Email trails lead to DRM

Specialty players
Aside from the big guys, enterprise DRM has a handful of specialty players whose products typically work with most common document formats -- from email messages to AutoCAD architectural drawings.

Variables include how a system deals with workers when they don't have Internet access. Microsoft's RMS requires at least an initial check-in with the rights server, while products such as Liquid Machines' self-titled server software allow document creators to set offline permissions.

"We find most people want to raise their level of security, but they don't want to make it difficult for people to do their jobs in a mobile work force," said Ed Gaudet, vice president of product strategy and marketing for Liquid Machines.

Competing products also differ in how much you can do with a document once it leaves the author's desktop. Authentica promises some of the most detailed control, allowing authors to change permissions for a document while somebody else is using it.

"We give very granular control," said Authentica chief executive John Bruce. "I can watch on my desktop and see how someone is interacting with a document once they get it. And if I decide I don't like what they're doing, I can change the settings then and there."

Another variable in enterprise DRM products is policy settings that IT administrators can employ to ensure a basic level of security for all documents. Policies are important to ensure that enterprise DRM doesn't get in the way of workers doing their jobs, said George Everhardt, chief executive of Sealed Media. At the same time, detailed controls need to be available to workers who want to get more involved. The key is finding the right balance for a particular business.

"Our fundamental premise is that there is no magic technology button you press and then everything's secure," Everhart said. "Any good security process involves people. The process has to be easy to use and totally secure. If it's intrusive, workers will figure a way to get around it. If it's too easy, the bad guys will figure out ways to get around it."

Everhart and executives of other enterprise DRM specialists said they aren't worried about major players such as Microsoft and Adobe entering the market. Instead, they see the moves as bolstering their position with potential customers who don't want to be restricted to working with particular types of documents or authoring applications.

"It's been like a validation," said Authentica's Bruce. "For the longest time, I've talked to folks about DRM and they keep asking, 'is there a business there?' Now we've got two major vendors standing alongside us and saying, 'this is important.' It's nice to find the world is turning in our direction."

Attention from Adobe and Microsoft helps, agreed Mark Patton, Sealed Media's vice president of marketing. So does support from content management software makers such as market leader Documentum, a Sealed Media partner. But the biggest incentive may be the type of incidents that have caused embarrassment and legal headaches for Microsoft and others.

"All it takes is for a chief executive to get burned one time on a leaked document, and their interest level in this kind of technology goes way up," Patton said.