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Kas Thomas

What next for Interwoven?

23-Jan-2009

Tags: Digital and Media Asset Management, Document Management (ECM), Web Content Management, Selecting Technology, Vendor Viability & Financials, IDOL Server, iManage WorkSite, Interwoven TeamSite, Virage MediaBin

The announcement yesterday that Autonomy would buy Interwoven (a deal that should close in the second quarter of this year) has a number of interesting ramifications. It also begs a number of questions, such as:

Will layoffs at Interwoven now accelerate? Interwoven made known its intention to lay off approximately 7 percent of its workforce in a January 16 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But with a company headcount of 1,012, that comes to only 70 persons laid off. The Autonomy deal will almost certainly lead to additional restructuring. Autonomy says the Interwoven acquisition will result in $40 million per year of "cost synergies." One wonders how much of that $40 million will come from additional heads rolling.

Will we ever see Version 7 of the TeamSite product? Originally promised for 2007, TeamSite 7 has been missing in action for quite a while now. In our Web CMS Report, we've commented on the seemingly glacial pace of development many times. We've also commented on the somewhat creaky patchwork nature of TeamSite's 10-year-old runtime infrastructure. A complete rewrite of the infrastructure seems unlikely at this point (certainly it would be expensive), although incremental improvements continue to appear. But as with an aging automobile, there comes a point when incremental investments no longer make sense. Some of Interwoven's pieces may be reaching that point.

It would be premature to suggest that the assimilation of Interwoven into Autonomy spells the beginning of the end for Interwoven's Web CMS products. Nevertheless, the slightest concern over a vendor's longterm commitment to a product makes prospective buyers queasy (and rightfully so). 

Another question: Does Autonomy now become a player in the DAM space? Interwoven's MediaBin product (a mature offering with a long and interesting history, covered in our Digital & Media Asset Management Report) is well-respected in the DAM world. In acquiring MediaBin via the Interwoven purchase, Autonomy inherits the fractal imaging technology made famous in the 1990s by Iterated Systems (which became MediaBin, Inc., which in turn was bought by Interwoven in 2003). It would be a shame if Autonomy were to let the MediaBin product languish (as so many venerable products do after being swallowed up by a large company; witness Serena Collage).

We expect the answers to these questions to become apparent over the coming months. As always, we'll report the information right here.