At ThoughtMatrix, we work with numerous different Content Management Platforms, and Adobe CQ5 has some unique differentiators, however everything comes with challenges and drawbacks in the world of Enterprise software. What follows is a high-level overview and some insights from our work with CQ5.

1. Adobe CQ5 and You
November 2011
Presented by Tom Motley
Adobe CQ5 Practice Lead
ThoughtMatrix
immersive digital experiences
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2. Overview
In July of 2010 Adobe acquired Day Software as part of their strategy to deliver a full
suite of Enterprise Web solutions. Combined with their acquisition of Omniture, Adobe
has assembled all the components to deliver a world-class stack for businesses that
want to maximize the value of their customer interactions across all digital touchpoints
At ThoughtMatrix, we work with numerous different Content Management Platforms,
and Adobe has some unique differentiators, however everything comes with challenges
and drawbacks in the world of Enterprise software.
What follows is a high-level overview and some insights from our work with CQ5. If you
want to learn more, please contact us at:
cms@thought-matrix.com or
http://thought-matrix.com/contact/
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3. What CQ5 Is
 It is a full-service Enterprise Java WCMS with easy-to-use authoring tool (in same
category as Vignette, Fatwire, SDL Tridion).
 It is built to Java CMS open standards and built to scale.
 It has deep integration with Adobe Livecycle tools which creates an end-to-end
customer engagement suite
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4. What CQ5 Isn’t
 It’s not a lightweight CMS.
 CQ5 is designed for authoring geographically dispersed websites and/or sites
that need to scale to 10,000s of users.
 Don’t use it when a WordPress site would do (or Magnolia CMS if you want
Java/JCR)
 The current brand position is still evolving and can be confusing
 What is the actual name and exactly how does it fit in to the Adobe
stack…WEM? ADEP? CQ5? WTH?
 It is quite expensive – although everything is negotiable
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5. The Stack
OSGI Container (Apache Felix
Day CQ5 Application
Web Services (Apache CXF)
Tag Libraries
Domain Common App 1
Bundle Bundle Bundle Web Service App
External Data
App 2 Web Service
Bundle Bundle
Day and
Apache
Presentation
Bundles
Static Pages Hibernate
Apache Sling
Java Content Repository (JCR) Database
Site Content Application 1 Data
CMS System Files Application 1 Data
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6. The Author-Publish Model
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7. The Good Stuff
 Best-in-class usability. The user interface consistently outpaces their competition
with regard to ease-of-use by authors/editors and other non-technical users
 In-place content editing. Author can click a page, add text, pictures, etc. (this is
controlled by the ‘template’ which the developer/designer created)
 Superb mobile site support. In-context edit the same page for each smart phone
device (because it’s a truly RESTful architecture, the same content can be rendered
in many different ways including location and medium)
 Highly scalable architecture. Due to its ‘share-nothing’ architecture and no-DB
solution (it is highly coupled to the local file system, and stateless, so no session or
DB sync issues)
 Extremely portable. Easy to import/export both bundles and repository content
makes it very portable (you can zip up whole sites and send them to a friend)
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8. The Bad Stuff
 Its ‘pure’ architecture looks fantastic on paper, but the real-time experience is
somewhat complex (the authoring tool is feature-rich but a little clunky in action)
 The OSGI deployment framework is complex and not that widely
accepted/supported in the industry yet
 It is not trivial to port to EC2 or VM-based environments (it makes large demands
on the local OS resources)
 The Developer API is three layers of JCR Implementations (hence, three ways to
retrieve a content node, and you get different interfaces with each –
Sling/CRX/JCR).
 Scripting is JSP by default
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9. Numerous Content Connectors for Integration
 OpenText LiveLink Connector
 Vignette Connector
 Interwoven Connector
 MS Sharepoint Connector
 EMX Documentum Connector
 FileNet P8 Connector
 IBM Lous Notes Domino Connector
 Fast to JCR Adapter
 Database Connector
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10. The Dashboard View
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11. Page Navigation and Management
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12. In-Context Page Editing
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13. Authoring for Mobile
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14. Strong Internationalization and Localization Support
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15. Page Translation In Context
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16. Thank You!
For more information, please contact us here:
ThoughtMatrix
cms@thought-matrix.com
415-217-0009
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