PLEASANTON, Calif. - August 6, 2001 - Documentum (Nasdaq: DCTM), the provider of content management to the Global 2000, today announced the launch of Documentum eContent Services - the capability to define and expose content management functionality as a set of standards-based components that control the creation, production and delivery of a company's content assets. Documentum eContent Services will speed the development of content-rich applications, expose content management services to large-scale ERP and CRM applications and drive down the total cost of ownership (TCO) for deploying e-business infrastructure. Web Services - The Foundation for a New Paradigm Web Services are self-contained, modular pieces of programming logic that perform specific business functions and are accessible over a network in a platform-independent and language-neutral way.  Once published, Web services can be located using Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) and invoked across the Web with Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). "Web Services are the building blocks of a new e-business paradigm, a Content Ecotecture - a dynamic ecosystem of technology providers, architectures, and information." said Howard Shao, CTO and co-founder of Documentum. "In this emerging Content Ecotecture, no database-oriented content solution or rigid content infrastructure will enable businesses to compete effectively or leverage the full benefits of the Content Ecotecture as it takes shape." Made possible by open standards such as XML and J2EE, the Content Ecotecture will enable an information system in which the participating technologies interoperate and seamlessly exchange information and content between and across all channels. "As the lines between Internet, intranet, extranet, and portal come to blur, users are recognizing that a total content management system means supporting more formats and channels, along with ever-broadening types of information--from traditional Website brochure-ware, to multimedia files, to rich structured product content, to enterprise data, to business-critical documentation code, and so on," said Louis Columbus of AMR Research. "So Documentum's move toward a platform strategy, whereby it exploits its expertise in document workflow and content repositories and urges its sizable partnership base to produce content management applications for vertical industries, seems a wise one." eContent Services Leverage Developing Content Ecotecture Leveraging its J2EE compliant, XML-enabled technology platform, Documentum has been well ahead of the Web Services wave. The company's Web Development Kit (WDK), built on an extensible J2EE framework, contains nearly 60 pre-built, reusable components that perform common Documentum functions such as browse, check in, check out, and search. WDK enables developers to quickly engineer applications using these components, which can then be deployed and scaled on any J2EE-based applications server. Because of the ability to easily modularize key functions within its platform, Documentum is the only enterprise content management provider in a position to deliver Web Services. Documentum eContent Services include an expanding library of pre-defined, reusable pieces of application logic that can be easily "plugged" into applications to allow them to access the content that fuels them as well as the associated content management capabilities (such as version management, workflow, and robust searching). By allowing content management to be easily exposed in any application, eContent Services will enable vital business processes such as real-time negotiation of contracts among many parties, personalized customer self-service applications and management of projects across supply chains. Every business function of this type that requires the use of multiple applications, devices, and e-business networks is driven by content, and can be developed more quickly and efficiently with Documentum eContent Services. eContent Services Deliver Tangible Benefits "Businesses that don't use Web Services will suffer as a result of inefficient applications and missed revenue generating opportunities... Companies that embrace Web services will leapfrog over their competition." -- AMR Research eContent Services will provide tangible benefits to application developers, software vendors and businesses. * Application developers will reduce development time and speed time to market for new applications * Software vendors will be able to easily expose content management functionality in their enterprise applications * Businesses will accelerate e-business infrastructure deployment and reduce TCO "We see the Documentum eContent Services initiative as an enormous support for BOC going forward.  For example, we plan to extend our existing Documentum content management system to the BOC external supply chain through our portals, and Documentum eContent Services will make that extension easier, faster, and more cost efficient," said John Koerwer, Manager of Design Automation at BOC Gases. Documentum Partnerships: Putting Content at the Core of Web Services Working together on new standards-based ways to unite content with applications, Documentum and its Business Partners are laying the essential groundwork for the Content Ecotecture.  Documentum eContent Services are just the first deliverable from this potent collaboration. "Documentum is committing additional effort and resources to working closely with Business Partners including IBM, BEA, Sun Microsystems, SAP, Plumtree and Epicentric to create a cooperative model that ensures faster, easier deployment of these critical e-commerce technologies," said Dave De Walt, president and chief executive officer of Documentum. Documentum has worked aggressively with industry-leading Business Partners to integrate its content management platform and components with their e-business infrastructure products and services. Today Documentum is certified on all its Business Partners' platforms.  Through continued close collaboration, Documentum and its Business Partners will enable customers to benefit from the evolving opportunities of Web Services. "We're working with industry leaders to define how content will be dynamically produced, distributed and personalized in an integrated environment, all based on the promise of Web Services. Our goal is to simplify the task of creating and managing the dynamic, content-rich applications that will reduce costs and drive productivity for businesses in years ahead," continued De Walt. "Web Services make it possible to build bridges between systems, and ultimately people, that otherwise would require a lot of time and money to connect," said Mark Carges, president, BEA E-Commerce Application Components Division. "BEA is working closely with Documentum, and other long-standing partners, to provide an e-business platform that leverages a portal framework to easily expose the significant value of Web Services to partners, customers and employees." "IBM's WebSphere* e-business infrastructure brings key Web Services and dynamic application integration standards together within an J2EE integrated platform --- enabling a highly flexible end-to-end solution for e-business, " said Scott L. Hebner, Director of WebSphere Marketing. "IBM believes that content is an important part of that solution and is working with Business Partners like Documentum to provide customers with highest levels of connectivity on the Web. IBM is pleased with Documentum's expanding support for WebSphere." "Web Services will evolve into smart web services, delivering users a high level of customization and personalization," said Doug Kaewert, Vice President, Sun Developer Network Group, Sun Microsystems. "Documentum's Web Services initiative will help accelerate this evolution with its emphasis on context awareness and fully open interfaces." Companies are investing in their technology infrastructures today to prepare for the content-rich applications that will be their competitive lifeblood in the years to come. Documentum and its Business Partners are leading the way.