Most customer announcements warrant a quick dismissal as a “we won some business” story. This one deserves a bit more analysis. Until about a year ago Idiom relentlessly pushed its globalization management system (GMS). It claimed to provide an entire global content management solution, often positioning itself as an alternative to a full-fledged CMS like Interwoven or Vignette.

Today Idiom is the last independent GMS left standing. GMS technology is core to its offering, but not what it leads with. Instead, its story about XML authoring is much more focused — and has customers. The UGS deal echoes recent news from Idiom about how Adobe, Autodesk, and Information Builders have turned to Idiom for its XML-based publishing solution. And we heard from our source (“Deep Throttle-Body Fuel Injector”) at General Motors that Idiom is still seeking approval to announce its role in an ambitious development project that will make GM’s Global Parts and Services Authoring System truly international. Deals like this — big, visible, and outside the early-adopting tech sector — could make the difference for Idiom.

Last week we met with new CEO Mike Iacobucci and founder Eric Silberstein. They forecast 2005 sales of US$10-15 million. Even the low end would be some kind of vindication for the patient VCs that have poured $41 million into Idiom. But those numbers obscure the point. As an ISV supporting global authoring and publishing, Idiom looks less like a general-purpose GMS supplier and more like SGML-to-XML Cinderella companies such as XyEnterprise or Empolis. With revenue to match that more realistic ambition, good positioning, and actual customers, Idiom could declare its own self-imposed departure from the island of misfit GMS software.