We have been updating our evaluation of Open Text for ECM this week, and I was musing with my colleague Apoorv that although Open Text is one of the largest ECM vendors in the market  (typically # 2 behind IBM for marketshare), it is also one of the least understood.

When people discuss Open Text the topic of conversation frequently turns to them as an acquisition target, or to their voracious appetite for acquisitions.  Both topics are valid, yet beneath all this lies some very interesting technology, and even more interestingly, a significantly different approach to managing enterprise content than their competitors. 

When our subscribers turn to us for advice, oftentimes we recommend they consider Open Text on their shortlist when they have a highly complex and heterogeneous environment. This is because Open Text is promoting a solutions architecture, rather than a technical or infrastructure architecture.

In fact there are a number of fairly neat elements to the Open Text approach to ECM -- for example their Intelligent Storage Management technology that permits the use of metadata extant in the ECM repository to make storage decisions.  These things might not sound all that sexy, but represent  practical solutions to common problems.

Open Text is not a fit for everyone,  but underneath the drama of their non-stop acquisition trail sits some technology of note. Sometimes way too much technology, as chosing between the multiude of overlapping and competing Open text options is a challenge in and of itself. 

It's also fair to say that all the key ECM and DM vendors have some excellent technology, but they are more different in approach, philosophy, and technical architecture than you might at first think.