Targeted at the enterprise market, Vignette offered products under the name StoryServer that allowed non-technical users to create, edit and track content through workflows and publish it on the web.

It provided integration for enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and legacy systems, supporting Java EE and Microsoft.NET.

StoryServer was used on many large websites including those of CNET, UnitedHealth Group, The Walt Disney Company, Wachovia, Martha Stewart, Fox News, National Geographic Channel, Pharmacia & Upjohn, MetLife, BSkyB, the 2004 Summer Olympics, and NASA.

In November 1995, Ross Garber and Neil Webber founded the company with the goal of making web publishing easier and more personalized.

[8] In January 1998, Vignette and Firefly Networks proposed the XML based Information and Content Exchange (ICE) protocol for content syndication and submitted the specification to the World Wide Web Consortium standards body on October 26, 1998.

[15] In January 2000, the company acquired DataSage, a data mining and personalization application vendor, for $606 million.

[24] In April 2001, as the dot-com bubble burst, the company sued 13 customers that had not paid for software they received.

[32][33] In March 2004, the company acquired Tower Technology, an Australian-based provider of enterprise document and records management software, for $125 million.