Rockley Ann Rockley

Really Strategies acquires DocZone

30-Jun-2009

Tags: Component Content Management, Selecting Technology, XML, DocZone, RSuite

It's proving to be a busy week! Today Really Strategies announced the acquisition of DocZone.com. As subscribers to our XML and Component Content Management research know, Really Strategies' RSuite is an XML-based content management system aimed at publishing and media companies. DocZone.com is best known for its SaaS-based DITA solution for technical publishing.

It will be interesting to see how these companies blend. Really Strategies, while having some experience with DITA, has largely focused on traditional publishing, while DocZone.com has almost exclusively focused on DITA-based technical publishing. Over the last year we have seen each of them "inch" into the other's market as DITA is being adopted outside of technical publishing and publishing, and media companies have begun to look for low cost XML solutions (e.g. SaaS).

Publishing and media companies are under a lot of pressure to "innovate or die" as traditional print-based journalism has begun to rapidly disappear. Really Strategies offers a relatively high-end solution for publishing and media and a client/server-only version. DocZone.com provides a low cost SaaS version. Together they can potentially serve a broader range of customers.

DocZone.com is in a unique position in that its product is portable to any underlying XML technology. The value of portability was shown when their original platform XHive Docato (now known as XDB) was bought by EMC. They maintained that platform and rapidly built another version on top of open-source Alfresco. At the same time, they simplified the interface and consolidated their intellectual capital in the user experience. That type of innovation should stand them in good stead as they blend the technologies.

In addition Really Strategies will gain from DocZone.com's European presence and strong global focus.

Really Strategies has pledged to maintain DocZone.com's product and customer base. The combined companies will be headquartered in Audubon, PA. So.... (for the second day in a row), "tread with caution" if you are considering buying either DocZone or Really Strategies, as it could be quite some time before things truly settle down.

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