Northgate apologises to Open Text for misleading campaign

VAR contrite after wrongly claiming rival was to cease support for RKYV product

My bad: Northgate has issued a formal apology and retraction

VAR Northgate Information Solutions has apologised to software firm Open Text for spreading inaccurate information about product support during a local government sales campaign.

Northgate contacted customers of the enterprise content management (ECM) specialist to inform them the vendor was ceasing support for the RKYV version of its Content Lifecycle Management product.

Open Text plans to integrate RKYV with its core ECM suite. But the vendor's UK public sector sales director Simon Lill scotched suggestions product support was on the chopping block.

"We have made a commitment to our customers that, in addition to full support for RKYV, they can look forward to enjoying the benefits of a comprehensive product roadmap going forward," he said.

Northgate has since issued the following formal apology: “On 11 August 2009 we wrote to a number of Open Text's customers stating that Open Text would be de-supporting the original valid product range from the end of the council's financial year.

"It has been drawn to our attention that this statement is incorrect. Open Text have not stated this and we are happy to apologise if this was the impression created. We have apologised to Open Text for this error.”

Lill acknowledged the retraction and apology but expressed dismay that a rival had propagated such claims in the first place.

"We are concerned that an unfounded and misleading impression has been made, both to the market and to our customer base," he said. "We are very disappointed and surprised that Northgate would communicate such misleading information.”