Oracle IRM already enables content to remain secure outside the firewall by encrypting sensitive documents, emails and other data; associating each with a set of policies; and providing a digital signature to defend against tampering and unauthorized viewing.

The easy-to-install IRM Desktop application then enforces these policies on end-user systems, integrating seamlessly with the Windows environment and critical business applications such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Reader.

Taking Oracle UCM Beyond the Repository
The next step is to integrate Oracle's IRM and Universal Content Management (UCM) offerings, which will allow full-text indexing and secure search of sealed documents, Martin Lambert, Oracle vice president of software development (IRM), told enthusiastic OpenWorld attendees.

"This planned integration represents a major watershed in Oracle's content management offerings by extending all our key tools—security, auditing, version management and records management, and compliance—beyond the firewall," he explained.

At the same time, the planned integration will avoid error-prone manual processes, preserve lots of useful content metadata, and automate content-intensive workflows.

Next, Oracle plans to move toward comprehensive policy integration, including full security, policy, audit, and retention rules. In this way, centralized policies would be in force inside and outside the firewall.

Oracle also plans to deliver IRM Web services. "Using easy-to-use SOAP/WSDL services should enable organizations to rapidly build IRM integrations on a services basis," Lambert explained.