“Content connectors” have been on the translation horizon since the early of workflow automation in 1998. Developers of translation management systems (TMS) are taking 3 different routes to get there:

• Custom. A TMS supplier or a system integrator creates a one-of-a-kind connector between a TMS and the customer’s content manager. The most common example is tying the TMS to a proprietary or homegrown CMS. It typically requires a lot of effort, especially since companies with in-house CMS solutions don’t often spend the money to develop open application programming interfaces.
• Purpose-built. A TMS supplier builds a re-usable connector to the TMS to a commercial CMS; for instance Translation.com’s connector to Percussion’s Rhythmyx platform. These connectors are the fastest to implement, but generally still require some coding. Because purpose-built connectors are unique to each content management system (CMS) they are expensive to maintain for developers. Systems like Idiom WorldServer and Lionbridge Freeway may need to update a half dozen or more content connectors if functions change in the core TMS.
• Universal. Conceptually, this black-box approach reduces maintenance for the developer because only one connector needs updating when changes occur in the underlying TMS. Universal connectors may demand more coding to get a specific CMS hooked up than the purpose-built type. The trade-off is the advantage corporate IT staffers get in only needing to learn a single API for the translation system. But what happens when a CMS application gets an upgrade – will TMS vendors have to tweak their universal adapters each time one of dozens of CMS vendors issue an upgrade?

Sajan released what it calls X-Content Integration, a universal content connector for its translation management system (TMS), which it calls GCMS. The X-Content component provides interoperability with more than just CMS. It also provides the integration point to other TMS systems. To us, this signifies a maturing effect as Sajan grows beyond its home turf in the Twin Cities. Big companies have multiple vendors — surprise, surprise. Sajan now has the means to play nice with the likes of an SDL, Transware, or any of the other TMS vendors mentioned above.

Most large LSPs use some level of automation, at least in specific accounts where files move back and forth on a regular basis. Sajan’s GCMS is a “captive TMS” — to realize its benefits, a customer has to use the language service provider who offers that TMS. While customers may feel they are beholden to that technology, the upside is not needing to purchase, implement, or manage the technology themselves.

Who buys which kinds of TMS? Large enterprises like Hewlett-Packard, Business Objects, and SolidWorks are the most visible adopters of TMS systems, both captive and as licensed software. One obvious characteristic of large enterprise that they must live with multiple content stores, the persistent legacy of decades of storing structured and unstructured data. Thus, most TMS adopters face the systems integration issue sooner or later. Sajan is putting a stake in the ground by saying: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses of content yearning to be free.” By providing a universal port of call for both CMS and TMS systems, X-Content Integration serves as middleware for multi-point process flows.

We think there is a big opportunity here, as we have repeatedly stated in our many calls to vendors to deliver middleware for multilingual systems. Clay Tablet was the first to answer the call, and now Sajan enters the fray. While some vendors think more in terms of “homeland security,” it is refreshing to see other vendors hearkening back to the days of open borders.