SDL Announces Acquisition of Xopus, World’s Leading Online XML Editor

SDL, the leading provider of Global Information Management solutions, announced today the acquisition of Xopus, the leader in online XML editing. The acquisition by SDL’s Structured Content Technologies division addresses the growing trend to broaden the adoption of structured authoring beyond technical writers.

Founded in 2001 in the Netherlands, Xopus has emerged as the leading provider of a friendly and simple-to-use online XML editor. By making XML authoring and editing easy to work with, the Xopus editor addresses the growing demand to extend the benefits of structured content beyond the classic technical publication organization.

Complementing high-end XML editors that are designed specifically for technical writers, Xopus enables a broader audience to contribute comments and content to increasingly distributed structured authoring processes. With several thousand users worldwide in the high-tech, life sciences, manufacturing and government sectors, Xopus is already extending the business benefits of structured authoring to a much broader set of users and roles than would otherwise be possible.

“Our structured content technologies already drive proven efficiency gains for a wide range of global customers,” said Mark Lancaster, Group CEO of SDL. “Xopus removes one of the most difficult barriers to XML adoption: the complexity of authoring and reviewing in XML. We plan to integrate Xopus with our suite of structured content technologies as well as the larger SDL Global Information Management product suite.”

“Xopus realizes significant business benefits by becoming part of SDL,” said Laurens van den Oever, CEO of Xopus. “We gain a powerful worldwide sales channel and support infrastructure, as well as becoming part of a much broader suite of technologies that enhances the value of our product and offers an end-to-end solution.”

Today, most XML editors are designed primarily for technical writers. With a “zero training/zero install” capability, Xopus makes it possible for corporations to extend XML content contribution and review to a much broader set of users and roles. Accessed through a Web browser, Xopus provides all of the flexibility, ease-of-use, and interactivity of a Wiki, while still leveraging the benefits of structured content. Xopus, integrated with other SDL technologies, will significantly improve content review processes by subject matter experts and content development by non-technical writers, while making content accessible to a corporation’s customers or “crowd” for comment, collaboration and contribution.

“We find that 71% of companies review documentation with three or more departments outside of technical publications, and as many as 24% of companies seeking input from five or more departments,” said David Houlihan, Senior Research Associate, Aberdeen Group. “The technical complexity of XML authoring tools causes securing this feedback from subject matter experts, such as engineers or lawyers, to be one of the most frequent challenges cited in the development of documentation. By exposing this content to reviewers in a way that’s easy to consume without technical training, SDL offers to add greater efficiency to documentation development.”

The Xopus organization will become part of SDL’s Structured Content Technologies division. Laurens van den Oever will take the role of Director, Structured Authoring Solutions, reporting to Kevin Duffy, CEO of the division. A prototype integration already exists between SDL Xopus and SDL Trisoft™, the company’s Component Content Management system for DITA. Looking forward, SDL Xopus will be integrated with SDL LiveContent ™, the company’s dynamic publishing solution. Future integrations are envisioned with SDL Contenta® for S1000D and related markets, as well as SDL’s suite of Global Information Management technologies.

SDL will continue its philosophy of supporting an “open technology” approach to the enterprise ecosystem through integration to 3rd party applications and systems. SDL currently supports, and will continue to support, out-of-the-box integrations from SDL Trisoft and the SDL Global Authoring Management System™ to JustSystems’ XMetaL, PTC Arbortext, and Adobe® FrameMaker®. SDL Xopus will continue to support existing integrations to 3rd party content management systems. For information or to schedule a demonstration of SDL Xopus, please email xml@sdl.com. For frequently asked questions about the announcement or to hear a podcast, please visit www.sdl.com/en/xml/xopus.

To learn more about the acquisition and the benefits of structured authoring, we invite you to join us for a webinar on Thursday, July 1 at 9am PDT/12:00pm EDT/ 5:00pm BST/ 6:00pm CET entitled, “Xopus Acquisition: Extending XML Beyond Technical Publications.” This is a free webinar but registration is required.

About SDL
SDL is the leader in Global Information Management solutions, which provide increased business agility to enterprises by accelerating the delivery of high-quality multilingual content to global markets. The company’s integrated Web Content Management, eCommerce, Structured Content and Language Technologies, combined with its Language Services drive down the cost of content creation, management, translation and publishing. SDL solutions increase conversion ratios and customer satisfaction through targeted information that reaches multiple audiences around the world through different channels.

Global industry leaders who rely on SDL include ABN-Amro, Bosch, Canon, CNH, FICO, Hewlett-Packard, KLM, Microsoft, NetApp, Philips, SAP, Sony and Virgin Atlantic. SDL has over 1500 enterprise customers, has deployed over 170,000 software licenses and provides access to on-demand portals for 10 million customers per month. It has a global infrastructure of more than 50 offices in 34 countries. For more information, visit www.sdl.com.
About SDL Structured Content Technologies
SDL’s Structured Content Technologies division is the worldwide leader in Component Content Management and Dynamic Publishing software. Leveraging XML standards such as DITA and S1000D, the division’s suite of products empower global companies to efficiently create, share, manage and publish technical information that is up-to-date and tailored to the interests of their global customers.
SDL Europe and Corporate Headquarters – Amy Hall
+44 (0)1628 410120
amyhall@sdl.com

SDL Americas – Mary Galoski Parsons
+1 781 756 5454
mparsons@sdl.com

Kirk Communications for SDL – Nate Tennant
+1 603 766 4945
natet@kirkcommunications.com

SDL ASIA Pacific – Richard Delanty
+81 90 6695 5313
rdelanty@sdl.com