After introducing its digital management software to the Japanese music industry two years ago, IBM is planning to offer the e-publishing industry a version of the system that it claims will provide flexible and secure protection for a wide variety of digital content.
Electronic Media Management System is a DRM infrastructure originally released in the Japanese music market for secure e-commerce and digital download of music files. Lesia Figueira, a spokesperson for IBM, told PW that digital management software has become a "de facto standard" in Japan. It is used by Toshiba, which has launched a portal for downloading digital music and by Sony, Liquid Audio Japan and other music distributors.
Figueira said the company is negotiating with U.S. book publishers to make use of EMMS and expects to make announcements about a number of publishing agreements in the near future. She explained that EMMS is an open architecture system that can be used to protect and distribute all forms of digital media. The modular system provides a full suite of digital management uses, including a secure digital player, e-commerce functions and a transaction and royalty clearinghouse, or a client can integrate one or more of those modules into its own e-publishing or digital distribution system.
The EMMS system wraps content in a "pervasive and constant tamper-resistant" container, said Wayne Forte, IBM director of global business development. The software offers browsing and superdistribution (the ability of consumers to easily share digital content) and is flexible in setting access restrictions.
