CMIS Transforming Power

CMIS stands for Content Management Interoperability Services. This is a new standard and the next big thing in content management. It has the potential of transforming the content management field in a way similar to how SQL transformed databases back in the times when Oracle was young and Ingres was still around.

The early drafts of CMIS documents explicitly excluded Web Content Management (WCM) from the list of use cases targeted by the standard. This position has changed since then, which is good, because here in the WCM world we are pretty darn excited about the new standard.

Here are just a few integration points in the WCM architecture where the new standard can be extremely useful.

A modern WCM system acts as a platform that can host 3rd party components. These components can be deployed on the management side where content is created, reviewed, laid out on a page, linked, etc. These components can also be deployed on the client side, where they are used as part of end user experience management.

Take video playback as an example. Videos must be managed on the management side with help of an admin plug-in. Videos must also be played back on the client side with help of a video player. Videos can be stored in the WCM systems. More often than not, however, they are stored in an external repository, such as Amazon S3.

CMIS is an ideal mechanism for connecting the admin UI to the management repository and the client side UI to the production repository. It is also a great protocol for integrating the WCM repository with repositories hosting external content, e.g. Amazon S3. Finally, CMIS is a great mechanism for syndicating content to widgets, portals, and such.

The benefit of CMIS is that components developed for one WCM platform may in the future be able to run with another WCM platform. As a result everyone wins. Component developers get a bigger market. WCM platforms get more components.

CMIS is nearing completion and will soon be submitted for public review. Do take a look and submit your feedback to the committee.