Report Vendor Profile

<< Back to Vendors


  All profile information has been provided by the vendors themselves and they are responsible for both its accuracy and validity.

Widen Enterprises, Inc.
http://www.widen.com

Profile Index

    The DAM Playbook

    This vendor appears in the in the DAM Playbook.

    DAM 10 Core Accreditation

    This vendor is 10 Core accredited.

    Vendor Details

    Contact Name
    Jake Athey
    Company Profile
    Widen provides digital media solutions for marketing,creative and IT professionals. From digital asset management software topremedia services, Widen provides an easy way to store, search, and share yourdigital assets, empowering you to focus on the work you do best.

    Contact Telephone
    800-444-2828
    Contact Email
    marketing@widen.com
    Company Website
    http://www.widen.com
    Years Trading
    67
    Office Locations
    • Madison, Wisconsin
    Product Name
    Widen Media Collective
    Latest Version Number
    8.2
    Date Of Last Release
    08/01/2015
    Documentation URL
    http://support.widencollective.com
    User group URL
    http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4119720&mostPopular=&trk=tyah
    Online trial link
    http://www.widen.com/demos/
    Trial download or sandbox link
    http://www.widen.com/demos/
    Company RSS Feed URL
    http://feeds.feedburner.com/DigitalAssetManagementBlogWiden-DigitalAssetManagement
    Company LinkedIn URL
    http://www.linkedin.com/company/86514?trk=tyah
    Company Facebook URL
    https://www.facebook.com/Widen
    Clients & Customers
    • Kohler Co.
    • Pentair
    • Guthy Renker
    • Coty
    • LG
    • Motorola Solutions
    • Cornell University
    • Adidas
    • Solo Cup
    • Sub-Zero / Wolf
    • Woolrich
    • Trek
    • Wisconsin Department of Tourism
    • New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation
    • Siemens
    • Kerry
    • Seaworld Parks & Entertainment
    • Life Fitness
    • La-Z-Boy
    • HON
    • Allsteel
    • Tyco
    • Electrolux
    • Arla
    Partner Network
    If the vendor operates through a sales channel they may use intermediaries who have regional focus or additional specialisms in a given vertical market.
    • No
    Partner Network Notes
    Widen Technology Partners:
    Software and service companies that build solutions complementary to, or used by, Widen. Our Technology Partners include project management, creative workflow, marketing automation services and security vendors.

    Widen Consulting Partners:
    Professional services firms that help customers of all sizes who need digital asset management services. Consulting Partners include IT consultants, digital archivists, change management consultants, strategic consultan

    Licensing

    Licensing Model
    This refers to the type of licence the DAM system software is supplied under. Proprietary means that the developer restricts access to the source code (the instructions used to generate the software). Open source means that the developer provides full access to the code so you can modify it yourself. Split model is hybrid and means they may offer both options with some restrictions removed (or added) depending on the model chosen. If split is selected, it is advisable to verify the differences with the vendor.
    • Proprietary
    Licence Notes
    One time implementation and monthly or annual subscription. Amount based on number of users, amount of storage and optional features. No long term contracts required, no departure penalty. All customer assets and metadata is returned.

    Use of Open Source Components
    Many DAM systems use freely available open source components to deliver key functionality. The products themselves may not be open source, however. This question will help to identify to what extent they are open source.
    • Some open source components used, but core product is not open source
    Open Source Component Usage Notes
    See technologies used: https://marketing.widencollective.com/about/

    Hosting

    Software Delivery Methods
    • Cloud/SaaS

    Technology

    Client
    Client refers to the type of hardware or software device that can be used to access or control the DAM system.
    • Web client
    • iOS mobile app
    • Android mobile app
    Server Operating Systems supported
    This only applies for installed or hybrid DAM systems and refers to what types of OS they can be run on. This question is less relevant for DAM systems where a third party will be hosting it for you.
    • Not applicable
    Server Operating System Notes
    Running on Linux in Amazon Web Services

