CFDJ: There are many open-source content management systems to be found on the Web. How do you differentiate yourself from these products?

Tattersall: I have to say that we don’t categorize our products as pure content management solutions, although content management is a part of what we’re about. Our main focus is in developing technologies for unifying, managing and distributing information and knowledge – in context. This focus has resulted in two innovative and unique products, Tornado Knowledge Navigator and Tornado Business Center.

At the center of these products lies a unique, core technology, known as Vortex, which is designed to unify different information sources into a "Virtual Object Repository." Vortex delivers unprecedented performance and ensures that differing user requirements are optimally fulfilled through the use of dynamic navigation views that can be easily tailored to each piece and player of the extended enterprise. We believe that this functionality differentiates us from the other Content/Information Management on the market.

CFDJ: It appears as if the two of you are from the UK, yet you are leading a German company? How did this come about?

Tattersall: Both Darren Pywell and I (two managing partners) grew up and studied in the UK. After graduating we both coincidentally decided to take some time working in Germany, where we both settled down and started families. We met when our careers crossed whilst we were working for Hewlett-Packard in the early 90’s. I left HP in 1993 and formed my own company and in 1995 Darren also left HP to join me. In 1998 we formed Intergral in order to follow our vision.

CFDJ: And how do the German market needs compare to those in the rest of Europe, and to North America?

Tattersall: Germany is Europe’s largest market and the world’s third largest economy after the United States and Japan. Internet and E-commerce usage have dramatically increased in the last two years with the wide penetration of broadband internet access built up on Germanys well developed technological infrastructure. The Internet is a familiar tool for around 50 million German private and business users.

In terms of market needs for our core solutions, we believe the needs in Germany and the rest of Europe are very similar to those in the US. Information as a global commodity is still growing exponentially. The general market needs of consolidating distributed content sources into a single virtual repository is very apparent in our target markets groups of large and upper mid size enterprises irrespective of where those companies are geographically located.

CFDJ: What's happening right now in the IT industry? By this I mean to say are we undergoing some sort of sea change. Are companies like Google and Yahoo demonstrating that all business must now be conducted on the Web? And how are things such as the open-source movement, and the acronym-rich app development world of things like SOA, AJAX, PHP affecting IT management?

Tattersall: We believe the IT industry is really undergoing a significant transformation – on the application front, we’re moving away from the bulky Enterprise applications, towards slim, rich internet applications which have a focus on providing data and services, e.g. Software as a Service (SaaS) or On Demand Software. We also see this reflected in the financial aspect. Nowadays, customers are more reluctant to spend money on expensive software and are looking for the cheap solution, which provides 80% of what they really need.