XTM International

History

XTM International was founded in 2002 after a need for high quality translation using technology was spotted by the founders. The company established software development offices in Poznań, Poland.

The first version of the software was used in DocZone as an additional plug-in to their SaaS solution. In 2007, the program expanded to include features that allowed the processing of general purpose electronic documents. XTM International launched XTM Cloud in 2010, one of the first major developments to take translation management systems into cloud technology.

In 2012, it was announced that the company had won the LT-Innovate Award for its translation technology, XTM. At the event, Andrzej Zydron spoke about the potential of language translation and translation memory. During the interview, he stated that XTM International was not only working on more sophisticated translation memory systems, but also the development of TIPP (Translation Interchange Protocol Packages) to facilitate exchanging data with other systems. The company also went on to produce a number of training videos for the Globalization and Localization Association, GALA onDemand.

XTM International released a new version of XTM in 2013, which it called Version 8.0. It was announced that the system would come with an upgraded computer aided translation (CAT) tool and translation management system (TMS). During the same year, it was announced that XTM International would be part of a pan-European consortium, Falcon. The group of European language technology developers and their academic partners, secured a grant of €1.5 million from the European Commission. The consortium was created in order to form closer ties, make Europe a more multilingual society and make business easier between neighboring nations. In late 2014, MultiLingual magazine reported on the developments of translating XML the recommended approach by XTM International which involves the use of the open standard xtm:tm.

Safaba and XTM International announced that from 2015 onwards, their translation systems would work in conjunction with each other. Safaba announced that they would be using the XTM Cloud system as part of their EMT Global 4.0 platform. XTM's common use within the translation industry, means that it is often taught within many educational institutes, such as the University College London. XTM International has also become a key player in 2015 in the field of machine translation and the development of the translation technology.

Mechanics

XTM facilitates the translation of documents by aiding project management, and utilizing translation memory, terminology and machine translation. It is able to process most common file formats by converting them into XML before applying the translation memory and terminology and then reforming the target file once the translation is complete. The translation and review is performed online or offline in an environment with an array of tools to speed processing and ensure high quality. XTM is available as two different licensing models - a traditional software licence, known as XTM Suite or as a SaaS solution via an online subscription called XTM Cloud.

In November 2013, the company announced that Version 8.0 of the system would be released. The additional features of the new version included improved project management tools, offline translation and cost approval, along with customized workflows. The accuracy of cost estimates improved in Version 8.0, with the introduction of vendor rate cards. The rate cards automatically calculate the cost and margins of the project taking into account the translation memory matches.

The software received a rating of 4.1/5 on ProZ.com.

Architecture

The XTM software is available as a cloud based SaaS offering, as well as a private managed Cloud solution or an on premises solution known as XTM Suite. There is only one version of the software which is available in the guises mentioned.

XTM is implemented in Java and Javascript. It uses an abstraction layer for the database and supports the following database systems:

1. PostgreSQL
2. Oracle
3. Microsoft SQL Server

It can run on Linux, HP UX, Solaris and Windows Server 2008+

Open Standard support is a key component of the design of XTM. The Web Services-based SOA architecture allows for infinite scalability with no size restrictions on input data, size of project or database records.

Open Standards

XTM implements the following Localization Industry Open Standards:

1. ETSI/LIS GMX-V
2. LISA OSCAR xml:tm
3. LISA OSCAR TBX
4. LISA OSCAR SRX
5. W3C Internationalization Tag Set
6. OASIS XLIFF
7. OASIS OAXAL
8. Unicode TR29
9. Interoperability Now! TIPP and XLIFF:doc