Legal Technology Journal

Open Text last week stepped up to answer any questions hanging over the future of its LegalKEY and eDOCS product lines by announcing a new support and maintenance partnership and a ‘road map’ of its future plans.

In a measure that will be noted with interest by rivals and customers alike, the global enterprise and content management company has formed a partnership with The Frayman Group that will see the group provide all support and maintenance functions for LegalKEY.

Under the agreement it is also anticipated that the two companies will work together on developing new software in the future.

The move sees LegalKEY brought full circle, as the risk, compliance and conflicts support software was developed by The Frayman Group’s chief executive officer Yuri Frayman, before being acquired by Hummingbird in 2003. Hummingbird was taken over by Open Text in 2006.

The announcement will address lingering concerns that the Hummingbird product may be discontinued after this latest takeover.

The partnership agreement has seen seven members of Open Text’s staff, mostly developers, join or rejoin The Frayman Group. Robin Mohan, chief financial officer of The Frayman Group, said: “To be able to find people who have worked on every release of the product and understand how we think is invaluable and the key is not to lose that.”

As far as customers are concerned, Open Text will continue to be in charge of maintenance and support, it is only behind the scenes that the transfer of responsibility will be apparent.

Open Text senior vice president Alp Hug said: “LegalKEY customers will be better served as The Frayman Group will be able to provide more depth and expertise for law firms' practice support needs, as this is an area they specialize in.”

The two companies have yet to reveal their plans on the development side but Hug said: “We intend to collaborate with the idea to develop products with an understanding of the evolving needs of the market place.”

Elsewhere, Open Text has announced a road map of its future plans for eDOCS; formerly the Hummingbird Enterprise Suite. The road map sets out its vision for customer upgrades and how eDOCS will be integrated with the latest Microsoft releases, including Microsoft Office 14, due out in 2010.

Hug said: “"Open Text is committed to continuing to develop and support eDOCS.”