DeltaXML and IXIASOFT Join Forces to Streamline Change in DITA Docs
Successful project collaboration could transform the management of change in DITA-based technical documentation
MALVERN, WORCESTERSHIRE, UK; MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA
30 January 2014 A transatlantic technology partnership between experts in XML document comparison and XML content management is set to transform the handling and management of change in technical publications.
The partnership has successfully integrated DeltaXML’s powerful DITA comparison tools into DITA CMS, an enterprise-scale component content management solution (CCMS) developed by Montreal-based IXIASOFT, a recognised market leader in XML content management.
The development means that technical documentation teams in some of the world’s leading companies, who use DITA to produce their content, will now be free to work on documents without having to track where they make changes – a process that is becoming increasingly demanding as publishing has become more complex and sophisticated.
“One of the challenges with the modular architecture behind DITA is showing users the differences between documents that have changed as these are themselves composed of references to other objects. Integrating DITA Compare in DITA CMS allows us to provide our customers with a visual rendition of comparative results that are easy to read, in a format that our users are familiar with (PDF).” said Jean-Francois Ameye, DITA Specialist at IXIASOFT.
Malvern, UK-based DeltaXML is a world expert in XML comparison systems and has already carried out pioneering work on comparison and diff tools for DITA documents and maps.
Founder and CEO of DeltaXML, Robin La Fontaine said “The management of these processes is becoming increasingly complex and we have to find new methodologies to meet specific demands from our customers. IXIASOFT was an obvious technology partner for us as they provide their content management solutions to industry leaders, whose technical documentation is of critical nature, and the tracking and identification of changes made to a document’s content and structure is not only essential but is mandatory in some regulated industries.”
“Improving methods of collaboration has been the key driver for DeltaXML and IXIASOFT in developing this partnership. This includes the introduction of the ‘DITA Maps Compare’ feature that generates a visualization of all the changes in an innovative and unique way,” said La Fontaine.
“This has market-leading potential – we expect that many customers and major organisations with CCMS requirements will benefit from these innovations and take advantage of this new partnership,” he said.
DeltaXML’s Business Development Manager, Nick Mongston, agrees: “We’re excited that this partnership will extend the application of our combined XML solutions across the technical publishing community.
The integration of our world-leading comparison technology with IXIASOFT’s DITA CMS solution will provide customers with an automated solution to their handling and management of increasingly complex technical documentation, where a single inaccuracy can have critical operational, financial and legal implications”.
About DeltaXML Ltd
DeltaXML is a privately owned UK software house focussed exclusively on the development of tools to manage change in XML documentation and data. Recognised as a market leader, its products are used by over 200 class-leading businesses worldwide with tens of thousands of users.
The company’s products include:
DeltaXML Core (now XML Compare)
A high performance and highly accurate toolkit for identifying changes between well-formed XML document or data formats and providing the flexibility to manage those changes in many ways. DeltaXML Core can be integrated into any Java or .NET application that requires the control of changed XML data.
DeltaXML Sync (now XML Merge)
An intelligent, three-way merge tool for XML that reads in three different, though similar, XML documents and determines the changes between them, generating an output based on the changes.
DITA Compare
A powerful, DITA compliant comparison tool that frees editors to work on documents without having to track their changes. As DITA Compare generates standard DITA documents, changes can be displayed using an existing publishing infrastructure.
DocBook Compare
A versatile tool for producing detailed comparisons between two DocBook files. DocBook Compare generates standard DocBook documents, enabling changes to be shown using existing publishing infrastructures.
About IXIASOFT
IXIASOFT is a leading provider of XML content management software to organizations worldwide. IXIASOFT is the developer of the DITA CMS, a component content management solution designed specifically to author, manage, review, localize and publish DITA-based technical documentation. IXIASOFT is also the developer of TEXTML Server, a native XML database and search engine used to store, index and retrieve large volumes of XML content. IXIASOFT enjoys a global customer base in various vertical industries including software, hardware, medical device manufacturing.
