Presented by Richard Sikes at Documentation and Training East 2008 in Burlington, MA - October 29-November 1, 2008. Translation and Localization are intrinsically pragmatic endeavours. They also require a good deal of human effort that can be aided by technology. Numerous companies have developed solutions to help themselves, then realized that they were onto a good thing, so they have productized their proprietary solutions for more generalized usage. Well-known localization expert Richard Sikes will paint the background and evolution of three such stories, featuring products for visual software localization, translation workflow, and translation business management, and showing how they are used today. PASSOLO is a leading software technology for visual software localization. Used worldwide to create software products in many languages, PASSOLO is itself available in several languages. Pass Engineering, a wholly owned subsidiary of SDL International, has automated PASSOLO so as to use itself recursively to build alternate language versions. At Nero, the manufacturer of popular media creation software that is available in many languages, the localization management team sought, and failed to find, a workflow system to connect Nero

1. We Eat Our Own Dog Food
Three Companies in the
World of Localization Technology
gy
and
How They Conceived Their Products
Richard Sikes
Richard Sikes
www.locflowtech.com

2. The stars of our presentation are...
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4. The German translation vendor Eurotext had their own
proprietary solution based on SuperBase.
i t l ti b d S B
This system was built internally, and was used for:
• Orders
• Invoices
• Overdue Reminders
• Employees / Freelancers
Employees / Freelancers
But it hit the proverbial brick wall in terms of scalability...
But it hit the proverbial brick wall in terms of scalability

5. Eurotext‘s owner, Peter Seltsam, sought another
solution that would:
l ti th t ld
• Raise productivity so that in lean times (2001/2002)
Raise productivity so that, in lean times (2001/2002),
the same amount of throughput (=revenue) could be
achieved with fewer Project Managers.
achieved with fewer Project Managers.
• Be accessable while Peter was on the road.
• Facilitate decentralization for the system
Facilitate decentralization for the system
stakeholders
But there was
– Peter
nothing available
thi il bl
– Project Managers
that satisfied these
– Customers
requirements!
– Freelance contributors

6. The functional requirements dictated certain
architectural decisions:
hit t l d i i
• More robust and scalable database
More robust and scalable database
• Standard‐independant
• Specific to translation/localization industry
Specific to translation/localization industry
Java / HTML front end sitting on SQL Server database
After some internal effort, Peter recognized two key factors:
• The magnitude was too great and the development too
The magnitude was too great and the development too
expensive
• He needed programming specialists to create the solution
needed programming specialists to create the solution

7. Eurotext approached a nearby system house in
Würzburg, edvkonzepte...
Wü b d k t

8. ...and the original BusinessManager software was
conceived.
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Th d t i t d ff
The product consisted of four main modules plus an
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administrative module:
• Customers
• Offers
• Jobs
• Office

9. ...and the original BusinessManager software was
conceived.
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But there were two huge „ah ha effects:
But there were two huge „ah ha“ effects:
• A full implementation of all envisioned features
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was too expensive for Eurotext, and
• Because there was nothing like the envisioned
concept available for purchase, the idea
represented a commercial opportunity.
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10. So the company Plunet was born, with the mission of
developing and marketing the BusinessManager.
d l i d k ti th B i M
• Plunet is a fully independent, 3rd party, joint venture
Plunet is a fully independent, 3rd party, joint venture
between edvkonzepte and Eurotext
• Offices in Berlin and Würzburgg
• Implementations in 18 countries
• Plunet BusinessManager has been expanded into
Plunet BusinessManager has been expanded into
versions and ...
– Team
– Corporate
– Enterprise

11. ... sophisticated workflow support has been added.
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12. Many new functional modules have been added, for
example resource management and Outlook integration.
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13. Interfaces to many other solutions have also been added.
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14. Today, Plunet BusinessManager enjoys an installed base
of over 1000 users at translation vendors, large‐scale
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translation departments, and government agencies, etc.
But also still by Eurotext,
edvkonzepte and, of
course, Plunet itself.

16. Across Language Server is a big product with a big vision.
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• Serves the linguistic supply chain with an integrated work
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environment, including:
– all functionalities relevant in the translation context
– all parties involved in the translation process
all parties involved in the translation process
– the upstream and downstream processes and corresponding
systems.
• Th b li
The baseline product contains the complete essential
d i h l i l
functionality, including:
– Authoring assistance
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– Translation memory
– Project management
– Workflow

17. Across Language Server is a big product with a big vision.
g g gp g
• The Across Language Server connects :
– project managers,
– Translators
– Editors
– In‐house resources
– Outsourced resources
• Across considers the handling of linguistic contents as a
Across considers the handling of linguistic contents as a
process that extends along the entire value chain and
beyond company borders.
• Across supports seamlessly networked operations and
Across supports seamlessly networked operations and
flexible task assignment to internal or external parties, if
necessary over several delegation stages.

18. Across Language Server is a big product with a big vision.
g g gp g

21. At nero, there was a very busy localization department.
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• nero is a leading software provider in the field of
is a leading software provider in the field of
digital multimedia solutions for PCs, home
electronics, and mobile devices.
• Around the globe, 240 million users work with Nero
products.
• nero AG is headquartered in Germany with
subsidiaries in California and Japan.
• nero is best known for CD/DVD burning software.

