Digital Library goes to big screen
To appeal to a broader audience, IBM sets a Hollywood debut for new pricing and packaging on its multimedia content management system.
Digital Library is a digital asset management system that lets content owners transform multimedia assets into digital form.
IBM will debut the software next Monday in a Hollywood-style presentation in Los Angeles that will feature executives from Dreamworks and Warner Bros., which have licensed the software.
The first version of the package shipped two years ago as a mishmash of IBM technologies that usually required customers to purchase a large custom consulting contract with IBM. The package is based on IBM's DB2 database server.
The software has found a home in the movie business, helping studios to track the multitude of content required for productions, and with photographic and art management companies. IBM also installed Digital Library at the Vatican to help manage its vast art collection.
With version 2.0 of Digital Library, IBM intends to capture a larger, more general audience with easier-to-use tools for such things as content creation, distribution, search, and storage management, said Janet Perna, general manager of database management products for IBM's software solutions division.
Perna said the new software will also be easier to install and maintain, requiring little or no handholding from IBM.
Digital Library will most likely be more affordable, too. Pricing for version 1.0 could easily top $100,000. While Perna did not disclose exact pricing for the new version, she said Digital Library's cost "will be restructured, since it is based on DB2 which is being moved to more processor-based pricing."
Digital Library runs on Unix, OS/2, and Windows NT.