Well, it looks like I'm off again touting the mim:switch Livelink WCM migration tool. This time I'm off to Switzerland to the Open Text customer day in Zürich. Not as glamorous as it might seem as the conference is at a hotel at the airport so I won't even get the usual taxi ride view of the city.

As I'm sure most readers are aware, the Livelink WCM PS started life as Obtree and was created in Switzerland where there are well over 100 organisations still using the WCM. Although the day is for all Open Text customers a good number are expected to be Obtree users and there is a presentation specifically for them. I was asked if our WCM migration software could be demo'ed at this session and I am packing my bags.

I am looking forward to meeting up with the Swiss partners involved in the migration methodology planning. We have made do with teleconferences since we met in Hamburg in August and getting round the table makes it easier for me to disguise the fact that their English is better than mine – and to make some further progress on the upgrade path from Obtree to RedDot.

My daughter likes me to go on these trips too. She misses me of course but gets a new football strip to show off at her club when I get back. Now I just have to decide which team to get FC Zürich or Grasshoppers. 

Earlier this week RedDot held their annual user conference (RedDot Days) in Frankfurt. Unfortunately we were unable to attend this year as we have too much work on here but we were pleased to be informed that Livelink WCM presentation server customers were being enticed to attend by the offer of a free onsite migration workshop to the first 10 to sign up. As readers of this blog will know I was part of the team that designed this migration workshop along with RedDot, Infocentric Research and Unic Internet Solutions representatives at a session in Hamburg earlier this year. I am still waiting to hear the results but look forward to the workshops. We have carried out similar workshops with UK based clients already as they move off the Livelink WCM PS platform.

The mim:switch Content Intelligence Tool is a key aspect of that work and it provides invaluable data to help prepare for migrating from Obtree or Livelink WCM PS. we are expecting to see migrations from Swiss and German users over the next few years but in the UK at least the move has started.

We've always played on the fact the we are vendor agnostic and independent from the WCM companies we partner with. Sometimes it's not an easy space to occupy with some vendors being less than comfortable with the arrangement due to numerous perceived 'conflicts of interest' - mostly brought about by their paranoia and blind faith in their 'best of breed' product.

For us, becoming agnostic simply made good sound commercial sense. Afterall, when we started trading almost three years ago we were a 100% Obtree C4 house and what with its end of life in sight (there, someone finally said what everyone knows!) if we hadn't adapted, our own end of life would be fast approaching too.

Now we're actively supporting clients with WCM solutions and developments in Immediacy, Sitecore, EpiServer, Pepperio as well as RedDot and good old soon to be departed (oops, said it again) Livelink WCMPS/Obtree C4. 

Simon has blogged many times about our WCM to WCM Migration offering, MIM:Switch. It's very exciting for us that the MIM:Switch toolset is now being used in anger for the first time at a major UK organisation to assist in their move away from Livelink WCMPS/Obtree C4. Which solution are they moving to? They/we don't know yet but that's not important... we're vendor agnostic! 

It seems that the migration activity that has been threatening for some time now is beginning. We have seen a few of our clients move off the platform for a number of reasons over the years but recently we have been alerted to some of the larger clients entering a procurement activity with a view to moving off platform during the current financial year.

"Don't Panic!"

There is no need to move. The roadmap WCM includes a release in November 2010 and support for three years after that. So, if you are happy with the Livelink WCM platform then there is no reason to look for an alternative.

If you are considering a move, then we are well placed to help you choose between the alternatives and to provide you with the easiest route to a successful new implementation. Contact me to find out more about our partners and our 'Out of Obtree' migration toolset.

I have just spent the last two days in Hamburg with RedDot and representatives from Unic  and Infocentric Research (both Swiss partners with about 50 Obtree/Livelink WCM customers each). We had a very successful workshop designing a common migration methodology for cutomers wishing to move from Obtree to RedDot. At the start of the session I demo'ed our mim:switch toolset and am happy to report that the methodology includes the use of mim:switch as a key element at the analysis phase and for the content migration itself. we also have a better idea of where our development roadmap should go.

