Vital Path, which is known for its content integration solutions, has extended the capabilities of its flagship offering, PathBuilder, to include "in-place" records management and content virtualization. The company reports the new features allow organizations to continue to manage content at the line of business and departmental level while managing records at the enterprise level, thereby leveraging current IT investment and legacy systems.

Vital Path describes PathBuilder as an out-of-the-box content integration product, specifically for unstructured content, that helps companies integrate diverse content repositories by providing a gateway to the various ECM applications. The company adds that Vital Path’s PathBuilder enables organizations to expose content stored in other repositories to Open Text’s Livelink ECM – Records Management. Using bi-directional communications, PathBuilder enables federated activities in the enterprise, such as search, e-discovery and in-place records management.

Content virtualization (also referred to as short cuts, referencing or stubs) allows users in Open Text systems access to content in a different system, without leaving the "home" system. PathBuilder creates an icon in a convenient location in Livelink ECM that links to content in a remote repository. Once created, references look and feel like any other Livelink ECM content.