Open Text Corporation

Encyclopedia : O : OP : OPE : Open Text Corporation

Open Text Corporation TSX: [OTC] NASDAQ: [OTEX] is a Canadian high-tech company based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It produces and distributes computer software applications designed to enable content management solutions for large corporate systems. Its flagship product, Livelink, is a Web-based content management system, with integrated business process management capabilities. It employs over 200 people in its Waterloo office. It is a publicly traded corporation, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OTC, and on the NASDAQ as OTEX.

On July 5, 2006, Open Text made an unsolicited bid for Hummingbird Ltd of Toronto (North York), ON, another company that produces enterprise content management software. Hummingbird had previously agreed to be acquired by Symphony Technology Group. Open Text announced it owned 4.3% of Hummingbird, and had support of approximately 36% of the other shares (of which 18% were through lock-up agreements).

Contents

1 Search technology
2 Livelink
3 Enterprise content management
4 Competitors
5 See also
6 External link

Search technology

Open Text originated from the Oxford English Dictionary project at the University of Waterloo, a project led by computer scientist Gaston Gonnet. From 1984 to 1989, this project sought to create an electronic OED. One of the chief necessities for such a massive undertaking was the development of effective search technologies which could be used to quickly index and retrieve information. The search technology that was developed for this project was recognized as being useful for many electronic applications, and was the basis for the founding of Open Text Corporation in 1991.

With the advent of the information age, and the growing importance of the Internet, the company grew as organizations discovered the need to be able to index and search their existing and growing stores of information. For a brief period in 1995, Open Text provided the search technology used by Yahoo! as part of its Web index.

Livelink

In 1995, Open Text purchased Odesta, producer of Livelink, an electronic document management system. This system was converted to a Web-based system. Livelink was marketed as a corporate intranet solution for "collaborative knowledge management". Livelink was the basis for Open Text's second phase of growth. The system was integrated with Open Text's search technology, as well as a business process management solution. Much of Open Text's growth during this second phase was gained through the acquisition of smaller companies and integration of their technologies with Livelink.

Enterprise content management

Open Text completed several corporate acquisitions in 2002 and 2003, the largest of which was its acquisition of IXOS — a German company nearly as large as Open Text itself — in October 2003. With the completion of these acquisitions, Open Text positioned itself as one of the leaders in the Enterprise content management market. Enterprise knowledge management is a conjunction of solutions designed to meet many of the information needs of large corporations. Some of the important requirements include document management, business process management, Web content management, online meeting and collaboration, and regulatory compliance. Livelink is sold as the core of all of these solutions, with other products — many of them gained through mergers and acquisitions — integrated to meet specific needs.

Competitors

Some of Open Text's key competitors in the enterprise content management market include:

External link

[Corporate Website]