AOL Time Warner Inc. has announced that beginning March 31, 2003 it will end free online access to certain magazines. The initiative is in response to the financial struggles of the America Online unit. AOL will continue to allow access to subscribers or to those who purchase the magazine. Initially the restrictions will only apply to People and Entertainment Weekly, but twelve other Time Inc. publications are expected to do the same by the middle of May: Real Simple, In Style, Parenting, Cooking Light, Southern Living, Sports Illustrated For Kids, Time For Kids, Coastal Living, Southern Accents, Self, Teen People, and Sunset magazines. At this time, Sports Illustrated and Time magazines are not expected to restrict access. AOL Time Warner has viewed increased cooperation between the merged companies as vital to increasing customers and improved branding and expects clients to view the new program as a benefit that puts AOL ahead of the competition. AOL Time Warner first announced the shift to restricted access in December 2002.

(http://www.aol.com)

eMeta Corporation, a provider of enterprise software for digital assets and services, has announced the availability of the eRights Suite. Building on the foundation of its predecessor, eRights, the eRights Suite provides the infrastructure, applications, and insight necessary to secure and sell digital assets and services. The new Suite enables enterprises to create, control, and commercialize digital offerings that are synchronized to specific business needs and models, assets and audiences. The eRights Suite is composed of three products: RightAccess 3.0, RightCommerce 3.0, and RightServices 1.0.

RightAccess 3.0--The access control engine of the eRights Suite, RightAccess provides the infrastructure necessary to protect and manage access to digital assets and services. Offering authentication and authorization, delegated administration, and metadirectory features, RightAccess enables enterprises to control who can access information and services under which terms. Supporting a resource tree, rich user and group inheritance rules, exclusion sets and embargoes, a dynamic expression language throughout all subsystems, and an object-oriented API, RightAccess is an access control system for complex digital assets.

RightCommerce 3.0--The commerce engine of the eRights Suite, RightCommerce contains the set of packaging, pricing, customer care, billing, and payment applications necessary for commercializing digital assets and services. RightCommerce contains marketing mechanisms such as gift subscriptions, cross-licensing, and dynamic pricing.

RightServices 1.0--RightServices provides a solution for the protection and commercialization of software assets developed and published as Web services. Optimized for the commercialization of non-traditional online assets such as software services and software code, RightServices enables enterprises to realize the full value of proprietary software and processes.

All products within the eRights Suite can be integrated with other software solutions and enable the customization of end-user interfaces for incorporation within the surrounding environment. For example, RightCommerce may be integrated with CM, CRM, and DRM systems to create an end-to-end asset and service distribution system across the enterprise.

(http://www.emeta.com)

SmartPath Inc., a provider of marketing resource management (MRM) software applications, has announced a strategic partnership with MediaBin Inc., a DAM solutions provider. The integration of SmartPath's MRM solution with MediaBin's DAM solution is designed to provide comprehensive functionality to support production and project management initiatives for marketing activities. This integration is intended to offer large marketing organizations the capabilities they need to speed marketing campaigns and product launches while increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.

(http://www.mediabin.com), (http://www.smartpathinc.com)

WebWare Corporation, a digital asset management software company, has announced the introduction of WebWare ActiveMedia Access--an enterprise-ready digital asset management system for under $50,000. ActiveMedia Access is engineered for the enterprise but designed for the needs of the workgroup. It enables enterprise workgroups, creative agencies, video post-production facilities, and similar environments to create a digital library for rich media: key graphics, layouts, illustrations, slide presentations, and video. ActiveMedia Access lets project managers assign sophisticated business rules to a company's digital assets at the workgroup level without the need for database administrators or outside professional services.  It also allows authorized users worldwide to access, approve, track, audit, and transform product and marketing content over the Internet. Features of ActiveMedia Access include: Full-text search--ActiveMedia Access indexes the text content of Microsoft, Adobe, Quark, and other file types, then allows users to perform natural language searches. Microsoft Office ingestion--ActiveMedia Access can store Microsoft Office documents as searchable PDFs. Adobe Graphics Server--ActiveMedia Access can convert image files to any required size and format while retaining the original image file in the library.  Video and audio support--ActiveMedia Access finds, streams, and manages video and audio assets including MPEG, QuickTime, RealMedia, and Windows Media. Visual annotations--ActiveMedia Access provides collaborative, graphical tools for marking up file proxies without affecting the master file. High security protection--Only authorized individuals and workgroups have access to appropriate sets of assets and metadata and the ability to add, delete or modify those assets. The system administrator sets and changes permissions as needed. LDAP authentication and Netegrity integration is also available. ActiveMedia Access runs on Microsoft Windows 2000 and SQL Server, or Sun Solaris.  It is available as both an installed software solution or a fully hosted service.

