By Nick Patience
Mirror Worlds Technologies Inc is a company that appears to be taking the concept of document management over the web a bit further than most. Instead of just handling documents, the New Haven, Connecticut-based start-up reckons it can handle all kinds of data: documents, emails, faxes, news feeds, audio, video and represent it in an easy-to-use browser interface. Its topSight Office product is a Java server that supplies the interface, written in Dynamic HTML enabling users to view documents, email, video, whatever, based on time, content or other metrics rather than on the name of the document or where it is stored. Like many ISVs it has abandoned the notion of Java interface, said by users to be too slow, cumbersome and memory-intensive. Mirror Worlds calls these feeds to the desktops ‘streams’ after its Lifestreams core technology, which was invented by co-founder and CTO Eric Freeman. It orders the documents and other data chronologically and represents them within the browser in what co-founder and CEO Scott Fertig calls a two-and-a-half dimensional interface. Documents, emails, and other objects are stacked, stretching from the oldest in the background to the newest up close. It does not require names for the documents and instead does full content indexing on each one so they can be found based on their content. For instance, email messages are exploded and all their contents, including attachments are indexed. Once indexed, the documents are represented as thumbnail images, which is the only part that requires a Windows-based system to view. This is definitely not push technology, says Fertig, referring to the technology used by the likes of PointCast, which was once flavor of the month and is now a dirty word. Push, he says, does not enable users to perform ad hoc queries against the data fed to the desktop. Unlike most document management systems, this one is aimed at small office environments, rather than 5,000-seat enterprises, so the company does not see itself competing against the likes of IntraNet Solutions Inc. The software is still in alpha right now, and the company hopes to have a demo on its website by Christmas and out with a wider range of testers early next year. At present the main licensee is Fisher Broadcasting Inc’s Komo TV and commercial real estate units. It is interested in acting both as a distributor to its real estate clients and also using it to deliver news feeds and other content to offices, probably via digital set-top boxes attached to a PC network. However, the trial is still in the pilot stage and Fisher hasn’t made up its mind about its final strategy. Mirror Worlds has also met with Time Warner Inc’s RoadRunner cable unit (the chairman of Mirror World’s advisory board, David Fellows, is acting CTO at RoadRunner) and plans to do likewise with other online service providers to deliver a Lifestreams-like interface to users. Fertig says the company has no plans to offer it as an out-and-out internet application because it is better suited to broadband internet access rather than dial-up. The company has drawn up specs for standalone client versions of TopSight Office, but believes it is more likely to partner with a printer or other device manufacturer to get that distributed. Mirror Worlds is also in talks with disk drive manufacturers, so Lifestreams could provide an interface for disk drives and other peripherals on a Jini-enabled network, for instance, perhaps using the Sun Microsystems Inc distributed Java object and agent technology. Fertig says Lifestreams could be the basis for the storage interface for Jini, but no tie-ins with Sun are on the horizon yet. Bringing all types of content together in web-based interface sounds to us like a portal. Fertig agrees, but said the company thought about approaching the likes of Yahoo! Inc and Excite Inc, but figured it was still too small to get noticed. However, getting a deal with a high-profile web site is at the heart of the company’s business plan, as are further licensing deals and a possible link-up with VARs should it choose to complete a standalone version of topSight. The company is also readying a version of Lifestreams for web publishers called Dynasite as a way to organize the layouts of web sites. Its major investor is printer manufacturer Ricoh Corp, which is soon expected to go public with its plan to support the technology. Another backer is Abacus Ventures, and the remaining money comes from anonymous investors. Mirror Worlds raised seed money almost a year ago of between $500,000 and $1m. It is about to start looking for its first round of venture capital and hopes to have that closed by March. It’s scooped up $350,000 in deal money before the product has been made generally available. It has up to ten staff and readily admits that if gets its marketing message right first time round it would be lucky. The company is shipping more servers, which run on Windows NT and Solaris, to testers today. http://www.mirrorworlds.com
