For a long time i have been meaning to write about Newsgators Enterprise RSS platform, in fact Todd Berkowitz from their marketing department took me through a demo a couple of months back, but subsequently i was pulled into a lot of other things and this hit the back burner.

What is Newsgator Enterprise?
NGES is a server based RSS Aggregator which is located within the Firewall and allowing for central management of RSS functionality within the enterprise rather than going from machine to machine achieving the same (a benefit to the IT Dept). The product also comes with seamless integration to exchange & Active Directory and handles key enterprise issues like security scalability etc.

With this server installation the staff of the company can access the server from a host of existing interfaces or clients, not mandating the need for the user to access another client interface. The user can access the information from their outlook / mobile phone or just the intranet.

While Todd was talking me through the presentation one point that he made was that of ability to get it running in hours ....an enterprise wide system running in hours ...that would be nice to see.
First question that came to my mind is , so what is the benefit of NGES, well i among other people am a strong beleiver that RSS Aggregators are slowly becoming the heart / key tool in the information workers tool set, and most people couldn't do without it in the medium and long term , given this assumption can you assume how this will function, each user getting his / her own RSS reader installing it configuring it....and each one of them individually downloading the feeds...just imagine the network load. Also there a lot of syndicated content which is secure, so care must be taken to make sure the users credentials are right...required locking and blocking is in place, this would be IT Depts Nightmare. As i currently understand it NGES manages that seamlessly.

Recently the Newsgator team hosted up another case study of one of their clients - "Goodman and Carr LLP"

Goodman and Carr LLP has deployed NewsGator Enterprise Server (NGES) as the next-generation information dissemination platform for its employees. NewsGator provides Goodman and Carr with a more effective content delivery channel for internal and external information, enabling the firm's employees to more easily access important content from their Microsoft SharePoint® Portal. Goodman and Carr is a full-service business law firm with 110 lawyers in Toronto, serving a diversified roster of national and international clients.

Through its built-in integration with SharePoint, NGES enables Goodman and Carr to deliver RSS feeds from LexisNexis and other external news sources directly to practice teams and individual employees via SharePoint Web Parts. The centralized management of content has improved the productivity of the firm's attorneys, paralegals, clerks and other knowledge workers. In the near future, Goodman and Carr will give its teams the ability to collaborate through internal blogs and other social media tools and subscribe to that content through NGES.

"It is vital that our employees have immediate access to the latest research, news and information related to their current cases, clients, and legal and industry issues," said Elizabeth Ellis, partner and chief knowledge officer at Goodman and Carr LLP. "NewsGator Enterprise Server helps provide employees with relevant information in a timely manner and enables the firm to collaborate more effectively. It has provided us with a more efficient and automated process for the distribution of this information, resulting in a more productive work environment at Goodman and Carr."

Full case study here.

Prashanth Rai