(http://www.webwarecorp.com)

Mirror Image Internet, an ebusiness provider and a subsidiary of Xcelera Inc., has enhanced its RapidBuy Global ecommerce services suite by making available a library of downloadable digital assets to online merchants and publishers from electronic distribution supplier, Global Digital Markets (GDM). As a wholly-owned Mirror Image subsidiary, GDM offers an open distribution model that is designed to provide a more efficient means for customers to obtain and sell products such as software, books, and music directly on the Web. By adding a digital assets library, expanded distribution channels, and expert management processes, Mirror Image's RapidBuy suite of services connects retailers, resellers, and distributors with content vendors and software publishers. The suite allows retailers, resellers, and distributors: access to an inventory of downloadable products; the ability to contact multiple publishers through aggregated merchandizing efforts; validated data accuracy through a clearinghouse that enables reconciliation; and technology support. It also offers content vendors and software publishers: distribution strategy consolidation; use of technology services (e.g., licensing, subscription services, "try-before- you-buy" testing); and the ability to electronically distribute products faster to customers.

(http://www.gdmarkets.com), (http://www.mirror-image.com)

Refresh Software Corp. has announced SiteRefresh, a core content management solution available either as a hosted service or as a server license. SiteRefresh satisfies "core" content management requirements so that businesses can control information churn quickly and more effectively. "Core" content management requirements are content creation, editing, review, and reuse. SiteRefresh handles these through Web site WYSIWYG editing, roles-based workflow and content versioning with site rollback. It stores content in relational databases such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server. For publishing, it calls content from these databases using any standard scripting language. This open and standards-based approach permits direct implementation with application servers, personalization software, and portal frameworks, allowing incremental build out to support future Web site growth. The SiteRefresh product family is designed for Web developer project workgroups and enterprise departments across industries that might otherwise build their own content management system. Refresh Software offers SiteRefresh--both hosted and server license versions--to value added resellers (VARs) who are responsible for building and maintaining their customers' Web sites. SiteRefresh Hosted is available now. The hosted service starts at $495 per month for five users and includes all software upgrades. The SiteRefresh perpetual server license starts at $14,995.  Refresh Software offers credit for customers who wish to start with the hosted version and then transition to a full self-hosted server license.

(http://www.refreshsoftware.com)

EmpireDRM, a provider of Microsoft Windows Media DRM solutions, and Jibe Inc., a software developer of peer-based Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), have announced a strategic partnership in which EmpireDRM will provide a layer of managed security to Jibe's new EdgeBurst Delivery Service to offer entertainment customers protection for all types of distributed content. Entertainment Direct. TV, Inc. (EDTV), which operates as an Internet-based Entertainment Service Provider (ESP) business, has incorporated this new service into its own secure artist portal program as a solution to speed the delivery of media files and protect the digital intellectual property rights of its entertainment clients. Jibe's EdgeBurst software is designed to enable companies such as EDTV to cost-effectively distribute high quality media online. EdgeBurst accelerates download speeds and reduces bandwidth costs by leveraging peers to assist with content delivery. Jibe sells EdgeBurst as licensed software or as a service. EmpireDRM's modular software platform called Dominion offers a secure solution to help prevent the piracy of content and provides a realistic billing solution that captures both user information and secure revenue. This modular software can adapt to customer environments, integrate with multiple credit card processors, and offers a plug-in to existing content delivery or hosting providers' infrastructures. In addition, Dominion locks the digital audio and video content and limits access to those users who have acquired a proper license to play the content whether they get the license from a successful completion of a marketing form or a credit card enabled buy page.

(http://www.ed.tv), (http://www.empiredrm.com), (http://www.jibeinc.com)

TEKgroup International, Inc. and Global Auto Systems have launched Global Auto Net for the automotive and transportation industry. Global Auto Systems, a supplier of industry news and research, publishes both Global Auto Net and Global Auto Insider, offering news, product information, and auto show coverage in both electronic and print formats. By using the TEKpublish Content Management System, administrators of Global Auto Net are able to control the site's content workflow efficiently. Information is posted via an online graphical user interface. The site is password-protected, allowing only administrators to make changes, distribute newsletters and manage the ecommerce center. Readers can review the latest headlines or search the site for specific articles. Registered subscribers can elect to receive a text or HTML email newsletter.

