Among the highlights is a new content object model that is now fully implemented in the J2EE framework and is being supported by WebSphere 6; new support of annotations in compound documents; expanded integration and multi-language support of the product’s BPM engine; a new Ajax client; and enhancements to the capability for configuring user interfaces.
With the release, IBM disclosed a high-level 12-18 month product roadmap for P8 and IBM Content Manager 8.4 (IBM’s original product before the acquisition), promising more details in May.
But the obvious highlight is that P8 is officially the flagship IBM content management line going forward. That may not seem terribly shocking except that, with the acquisition, IBM now counts three separate content product lines: P8, plus Panagon, FileNet’s legacy image and document management product; and of course, IBM Content Manager.
The current quarter’s deliverables include full J2EE and BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation, an OMG standard) support for P8, and an Ajax client along with improved scalability and ease of use for IBM Content Manager.
Next quarter, P8 will enhance its capture and compliance capabilities, plus improved SAP support. Meanwhile, IBM’s product will upgrade its web administration and reporting tools.
Looking towards the second half of the year, P8 will add support for new platforms, enhancement deployment, and provide additional support for offline workers. IBM’s product will add more bells and whistles to its client, compliance, performance, content services, and scalability, while adding features that will reduce cost of ownership.
As to product integration, given that these are big products, and customers of these systems are not likely to rip and replace overnight, it will be a story of growing federation.
Looking at the current architecture of P8, it supports federated content repositories including P8, IBM Content Manager, FileNet Panagon, and third party sources, based on the premise that content wants to stay in its native place.
As part of that strategy, IBM said it would continue FileNet P8’s support of multiple platforms for from DB2, SQL Server, and Oracle on the data tier to WebSphere, BEA WebLogic, and other J2EE platforms in middle tier, and multiple storage options.
The integration product roadmap, code named Tango, calls for adding on demand capabilities to P8 and IBM Content Manager during the first half of this year.
The second half of the year will find a common UI for P8 and IBM Content manager; integration of P8 and WebSphere Portal web content manager, web forms, and support of IBM Content Manager from FileNet’s Systems Monitor console. And by Q3 of 2008, IBM promises what it calls an integrated enterprise content management architecture that will span P8 and IBM Content Manager.
While P8 is clearly FileNet’s junior offering, IBM trotted out numbers showing that it is attaining critical mass, surpassing the 2 million-seat mark for BPM last June and 1000 P8 systems shipped last year. And it stated that three quarters of P8 shipments now include BPM.
In conjunction with the P8 4.0 rollout, IBM announcement expansion of the IBM Global Services content management practice, with 1000 professions now certified to work on P8.
