We Eat Our Own Dog Food: Three Companies in the World of Localization Technology and How They Conceived Their Products

We Eat Our Own Dog Food Three Companies in the World of Localization Technology gy and How They Conceived Their Products Richard Sikes Richard Sikes www.locflowtech.com

The stars of our presentation are... p

The German translation vendor Eurotext had their own proprietary solution based on SuperBase. i t l ti b d S B This system was built internally, and was used for: • Orders • Invoices • Overdue Reminders • Employees / Freelancers Employees / Freelancers But it hit the proverbial brick wall in terms of scalability... But it hit the proverbial brick wall in terms of scalability

Eurotext‘s owner, Peter Seltsam, sought another solution that would: l ti th t ld • 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 system Facilitate decentralization for the system stakeholders But there was – Peter nothing available thi il bl – Project Managers that satisfied these – Customers requirements! – Freelance contributors

The functional requirements dictated certain architectural decisions: hit t l d i i • More robust and scalable database More robust and scalable database • Standard‐independant • Specific to translation/localization industry Specific 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 solution needed programming specialists to create the solution

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

...and the original BusinessManager software was conceived. i d Th d t i t d ff The product consisted of four main modules plus an i d l l administrative module: • Customers • Offers • Jobs • Office

...and the original BusinessManager software was conceived. i d But there were two huge „ah ha effects: But there were two huge „ah ha“ effects: • A full implementation of all envisioned features p was too expensive for Eurotext, and • Because there was nothing like the envisioned concept available for purchase, the idea represented a commercial opportunity. d l

So the company Plunet was born, with the mission of developing and marketing the BusinessManager. d l i d k ti th B i M • Plunet is a fully independent, 3rd party, joint venture Plunet 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 into Plunet 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 example resource management and Outlook integration. l t d O tl k i t ti

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 , g translation 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 gp g • Serves the linguistic supply chain with an integrated work g pp y g environment, 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 The baseline product contains the complete essential d i h l i l functionality, including: – Authoring assistance g – Translation memory – Project management – Workflow

Across Language Server is a big product with a big vision. g g gp g • The Across Language Server connects : – project managers, – Translators – Editors – In‐house resources – Outsourced resources • Across considers the handling of linguistic contents as a Across 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.

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

At nero, there was a very busy localization department. , y y p • nero is a leading software provider in the field of 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‐wide In 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 started In 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 g test market. y p • Across was officially spun off from Nero AG in 2005 as Across 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 translation tools market in Europe. • The installed base includes more than 400 servers and more than 8,000 more 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 from chosen 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 the linguistic supply chain. th li i ti l h i

The Across development map emphasizes expansion. p p p p • Open interfaces enable the seamless integration of p g corresponding 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 editors source text editors – integration of corresponding applications, such as rule‐based quality assurance or statistical machine translation. • Th t i il bl i th f The system is available in the form of a conventional f ti l purchased license or, alternatively, as a hosted service based on the ASP or SaaS model.

In 1990, a software provider for medical analysis systems was founded in Bonn, Germany. t f d di B G • Process Automation Software Systems Engineering Process Automation Software Systems Engineering • Medical software is by definition international y software. • 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 localized software at reasonable prices. l li d ft t bl i • In the early 90s, software was In 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 directly into the software development process. di tl i t th ft d l t • The PASS Software Localizer was born: The PASS Software Localizer was born: • M k t d i Marketed since 1998. 1998

Resource files and code files are compiled to create an executable program. t bl Resource Compiler Code Files il Files il Code Segment Code Segment Resource Segment

Then translated resource files and code files are compiled to create a translated executable program. il d t t t l t d t bl Translated Compiler Code Resource Files il Files Code Segment Code Segment Resource Segment

This part introduces bugs through human error, insufficient translator education, and other mistakes. i ffi i t t l t d ti d th it k Translated Compiler Code Resource Files il Files Code Segment Code Segment Resource Segment

So let‘s translate here, instead. , Translated Compiler Code Resource Files il Files Code Segment Code Segment Translation of g strings extracted directly from Resource Segment Resource Segment

So let‘s translate here, instead. , Compiler Code Files il Code Segment Code Segment Translation of g strings extracted directly 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 to pretranslate itself using a Passolo project file. P l j t fil New Compiler New Resource Code C d Files Files New Passolo Version Code Segment Pretranslated Passolo Version Resource Segment Translation Repository

WOW !!

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

In case you have questions... y q richard.sikes@locflowtech.com rsikes@across.net richard@passolo.com richard@localizationinstitute.com www.locflowtech.com locflo tech com

We Eat Our Own Dog Food: Three Companies in the World of Localization Technology and How They Conceived Their Products

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