(http://www.globalauto.net), (http://www.tekgroup.com)

Avid Technology, Inc. has announced that Sony Pictures Digital is using the Avid Active ContentManager to power its next-generation internet content delivery service and to distribute digital video over the Web. Sony Pictures Digital is currently using the Avid Active ContentManager for its SoapCity Download service, which launched on February 26, 2003, and is exploring opportunities to extend its use of Avid's solution into future service offerings. Avid Active ContentManager systems automate the process for collecting digital content from multiple sources and distributing it across numerous channels, including wireless devices, interactive television, and the Internet. The Avid Active ContentManager supports the digital distribution platform for SoapCity Download, the Sony Pictures Digital service that delivers full-length, commercially uninterrupted soap opera episodes to broadband computer users. SoapCity Download allows viewers to stop, start, fast-forward, rewind, and pause episodes. The Avid Active ContentManager technology is a Java-based enterprise-class content management system designed to deliver text, video, and other dynamic content to multiple outlets. The solution provides the flexibility of an open architecture to allow the quick management and deployment of content. This type of automated functionality enables media production professionals, such as Sony Pictures Digital, to reduce the time it takes to deliver content to a range of outlets, including wireless devices, interactive television, and the Internet.

(http://www.avid.com), (http://www.soapcity.com), (http://www.sonypictures.com)

SiteScape, a Web-based enterprise collaboration platform provider, has announced an agreement with the city of San Diego to install SiteScape Enterprise Forum 7.0 collaboration software for 4,000 municipal employees of San Diego. Deputy city managers, public information officers, information technology and communications staff members and representatives from virtually every city department will be using the solution to improve communication and services delivery. The selection of SiteScape Forum process was the result of a joint effort between the city of San Diego and San Diego Data Processing Corporation, the non-profit corporation that provides IT services for the benefit of the city of San Diego. The city will integrate SiteScape Enterprise Forum 7.0 with its SunOne portal to provide document management, team functionality, and a customized workflow that allows departments such as Public Works, Fire, and Police to submit and track job requests via a Web-based process. SiteScape has sold its software to numerous government agencies worldwide, such as the United States Navy, Danish Army, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and the United States Census Bureau.

(http://www.sitescape.com)

Centra Software, Inc., a provider of application software and services for real-time enterprise collaboration (RTEC), has announced that Virginia Tech is using Centra to power its Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning (IDDL) with real-time, interactive online courses. With 24 different masters degrees and certificates offered at a distance, Virginia Tech is using Centra to connect faculty and students from around the world to deliver education programs online, such as its Master of Information Technology, and new offerings, such as its Master of Science in Ocean Engineering. The university's faculty is also using Centra to collaborate online with colleagues worldwide for grant and research activities. Many courses delivered through IDDL offer a blended program of asynchronous and Centra-powered real-time online learning. Centra is designed to integrate with existing infrastructure to help organizations align enterprise IT strategies with business processes to enhance productivity, lower costs, and drive revenue. Centra's solutions are available in 13 language editions and in 29 countries worldwide.

(http://www.centra.com), (http://www.iddl.vt.edu), (http://www.vt.edu)

XyEnterprise, a developer of XML content management and enterprise publishing solutions, has announced that the Boeing C-17 Program has deployed the latest release of XyEnterprise's XML Professional Publisher (XPP) software. The XPP application, used in concert with XyEnterprise's content management software, automates the production of technical manuals and service documentation for each of the C-17 aircraft produced by the Boeing Company. XPP is the standards-based composition, transformation, and rendering software offered by XyEnterprise for publishing in the technical documentation, commercial, legal, journal, and financial publishing markets. Corporations and other organizations use XML Professional Publisher (XPP) to process and transform standardized inputs (such as XML) into PDF and print output. XPP supports structured content and complex typographical capabilities in batch, WYSIWYG, and development environments for end users and integrators. Boeing produces the C-17 Globemaster III for the US Air Force to fulfill airlift needs such as carrying large combat equipment, troops or humanitarian aid across international distances directly to small airfields anywhere in the world. The XyEnterprise solution enables Boeing to support the training, operation, and maintenance of this important aircraft in its multitude of missions. The XyEnterprise system also supports the change page and loose-leaf output standards found in most military technical documents.

(http://www.xyenterprise.com)