we eat our own dog food: three companies in the world of localization technology and how they...

We Eat Our Own Dog Food

Three Companies in the World of Localization Technologygy

and How They Conceived Their Products

Richard SikesRichard Sikeswww.locflowtech.com

The stars of our presentation are...p

The German translation vendor Eurotext had their own i t l ti b d S Bproprietary solution based on SuperBase.

This system was built internally, and was used for:

• Orders• InvoicesInvoices• Overdue Reminders• Employees / FreelancersEmployees / Freelancers

But it hit the proverbial brick wall in terms of scalabilityBut it hit the proverbial brick wall in terms of scalability...

Eurotext‘s owner, Peter Seltsam, sought another l ti th t ldsolution that would:

• Raise productivity so that in lean times (2001/2002)• Raise productivity so that, in lean times (2001/2002), the same amount of throughput (=revenue) could be achieved with fewer Project Managers.achieved with fewer Project Managers.

• Be accessable while Peter was on the road.

• Facilitate decentralization for the systemFacilitate decentralization for the system stakeholders– Peter

But there was thi il bl– Project Managers

– Customers

nothing available that satisfied these requirements!

– Freelance contributorsrequirements!

The functional requirements dictated certain hit t l d i iarchitectural decisions:

• More robust and scalable databaseMore robust and scalable database

• Standard‐independant

• Specific to translation/localization industrySpecific to translation/localization industry

Java / HTML front end sitting on SQL Server database

After some internal effort, Peter recognized two key factors:

• The magnitude was too great and the development too• The magnitude was too great and the development too expensive

• He needed programming specialists to create the solutionHe needed programming specialists to create the solution

Eurotext approached a nearby system house in Wü b d k tWürzburg, edvkonzepte...

...and the original BusinessManager software was i dconceived.

Th d t i t d f f i d l lThe product consisted of four main modules plus an administrative module:

• Customers

• Offers

• Jobs

• OfficeOffice

...and the original BusinessManager software was i dconceived.

But there were two huge „ah ha“ effects:But there were two huge „ah ha effects:

• A full implementation of all envisioned features pwas too expensive for Eurotext, and

• Because there was nothing like the envisioned concept available for purchase, the idea

d lrepresented a commercial opportunity.

So the company Plunet was born, with the mission of d l i d k ti th B i Mdeveloping and marketing the BusinessManager.

• Plunet is a fully independent, 3rd party, joint venturePlunet is a fully independent, 3rd party, joint venture between edvkonzepte and Eurotext

• Offices in Berlin and Würzburgg

• Implementations in 18 countries

• Plunet BusinessManager has been expanded intoPlunet BusinessManager has been expanded into versions and ...– Team

– Corporate

– Enterprise

... sophisticated workflow support has been added.p pp

Many new functional modules have been added, for l t d O tl k i t tiexample resource management and Outlook integration.

Interfaces to many other solutions have also been added.y

Today, Plunet BusinessManager enjoys an installed base of over 1000 users at translation vendors, large‐scale , gtranslation departments, and government agencies, etc.

But also still by Eurotext, edvkonzepte and, of course, Plunet itself.

Across Language Server is a big product with a big vision.g g g p g

• Serves the linguistic supply chain with an integrated work g pp y genvironment, including:– all functionalities relevant in the translation context

all parties involved in the translation process– all parties involved in the translation process– the upstream and downstream processes and corresponding

systems.

Th b li d i h l i l• The baseline product contains the complete essential functionality, including:– Authoring assistanceg– Translation memory– Project management

Workflow– Workflow


• The Across Language Server connects :– project managers,– Translators– Editors– In‐house resources– Outsourced resources

• Across considers the handling of linguistic contents as aAcross considers the handling of linguistic contents as a process that extends along the entire value chain and beyond company borders.

• Across supports seamlessly networked operations and• Across supports seamlessly networked operations and flexible task assignment to internal or external parties, if necessary over several delegation stages.

At nero, there was a very busy localization department., y y p

• nero is a leading software provider in the field ofnero is a leading software provider in the field of digital multimedia solutions for PCs, home electronics, and mobile devices.

• Around the globe, 240 million users work with Nero products.