    Web Server
    The type of web server software that the DAM system can operate with. Not all DAM systems use a web server and for pure SaaS products the question is irrelevant. If you either want SaaS or non-web DAM systems, do not choose an option.
    • Apache
    • Tomcat
    Software Development Technologies Used
    This means the programming language or development technology used to implement the DAM system. This question is more important for open source software or if you have IT policy restrictions that require you to use (or not use) some technologies. It may not be relevant if you require a hosted DAM and never intend to host the system in-house.
    • Java/J2EE
    Database Technology
    The Database that the DAM system uses. All DAM systems require some kind of storage for asset metadata and they are usually based on an existing technology - but that may not always be a conventional database. If the DAM will be hosted by someone else (e.g. SaaS/Cloud) this question may not be relevant.
    • MySQL
    Search Technologies
    This refers to third party search components that the vendor uses to provide the text search features (and sometimes other related search functions).
    • Lucene
    Search Technologies Notes
    Hibernate Search is used in conjunction with Lucene.

    Service Oriented Architecture
    Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) means the vendor's product uses a modular architecture where each core DAM function is delivered as a service which can be separated out independently from other functions. It is important for large-scale Digital Asset Management implementations or more complex integration requirements.
    • Yes
    Unique SOA Services
    If the vendor uses a Service Oriented Architecture, they should be able to identify a number of unique services that are isolated from each other. Note there is overlap between with question and the one about scalable asset processing. Some vendors do not have an SOA but do offer large scale asset processing capabilities.
    • Storage
    • Asset Media Processing

    Search

    Search Features
    This describes the search strategies that can be used to find assets. If you do not understand any of them, leave the options de-selected. Most DAM systems should support at least keyword search at a minimum.
    • Keyword
    • Folders
    • Filters
    • Faceted Search
    Search Notes
    Advanced search and the ability to quick search using fields and operators are available.

    Index/Search Text Content Of Documents
    Some DAM systems can search the text content of document assets and that might be important for your DAM solution.
    • Yes
    Document Text Indexing Notes
    PDF, MS Office files are supported for text indexing and search.

    Metadata

    Embedded metadata support (reading)
    Embedded metadata refers to information stored within asset files which can be searched from the DAM system. There are different standards for this type of metadata. Some image cataloguing software like Adobe Lightroom will write this data to asset files and a device like a camera may capture details also such as GPRS coordinates where an photo was shot. XMP metadata is often used with other types of files such as InDesign or PDF. If you are unsure whether this applied to you, do not check any options.
    • IPTC
    • IPTC Core
    • XMP
    • EXIF
    • Dublin Core
    Embedded metadata support (writing)
    See the reading question above for more details on what embedded metadata is. This question refers to whether embedded metadata can be written back to files if edited within the DAM system.
    • IPTC
    • IPTC Core
    • XMP
    • EXIF
    • Dublin Core
    Controlled Vocabularies
    Controlled Vocabularies are predefined lists of search terms. They can be realised in many different ways but the common factor is the user picks from a restricted selection rather than enters a keyword. Most DAM systems will usually support both controlled vocabularies and keywords.
    • Yes
    User Defined Metadata Fields
    The ability to configure metadata your own metadata fields is important for DAM systems so you can assign a dedicated field for certain items of information rather than using a generic classification method or one of the vendor's own standard fields.
    • Yes
    Cataloguing Interface Options
    When cataloguing assets with custom fields, some metadata will be controlled selections, others will be free text. There are further choices like date fields, file attachments etc.
    • Text field
    • Text area (narrative)
    • Radio
    • Checkbox
    • Date
    • File attachment
    • Numbers
    • Other

    Business Intelligence & Reporting

    Asset Usage Records
    To enable reports to be generated, DAM solutions must retain records of asset usage, including searching, download and editing of records. The reporting should include the user who carried out the activity and the date/time it occurred.
    • Yes
    Asset Usage Notes
    We track the number of downloads for each asset by format.

    Audit Trail
    A detailed audit trail that logs every user action in a central record is useful to gain insight into user behaviour. Comprehensive audit trails allow DAM system users to produce reports that address their unique needs.
    • Yes
    Audit Trail Notes
    We track all changes to assets and retain the history of changes in other areas.

