I was wondering if you have experience of enterprise content management systems. Here is an evaluation summary:
http://www.sdltridion.com/Images/wave_web_content_management_for_external_sites_tcm113-31619.pdf
Have you used SDL Tridion or Fatwire in practice? What do you think of them? They both separate the content and template (=layout) more than e.g. Microsoft Sharepoint.
Or maybe some other?
That's really old code they're comparing but to answer your question there isn't one solution that's streets above others. Certainly I've had favourable experience of both Oracle and Vignette's products as well as MASSIVE's CMS and the open-source Drupal - but they all offer a range of benefits and drawbacks depending on what you're trying to achieve.
I'd suggest you draw up a list of need and wants, prioritise them then score the products you're aware of against these - hopefully the winner will satisfy all of your needs and a good chunk of your wants.
I work pretty much full-time on SDL Tridion implementations and consultancy. It's a thoroughly impressive WCMS system suitable for large corporations, government bodies, non-profits, etc. For some smaller organisations it might not be a good fit. I have no experience of Fatwire, although I suspect that now they are owned by Oracle, if you don't have Fatwire already, Oracle will be steering you to whichever of their stable of acquired CMSes they currently wish you to buy: this may not be Fatwire.
Indeed - separation of content and layout/templating is a strength of Tridion, as is the separation between content management and content delivery, which allows for highly scalable and secure architectures. For many of their customers these are essential capabilities. Tridion is also well-known for its strengths in international sites, and multi-channel delivery.
As Chopper3 says, you probably need to do some sort of evaluation exercise, or bring in specialists such as Real Story Group or JBoye to do it with you.
