IDC names 1998 document management market leaders

Documentum, FileNet and Open Text led the document management market in 1998, with PC DOCS positioning itself for a comeback, according to new IDC research.

With revenues of $82.3 million, Documentum is declared the winner in the battle for the electronic document management (EDM) market with revenues of $82.3 million. Despite internal troubles PC DOCS trails in second place with $76.23 million, followed by FileNet ($66.1 million) and Open Text ($40.8 million).

Notably absent is Microsoft, which has no presence in the market outside of partners like Eastman Software, Keyfile and FileNet who build on top of Microsoft products. IDC warns that Microsoft's window of opportunity in the enterprise portion of the market will continue to shrink as Open Text and Lotus strengthen their foothold.

Driving the market in 1998 were a renewed focus on international business and channel development, and development of intranet-based tools, according to Amie White, senior analyst of IDC's Document, Image and Workflow Management research service.

White predicts that "the convergence of document technologies into fully integrated product suites will be standard by the turn of the century.