I am happy to show the tool in action to anyone with Obtree that's interested. Demo's can be in person or online using Webex just click here to make a request.

I have just been looking through the Open Text Online communities and noticed that the Livelink WCM Presentation Server (Obtree) Road map page has been updated this morning. Future releases are detailed as

The page also includes the following text...

'This product is in maintenance mode and cannot be sold to prospects anymore. For new WCM projects please get in touch with your local RedDot salesforce, they are happy to support you for new deals.

Existing Livelink WCM Presentation Server customers can still buy additional licenses. For more information about the Roadmap, Support cycles, upselling etc. please contact RedDot - The Open Text Web Solutions Group in your country or get in touch with the Program Manager Thomas Eberhart teberhar@opentext.com .'

I read this and thought of our customers. I am not going to  comment on it just put it up here...

From the Information World Review web site

'Another prediction that I have been making for some months (OK, years) is that Open Text would sell out, with SAP quite likely to be the buyer. It hasn’t happened yet and, as another strong Open Text financial quarter goes by, you could argue that it’s becoming less likely to happen.'

The same author predicted the Yahoo bid by Microsoft. 

Apparently it is fashionable for commentators to make predictions for the next year. So I thought I might try and predict what is in store for Mimtech.

1. In January we have new staff joining us (not a prediction, I have already hired them) so I expect there to be more going on in the office and having to make tea less often
2. We have some training lined up in different WCM platforms for most of the techie guys so I predict a lot more geek speak and jargon being bandied around
3. We will launch a new offering in January but I won't spoil the surprise just yet, we will be getting a lot of attention and new and exciting business in the New Year
4. I will be more tired (my wife is having our second child next week)
5. Obtree users will start to consider their investment a bit more carefully
6. Mimtech will land our first big implementation in New Zealand early next year, this is already at a fairly advanced stage in the sales process
7. Lots of new processes, as we grow this is inevitable if a bit dull
8. Less chatter about Web 2.0 and more real value add development work being done in general
9. More community activity in the WCM space we operate in
10. Software as a service replacing Web  2.0 as the buzz phrase of the moment
11. Uses have more control over the presentation layer
    
12. Celtic and Rangers striking a deal to become one club - Glasgow United. Or maybe an end to world poverty and conflict. Or Microsoft bringing out some bug free software. Or Apple releasing a product that doesn't start with i. Obese being the new size zero. I appear to have run out of sensible ideas.
    

http://www.talkobtree.com/

In answer to so many requests from customers for information regarding the future of Obtree C4 - aka Livelink WCM Presentation Server - Mimtech have initiated the talk obtree discussion forum to provide a platform for Obtree customers to communicate and share information with regard to their current Obtree implementation and their future plans and options.

There is undoubtably a perception amongst the Obtree customer base, not just in the UK but throughout the whole of Europe, that they are not being clearly communicated with as a result of RedDot becoming the Open Text Web Solutions Group. For example, recent email based 'updates' have originated from both Open Text and RedDot with different branding and messaging. This apparent lack of a single coherent communication channel and the recent announcement that the RedDot WCM product is the Open Text WCM product of choice have cast uncertainty over the other two WCM products under Open Text ownership, namely Obtree C4 and Gauss.

To be fair to RedDot they have held a number of 'Obtree Customer Days' and taken part in an online webinar with Mimtech to present the Livelink WCM Presentation Server product road map and commit their ongoing support to the product. However, at each event they have failed to give straight answers to the most basic of questions raised by their customers to the extend that, intentional or not, they have only served to fuel the rumours surrounding the lifespan of the product.

The talk obtree discussion forum is intended to provide a platform for serious debate and discussion around all the options available to Obtree customers moving forward. Undoubtably, this includes the option to keep using Livelink WCM Presentation Server successfully as your 'fully supported' web content management platform for years to come. However, it is looking increasingly likely that the most probably outcome for most of you will be to switch web content management platforms in the coming months to either RedDot WCM or another vendor's product.

Let the discussions begin.