Alfresco product page for Digital Asset Management missing?

[andrew_ho]

We've been doing some casual research on Digital Asset Management and had flagged Alfresco as a possible platform (since we are already actively considering it for our document management).  Alfresco used to have a whole section on the website under the Products section for Digital Asset Management at http://www.alfresco.com/products/digital-asset-management.  This link was definitely working at the end of March.  However, now, this link no longer works and there is no separate section for DAM under Products.  Does this mean I should no longer be considering Alfresco for DAM?

[afaust]

Hello,

as far as I am aware, Alfresco very much still supports digital asset management. There is a significant amount of customers out there that have specifically chosen Alfresco for their digital asset solutions (e.g. <a href="http://www.alfresco.com/customers/new-york-philharmonic">the New York Philharmonic</a>). Most product features that traditionally make up DAM are part of the core of Alfresco and can't be removed without significantly breaking other use cases (i.e. collaboration).

The reason why this page is no longer available is probably related to a consistent rebranding of the product line in April following this years acquisition of WeWebU for its Workdesk application and the change in pricing policy for its hybrid cloud solution. Unfortunately, this resulted in the loss of a page dedicated to DAM. It is now subsumed by <a href="http://www.alfresco.com/products/one">Alfresco One</a> (technically, it has always been a part of the core Alfresco product).

You should definitely still consider Alfresco for DAM. If there are any questions, I'd suggest contacting an Alfresco sales representative of your country for further inquiries (and official answers / statements).

Regards
Axel

[resplin]

Thank you for bringing the missing page to our attention.

The Alfresco product still has the same support for digital asset management that it always had: image transformations, metadata extraction, custom metadata, and workflow. Because we also offer capabilities around cloud sync, case management, records management, and mobile, managing digital assets in Alfresco also provides innovative workflows that include collaboration with outside agencies, manual indexing, and mobile access. In 4.2 we have added new DAM-oriented features to the document library such as a bigger preview, gallery view, and filmstrip view. There are partner solutions and add-ons that further enhance Alfresco for a DAM use case.

You can read more about the new features in 4.2 here:

http://blogs.alfresco.com/wp/new-alfresco-community-features/

http://blogs.alfresco.com/wp/kevinr/2013/08/22/alfresco-community-4-2-d/

Axel is correct that the page was dropped as part of our recent re-branding. We want to emphasize that digital asset management is a capability in Alfresco, and not a separate product. Therefore we added a section to the Alfresco One product page to explain this: http://www.alfresco.com/products/one#dam

We added a re-direct so that the link you mentioned resolves.

Our team is excited about the new DAM-oriented features they are working on for future releases of Alfresco. The lead engineer for digital Asset Management was concerned this forum post was ranking so highly in Google with a title that suggested we are not doing anything in this area, so I hope you don't mind me clarifying it.

Cheers,

Richard

[andrew_ho]

Thanks Richard!  Your explanation and the links to the new features in 4.2 are very helpful.  Also, I'm really glad you guys added the section into the Alfresco One product page.

[nicolasraoul]

Richard, the new link http://www.alfresco.com/products/one#dam is now broken too.

As before, the front page of Google seems to be shouting "Alfresco does not support DAM anymore", just have a look.

Cheers!
Nicolas Raoul
http://CmisSync.com

[mrogers]

I think someone in docs/management or marketing has "reworded" the alfresco one stuff it to make it relevant to the real world not realising that DAM may be a loaded technical term.    But like "WCM" and "ECM" itself the term "DAM" is vague and un-clearly defined.     

And DAM is and always has been a core capability of alfresco, not something that is bolted on or could be removed.     I could argue that alfresco is a DAM system with some ECM capabilities.   However in the real world that would be a waste of time,  just as "ECM" leaves customers cold so does the vague term "DAM".   I sort of agree with what was done with the web page so what's the solution.

I also agree that there's a problem.  I quickly found some nonsense about alfresco not supporting DAM using google.  
FWIW I didn't think the old web page about DAM worked either.