Expanded authoring capabilities, content import tools, taxonomy-based data classification, and added enterprise-level functionality feature prominently in this latest release
Boston, January 24, 2005 -- PaperThin, Inc., a leading mid-market Web publishing and content management software vendor, today announced the availability of CommonSpot™ Content Server version 4.5, the company’s flagship Web content management solution. This major release introduces expanded authoring features like rich text editing for Mac, collaborative authoring and email review, a Web Services-based content import facility, a taxonomy module, and several features that benefit organizations with a large-scale Web presence, multilingual needs or strict auditing requirements.
Version 4.5 builds on an already extensive feature set that has enabled CommonSpot to continue to expand its reach in the government, education, non-profit, association and life sciences markets, and increasingly in larger corporate environments.
Several new features have been added that directly benefit content authors. Full authoring and administrative functionality is now available under any Mozilla-based browser, including Mozilla 1.7, FireFox 1.0, and Netscape 7.2. Content can now be authored, published or approved on the Mac, Windows and Linux platforms. Additionally, CommonSpot 4.5 supports collaborative authoring, enabling content authors to view ’Work in Progress’ by other authors, and if authorized, take ownership of the content for further editing. A new ’Email Review’ feature has also been added, allowing a user to send a preview of a page via email to someone who is not involved in the authoring and publishing process. Furthermore, a context sensitive help system with links to recorded Webinars provides both technical and non-technical users with the knowledge they need to rapidly build and efficiently maintain their Web Sites – speeding time to market and reducing training costs.
“The new features in CommonSpot 4.5 are a direct result of PaperThin’s commitment to work closely with its customers to deliver high quality products and value. The ability to author content on the Mac platform provides significant benefits to higher education. CommonSpot 4.5 will enable even more users at National Louis University to contribute content campus-wide,” said Gideon Sanstra, Web Applications Manager, National Louis University.
The ability to classify content according to pre-established taxonomies is increasingly important as associations, government agencies and educational institutions in particular are demanding more effective ways to organize and search for content. CommonSpot’s new taxonomy module, allows for the efficient classification and publication of data based on an organization’s existing taxonomies. According to Jerry Santelli at Fusion Productions, “We have been extremely impressed with the new taxonomy module. The ability to create a hierarchical representation of concepts through metadata has significant advantages to organizations with growing volumes of site content. Classification of data using a taxonomy system not only provides an efficient way to retrieve information, but also affords the benefit of data discovery. Information that may not have been discovered through a traditional search method is available through a taxonomy.”
A Web Services-based content import facility now available in CommonSpot 4.5 enables developers to easily populate a CommonSpot site with content from external sites or systems, and allows for the ongoing consumption of syndicated content. This feature significantly reduces the time it takes to migrate content into CommonSpot while ensuring that the latest information is automatically updated and always available.
Additional enterprise level functionality introduced in CommonSpot 4.5 includes a transaction/audit log which provides the ability to track all contributor actions and events to better comply with audit trail regulations. Full UTF-8 support enables organizations to publish content in any language including multi-byte UNICODE languages. Enhancements to the user interface have also been implemented to better accommodate the display of content for organizations with a large amount of content.
“As organizations continue to push the responsibility for authoring site content to non-technical users, the need for robust content management solutions that provide easy to use authoring, collaboration and Web publishing capabilities is integral. CommonSpot’s out-of-the-box feature set, extensive authoring capabilities and affordable pricing are unmatched by any competitor,” noted Todd Peters, President of PaperThin.
CommonSpot Content Server powers over 200 Internet, intranet and extranet sites worldwide for organizations of all sizes, including the AFL-CIO, Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, Business Software Alliance, Cornell University, Kent State University, Mayo Clinic, The Gillette Company, Turner Sports, and Vanderbilt University. CommonSpot has been twice recognized for Good Value among leading content management vendors by industry analysts at CMS Watch, and PaperThin was recently recognized as one of New England’s fastest growing technology companies in the 2004 Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50.
Pricing and Availability:
CommonSpot 4.5 is available today through either a standard software license or a monthly hosted model. Starting at under $10,000, CommonSpot is an affordable solution that scales to meet the needs of any size organization. CommonSpot is available directly from PaperThin, Inc., and through PaperThin’s partners, a listing of which can be found at http://www.paperthin.com/partners/Our-Partners.cfm.
About PaperThin:
PaperThin, Inc. is a privately held Massachusetts-based company. Since 1993, PaperThin has helped corporations and government agencies of all sizes to significantly reduce the time and expense involved in creating, updating and managing scalable Web sites. PaperThin’s flagship product, CommonSpot™ Content Server, provides Web authoring and content management capabilities necessary in the development, deployment and maintenance of business-critical Web sites. PaperThin’s select group of partners includes industry leading Web design and development firms, system integrators, software manufacturers, and training firms, worldwide. For more information about PaperThin, Inc., please visit http://www.paperthin.com.