    Built-In Reports
    A range of built-in reports that you can quickly generate is useful to answer common questions such as the "what is our most popular asset?".
    • Most popular assets by download
    • Most active users by uploads
    • Most active users by downloads
    • Download activity over a given period
    • Login activity over a given period
    • Popular search terms

    Asset Processing

    Dedicated/Scalable Proxy or Derivative Asset Generation
    Nearly all DAM systems will generate thumbnails and previews of media, including more dynamic types like video or audio. Some products use a separate server to do this which usually makes them more suitable for large scale asset ingestion and processing.
    • Yes
    Dedicated/Scalable Proxy or Derivative Asset Generation Notes
    We run processors within the Amazon Cloud to process uploads and conversions.

    Multi-Page Document Asset Previews
    If you deal with document oriented assets, having a solution which can generate multi-page previews (and also zoom in on them) can save the hassle of downloading a file only to discover it is not the one you need. For assets with very similar content, this can be a useful feature.
    • Yes
    Multi-Page Document Asset Preview Notes
    We utilize Crocodoc to preview multi-page documents with HTML5.

    Asset Manipulation

    Image Manipulation
    Many DAM systems allow users to manipulate images by resizing, cropping etc. Choose any features which are important to your users.
    • Image re-sizing
    • Image cropping
    • Format conversion
    • Change colorspace
    • Batch manipulate groups of assets
    Video Manipulation
    Some DAM systems may allow video assets to be converted or modified. If that is a potential requirement for you, specify those features which are likely to be needed. EDL = Edit Decision List and refers to providing in/out points when editing video footage.
    • Format conversion
    • EDLs and editing features
    • Batch operations on multiple video assets
    Video Manipulation Notes
    Video transcoding and clipping available.

    Integration

    API
    API means Application Programming Interface and allows third party software to control a DAM system. If you intend to integrate your DAM with another existing solution then you need to choose the API protocol that is compatible with that.
    • REST
    API Notes
    See: http://www.widen.com/api

    Storage Integration
    Many DAM solutions will now allow assets to be stored on the server of Cloud storage providers. This allows asset files to be distributed and/or integrated with other solutions. Some third party services use generic protocols like FTP, others are proprietary.
    • Amazon S3
    • Amazon Glacier
    • Box
    • Dropbox

    Scripting & Plug-Ins

    Scripting Capabilities
    Some advanced DAM solutions have a scripting capability that allows users or third parties to add functionality which the vendor did not originally envisage. Usually programming skills will be required to use this, but some tools have visual interfaces also.
    • No
    Plug-In Support
    In addition to scripting (or sometimes instead of), some DAM solutions will have a plug-in architecture that allows third party developers to extend the core platform.
    • Yes

    Authentication

    Authentication Support
    If you need to integrate with an existing corporate authentication service then this option will be important for you.
    • Active Directory
    • LDAP
    • SAML

    Multi-Lingual Options

    Multilingual Application Interface Support
    The interface means the controls to use the DAM system. This is different from the metadata support which is usually entered by end users when cataloguing assets.
    • English
    Multilingual Metadata Support
    See previous question. Most DAM systems with multi-lingual support will provide it for metadata.
    • Yes
    Multilingual Support Notes
    Romance (Latin) languages only

    Version Control

    File versioning
    File versioning refers to the digital media associated with an asset record. This is usually the minimum requirement for a DAM system to claim support for versioning assets. See also responses to the related question about metadata versioning below.
    • Yes
    Metadata versioning
    Metadata versioning is separate from the files associated with assets. Many DAM solutions will track updated digital assets but only retain a single current version of the metadata. Since metadata is likely to be edited many more times than assets get replaced, this can be an important point to check.
    • Yes
    Independent Metadata And File Versioning
    This questions assesses whether the solution allows versions of either the file or metadata to be reverted independently or if both are linked to a single shared version instance.
    • Yes
      •
    Top

    << Back to Vendors



      All profile information has been provided by the vendors themselves and they are responsible for both its accuracy and validity.