• nero AG is headquartered in Germany with subsidiaries in California and Japan.

• nero is best known for CD/DVD burning software.

At nero, there was a very busy localization department., y y p

• In the late 90s, the ever‐growing, world‐wideIn the late 90s, the ever growing, world wide popularity of the nero utilities caused the localization department to run into scalability issues.

• nero searched for a platform on which to localize their products, but found none that satisfied their requirements.

• However . . .

... what they did find ‐ was a market opportunity!y pp y

And the rest is history!y

• In 2000, the entity that would become Across startedIn 2000, the entity that would become Across started developing its product from scratch.

• In 2003, they entered the German‐speaking arena as a , y p gtest market.

• Across was officially spun off from Nero AG in 2005 as y pAcross Systems GmbH.

• One year later, in 2006, Across launched international market development.

• In 2008, Across Systems, Inc. was incorporated in California.

Across is making big waves today.g g y

• Across now commands between 30 ‐ 40 percent of

• The installed base

the translation tools market in Europe.

includes more than 400 servers and more than 8 000more than 8,000 client installations.

Across is making big waves today.g g y

In 2008 alone, a multitude of large customers have chosen to switch to Across Language Server away fromchosen to switch to Across Language Server, away from the former market leader.

• Volkswagen Group

• Hypovereinsbank

• SMA Solar Technology

The Across Language Server touches every aspect of th li i ti l h ithe linguistic supply chain.

The Across development map emphasizes expansion.p p p p

• Open interfaces enable the seamless integration of p gcorresponding processes and the realization of customer‐specific workflows as well as standard solutions e.g. for:– direct data exchange with content‐centric systems like CMS– direct data exchange with content‐centric systems like CMS,

PIM or MDM software– translation‐oriented authoring while using the most common

source text editorssource text editors– integration of corresponding applications, such as rule‐based

quality assurance or statistical machine translation.

Th t i il bl i th f f ti l• The system is available in the form of a conventional purchased license or, alternatively, as a hosted service based on the ASP or SaaS model.

In 1990, a software provider for medical analysis t f d d i B Gsystems was founded in Bonn, Germany.

• Process Automation Software Systems EngineeringProcess Automation Software Systems Engineering

• Medical software is by definition international ysoftware.

• Clients encouraged PASS Engineering to look for ways to offer the localized software at reasonable prices.

Clients encouraged PASS to look for ways to offer the l li d ft t bl ilocalized software at reasonable prices.

• In the early 90s, software wasIn the early 90s, software was localized „by hand,“ with translators working directly in resource files.

• This was cumbersome, slow, and subject to human error.

One way to decrease price was to revamp the process.

PASS developed a tool that integrated localization di tl i t th ft d l tdirectly into the software development process.

• The PASS Software Localizer was born:The PASS Software Localizer was born:

M k t d i 1998• Marketed since 1998.

Resource files and code files are compiled to create an t blexecutable program.

CompilerResourceil

CodeilFiles Files

Code SegmentCode Segment

Resource Segment

Then translated resource files and code files are il d t t t l t d t blcompiled to create a translated executable program.

CompilerTranslated CodeilResource

FilesFiles


Resource Segment

This part introduces bugs through human error, i ffi i t t l t d ti d th i t kinsufficient translator education, and other mistakes.


FilesFiles


Resource Segment

So let‘s translate here, instead.,


FilesFiles

Code Segment

Translation of strings extracted

Code Segment

gdirectly from Resource Segment

Resource Segment

So let‘s translate here, instead.,

Compiler CodeilFiles

Code Segment

Translation of strings extracted

Code Segment

gdirectly from Resource Segment

Resource Segment

This also supports the advantages of „Visual Localization.“pp g „

So, where‘s the „Dog Food?“, „ g

Each newly compiled Passolo version calls itself recursively t t l t it lf i P l j t filto pretranslate itself using a Passolo project file.

CompilerNew NewC dResource

FilesCodeFiles

Code Segment

New Passolo Version

Resource SegmentPretranslated Passolo Version

TranslationRepository

WOW !!

Let‘s see how this worksLet s see how this works...

In case you have questions...y q

[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]

locflo tech comwww.locflowtech.com