Digital rights technology use to increase tenfold by 2006

While only a small number of the Global 2000 organisations currently offering proprietary content online - such as media and music - fully understand and have implemented digital rights management (DRM) technology, the number is set to increase in dramatic fashion.

That is according to analysts META Group, who expect the number of organisations using DRM technology to increase tenfold from today's figure of 2 percent, to around 20 percent by 2006. DRM technology is used for content protection, royalties associated with content, intellectual property protection, content dissemination, or simply as a way to measure the use of protected information.

Currently, DRM technology is being investigated in the context of both B2B environments and B2C (media and music) publishing models. However, the typical organisation's understanding of DRM capabilities and their applicability to a given environment is still maturing.

To date, organisations have been reluctant to commit to the technology, as a consequence of the combination of DRM suffering from complex management, cumbersome implementation, and the high cost of questionable control.

META Group security analyst David Thompson believes those obstacles need to be overcome by decision makers within organisations, as the benefits of such technology will make it an intrinsic part of an organisation's infrastructure.

"More organisations need to realise that DRM solutions have the potential over the next three to five years to aid compliance with maturing privacy legislation. As this happens, DRM will emerge as an infrastructural element rather than a standalone technology solution."

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