IBM Content Navigator (aka Nexus) released

Last week finally saw the release of the much anticipated Nexus, or to give it its formal name, IBM Content Navigator. Strangely enough, it bursts onto the scene as version 2. I guess version 1 just passed me by.  I’ve mentioned it in previous posts, and it’s worthwhile looking into, as in my view it’s quite a significant release. It will eventually end up replacing the Workplace/WorkplaceXT products, and is a much more viable application to unleash on FileNet end-users. Especially given its embrace of iPhones / iPads, which is an issue raised by more and more customers recently.

From the perspective of a business partner, it should become the de facto front-end, whereas in the past it’s always been a matter of debate among colleagues in choosing from: Workplace, WorkplaceXT, Business Space, BPF, and more recently IBM Case Manager. From a development perspective, adding extra functionality, and integrating with third party systems should be a lot easier now with the introduction of a plug-in architecture, and adoption of DoJo / Dijits.

It can now be downloaded from IBM PartnerWorld, with a part number of CI717ML for the Windows version. Although it supports IBM Content Manager and CMOD, to be frank I’m only really interested in using this against IBM FileNet P8. There is a separate set of Hardware/Software requirements; normally for FileNet software, these are all collated in one huge PDF file.

The Installation guide can be found in the FileNet P8 Infocenter, under the section for Installing Additional FileNet P8 products. It’s also available as a separate PDF document. I’ve finished installing Content Navigator, and have made a few notes – I’ll publish these on this link as soon as I get round to uploading them.

A few points that are worth mentioning:

• P8 Workflows are supported through the Process Engine. But you’ll have to patch up to 5.0.0 FP003.
• A database is required to store configuration data. The usual suspects (DB2/Oracle/MSSQL) are supported.
• All main Operating systems are supported: AIX, Linux, Windows.
• Content Navigator will only work with the two main application servers: WebSphere & Weblogic.
• As with the CE, and ICM, an Eclipse-derived configuration tool is supplied to ease deployment.
• A limited licence for IBM Content Analytics with Enterprise Search is also included.

Once you have it installed, there’s also a User Guide available to peruse.