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MediaBeacon is a privately held corporation  located in Minneapolis, Minnesota that develops and distributes digital asset management (DAM) software.

History
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Products
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History
The company began operations in 1948 as a photoengraving company founded by Mark Widen. Its original output consisted of images etched on zinc and copper plates designed to be mounted on letter presses. The company grew at a mild pace in the 1950s when it started producing film images for area lithographers. It was among the first companies to adopt digital printing technology. In March 1995 it opened a $2 million building containing three digital presses, including a $500,000 Indigo Digital Press and a $650,000 Heidelberg GTO Direct Imaging press. The printing images on all presses are generated electronically, direct from a computer, bypassing the costly and time-consuming photographic processes. Sales grew more than 35% a year and employment doubled after the company adopted digital printing technology. Much of the growth was fueled by catalog and retail marketers.

Starting in the mid-1990s, the company began creating software to help clients search and locate digital media files through a web browser. The privately held company does not disclose financial results, but in 2007, it was reported as having sales of $16.7 million with more than 50% consisting of premedia services. Blogs are a major component of its search engine marketing efforts. These services provided the basis for the firm's move into the SaaS industry with DAM.

In July 2009, it laid off 15% of its work force in what the company called a market-driven reduction.

In July 2014 Widen launched a full suite of content distribution and collaboration tools aimed at helping companies evaluate the effectiveness of content across the Internet.

Products
The company’s Digital asset management (DAM) Software as a service (SaaS) product features Web-based uploading, multiple search methods, version control, conversion, user access controls, and tools for tracking and reporting. Its "Widen Appliance" is an onsite hardware/software combination managed by the firm within the SaaS architecture that enables client staff to work at local area network speeds while the SaaS model supports global digital media downstream.

The trade publication Knowledge Management World ranked Widen Enterprises as “by far the largest” mid-market DAM vendor in terms of staff and revenues. The business research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan ranked it as the third largest SaaS provider in the DAM marketplace with a 10% market share among SaaS providers.

The company provides premedia services including digital photography, color retouching, image assembly, digital proofing, workflow and other premedia production services. The trade publication Graphic Arts Monthly ranked the company as the 15th largest premedia services company in North America in 2007.