News

New Integration Pack Links Content Management Server, SharePoint

• By Scott Bekker
• 05/09/2002

The new integration comes via the aptly named "Content Management and SharePoint Portal Server Integration Pack." The pack is available for free to MSDN subscribers at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=38801.

Benefits of using the two products together with the integration pack, Microsoft says, include managing content efficiently and consistently throughout the lifecycle; shortening Web publishing cycles by linking collaboration and publishing processes; and eliminating duplication and improving accuracy by sharing content across corporate Web sites and intranets.

Gartner analyst Lou Latham. calls the integration pack " a no brainer."

"A big piece of their value proposition is the interoperability between Content Management Server and SharePoint," Latham says. "Initially, the timeframe [for integrating] the products had been more leisurely. This sounds real good."

With an integration pack behind it, and the benefits of the combination apparently so clear, the next logical question for Microsoft is whether the two distinct products will be combined into one product in the near future.

Microsoft Content Management Server product manager Chris Ramsey says, "The product teams will continue to work closely, but I can't really comment on that."

Gartner's Latham is not convinced a combined Microsoft product is inevitable, but he says, "They certainly could become one product. With prices [for content management systems] falling literally into the five-figure range, and content part of virtually every enterprise process, I can see basically all of this stuff getting sucked up into the application server over the course of the next five or six years."