internet, an integrated eBusiness infrastructure connecting people to the information they need will be more important than ever," said David Kiker, general manager of eBusiness Servers at Microsoft. "By providing deeper support for the Microsoft .NET Framework, XML Web services and integration with Microsoft Office and Visual Studio .NET, Content Management Server 2002 is helping customers take full advantage of current skill sets and lower their cost of ownership through a fully integrated and interoperable content management solution."

Integrated Content Management; Increased Productivity

This year, Microsoft has shipped BizTalk Server 2002 and Commerce Server 2002, and now with the release of Content Management Server 2002, it is rounding out its eBusiness server offerings that are deeply integrated with .NET. Extended .NET integration in Content Management Server 2002 provides developers with a gallery of prebuilt and extensible content management server controls and full support for source code management. Developers are empowered to quickly and easily build customer Web sites with managed content and managed code.

"JetBlue is using Content Management Server 2002 to run blueNEWS, an information portal where employees learn about corporate news, policies and changes," said Jeff Cohen, chief information officer for JetBlue Airways. "CMS 2002 is squarely meeting our content management needs. We're particularly impressed with the integration between Content Management Server and the Visual Studio .NET development environment. It gives us the tools we need to rapidly assemble content management-enabled Web applications."

Further integration into Microsoft's server suite and the enhanced authoring experience in Content Management Server 2002 lowers the complexity of contributing content to an eBusiness initiative. With Ness Technologies Inc., a Microsoft Gold Certification Partner, as the implementation partner, the Graduate Management Admission Council® redesigned and deployed its two main public Web sites, http://www.mba.com/ and http://www.gmac.com/ .

"Using Content Management Server 2002 and SharePoint Portal Server, we have a well-integrated content management solution based on the .NET Framework that helps us accomplish the goals we set for our new Web sites, which include dynamic content, search capabilities and the ability to personalize and serve content to our students and business customers who use our sites," says Leif Johnston, chief technology officer at GMAC. "We like the fact that we can empower our employees by distributing authorship. In the past, authoring Web content required technical insights and a knowledge of HTML, and we had limited editorial control. Now, with Content Management Server, authors are able to publish their content directly, and our publications editor manages our Web content."

Web Services With Content Management Server 2002

With its new native support for managing standards-based XML content and exposing content and functionality as XML Web services, Content Management Server 2002 easily integrates into heterogeneous environments and connects with customers' existing business systems. Universal Forest Products, the nation's foremost designer, manufacturer and distributor of lumber and building products and a Fortune 1000 company, worked with SageStone Inc., a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, to build a secure extranet site that would provide their customers personalized access to confidential account information. Quicknet, Universal Forest Product's first public extranet site, was built on Content Management Server 2002 and integrates with a UNIX-based inventory system via Web services.

"It is important that we give our customers personalized and secure access to information, whether it be pricing, engineering designs, orders on file or just their contracts they need to make buying decisions," said Phil Rogers, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Universal Forest Products. "Because it is .NET-based, Content Management Server 2002 was quickly integrated with our existing .NET infrastructure and provided seamless access to business and design information. This meant we were able to easily and quickly lay out a brand-new Web site while also being able to access all the existing content in our legacy systems."

New in Content Management Server 2002

Enhanced functionality in Content Management Server 2002 will offer a comprehensive solution for managing content-rich Web sites that is well integrated with Microsoft technologies and supports industry standards to help customers connect to existing systems.

• Direct publishing from Word. The Authoring Connector for Microsoft Office enables business users to contribute Web content directly from Microsoft Word, increasing adoption of the solution and employee productivity.
• Industry-leading application development environment. Deep integration with Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework architecture provides developers with the richest possible environment for quickly assembling powerful and mission-critical Web sites with managed content and code.
• Standards-based interoperability. With its native support for managing standards-based XML content and XML Web services, Content Management Server easily integrates into a heterogeneous environment without being limited by development languages. In addition, customers can expose CMS content and features as Web services to allow content syndication.
• Even faster time to deploy. Content Management Server 2002 works with Microsoft Application Center to allow for improved deployment of Content Management Server Web sites throughout the development cycle, through the firewall and across server farms, resulting in a streamlined development process and life cycle.

In addition to the industry-leading independent software vendors (ISVs) currently providing integrations that extend functionality for Content Management Server, 10 new ISVs are also offering integrated solutions for Content Management Server 2002:

• Digital asset management. Chuckwalla Inc., BeatWare Inc. and SageStone join MediaBin Inc. and Equilibrium Technologies Inc. as ISVs providing digital asset management applications for Content Management Server customers seeking robust dynamic digital content solutions.
• Identity management. OpenNetwork's DirectorySmart product provides extensive identity management support for Microsoft Content Management Server 2002, allowing rapid management and delegation of specific rights and privileges to users.
• Site migration. Metalogix Software's Migration Assistant product helps customers quickly migrate thousands of pages of content from legacy Web sites into Content Management Server 2002.
• Workflow. Teamplate Inc. has developed a workflow wizard that provides a graphical interface into the Content Management Server workflow capabilities, easing the process of extending and customizing publishing workflows. Translation workflow capabilities for Content Management Server are extended by SDL International and Trados Inc.
• XML editing. Ektron Inc. and Altova have extended Content Management Server's authoring capabilities by adding XML authoring environments.
• Search. In addition to integration with the sophisticated search functionality in SharePoint Portal Server and the existing integrations with Fast Search & Transfer ASA, Inktomi Corp. and Mondosoft A/S, Content Management Server 2002 also has integrations with search technology providers iXmatch and IXIASOFT.

More information on CMS partners can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/cmserver/partners/default.htm .

Pricing and Availability

Content Management Server 2002 will retail for $42,000 per CPU (reseller prices may vary) and will be generally available by the end of the year.

More information on Content Management Server 2002 can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/cmserver/ .

About MEC 2002

MEC 2002 is the essential Microsoft conference for planning, deploying and managing a connected enterprise for IT professionals and technical decision-makers. This year, 5,500 customers, partners and Microsoft technical staff and speakers will gather at MEC 2002 in Anaheim, Calif., to hear more than 200 breakout sessions and to explore 190 exhibitor booths. Platinum sponsors for MEC 2002 include Cisco Systems Inc., Dell Computer Corp., Hewlett Packard Co., Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. and Verizon Wireless.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" ) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.

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