22. At nero, there was a very busy localization department.
, y y p
• In the late 90s, the ever‐growing, world‐wide
In the late 90s, the ever growing, world wide
popularity of the nero utilities caused the localization
department to run into scalability issues.
• nero searched for a platform
on which to localize their
products, but found none that
satisfied their requirements.
• However . . .

23. ... what they did find ‐ was a market opportunity!
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24. And the rest is history!
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• In 2000, the entity that would become Across started
In 2000, the entity that would become Across started
developing its product from scratch.
• In 2003, they entered the German‐speaking arena as a
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test market.
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• Across was officially spun off from Nero AG in 2005 as
Across Systems GmbH.
• One year later, in 2006, Across launched international
market development.
• In 2008, Across Systems, Inc. was incorporated in
California.

25. Across is making big waves today.
g g y
• Across now commands between 30 ‐ 40 percent of
the translation tools market in Europe.
• The installed base
includes more than
400 servers and
more than 8,000
more than 8 000
client installations.

26. Across is making big waves today.
g g y
In 2008 alone, a multitude of large customers have
chosen to switch to Across Language Server away from
chosen to switch to Across Language Server, away from
the former market leader.
• Volkswagen Group
• Hypovereinsbank
• SMA Solar Technology

27. Across is making big waves today.
g g y
In 2008 alone, a multitude of large customers have
chosen to switch to Across Language Server away from
chosen to switch to Across Language Server, away from
the former market leader.
• Volkswagen Group
• Hypovereinsbank
• SMA Solar Technology

28. The Across Language Server touches every aspect of
the linguistic supply chain.
th li i ti l h i

29. The Across development map emphasizes expansion.
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• Open interfaces enable the seamless integration of
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corresponding processes and the realization of customer‐
specific workflows as well as standard solutions e.g. for:
– direct data exchange with content‐centric systems like CMS
direct data exchange with content‐centric systems like CMS,
PIM or MDM software
– translation‐oriented authoring while using the most common
source text editors
source text editors
– integration of corresponding applications, such as rule‐based
quality assurance or statistical machine translation.
• Th t i il bl i th f
The system is available in the form of a conventional
f ti l
purchased license or, alternatively, as a hosted service
based on the ASP or SaaS model.

32. In 1990, a software provider for medical analysis
systems was founded in Bonn, Germany.
t f d di B G
• Process Automation Software Systems Engineering
Process Automation Software Systems Engineering
• Medical software is by definition international
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software.
• Clients encouraged PASS Engineering to look for ways
to offer the localized software at reasonable prices.

33. Clients encouraged PASS to look for ways to offer the
localized software at reasonable prices.
l li d ft t bl i
• In the early 90s, software was
In the early 90s, software was
localized „by hand,“ with
translators working directly in
resource files.
• This was cumbersome, slow, and
subject to human error.
One way to decrease price was
to revamp the process.

34. PASS developed a tool that integrated localization
directly into the software development process.
di tl i t th ft d l t
• The PASS Software Localizer was born:
The PASS Software Localizer was born:
• M k t d i
Marketed since 1998.
1998

35. PASS developed a tool that integrated localization
directly into the software development process.
di tl i t th ft d l t
• The PASS Software Localizer was born:
The PASS Software Localizer was born:
• M k t d i
Marketed since 1998.
1998

36. Resource files and code files are compiled to create an
executable program.
t bl
Resource Compiler Code
Files
il Files
il
Code Segment
Code Segment
Resource Segment

37. Resource files and code files are compiled to create an
executable program.
t bl
Resource Compiler Code
Files
il Files
il
Code Segment
Code Segment
Resource Segment

38. Then translated resource files and code files are
compiled to create a translated executable program.
il d t t t l t d t bl
Translated Compiler Code
Resource Files
il
Files
Code Segment
Code Segment
Resource Segment

39. This part introduces bugs through human error,
insufficient translator education, and other mistakes.
i ffi i t t l t d ti d th it k
Translated Compiler Code
Resource Files
il
Files
Code Segment
Code Segment
Resource Segment

40. So let‘s translate here, instead.
,
Translated Compiler Code
Resource Files
il
Files
Code Segment
Code Segment
Translation of
g
strings extracted
directly from Resource Segment
Resource Segment

41. So let‘s translate here, instead.
,
Compiler Code
Files
il
Code Segment
Code Segment
Translation of
g
strings extracted
directly from Resource Segment
Resource Segment

42. This also supports the advantages of „Visual Localization.“
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43. So, where‘s the „Dog Food?“
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44. Each newly compiled Passolo version calls itself recursively
t t l t it lf i
to pretranslate itself using a Passolo project file.
P l j t fil
New Compiler New
Resource Code
C d
Files Files
New Passolo Version
Code Segment
Pretranslated Passolo Version
Resource Segment
Translation
Repository

45. WOW !!

46. Let s see how this works...
Let‘s see how this works

47. In case you have questions...
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richard.sikes@locflowtech.com
rsikes@across.net
richard@passolo.com
richard@localizationinstitute.com
www.locflowtech.com
locflo tech com