Ames Eases Content Conversion

"Customers no longer have to call us," Lennane says. "We offer tools for their inventory, invoice, and order management, as well as the ability to connect with UPS."

It's a major upgrade, but as with all popular software, the next version is already in the works. A top priority: increased emphasis on content reuse. A future release will leverage XML to make content reuse easier, and make the product more compliant with industry standards.

"All roads point to a dependence on XML tools," Lennane says. "Publishers want an automated composition solution that can take raw data from many sources, and plug it into any design. XML is the dream in that area. But the technology isn't advanced enough to create a system based solely on [XML] today."

– Lisa Nadile