nowledgeX Inc. this month shipped its namesake product, whi
ch diagrams the relationships among files from various online sources. Companies in several industries are determining whether the product can help them find and organize information on competitors.
KnowledgeX belongs to a new category of software called knowledge managers, says Jim Bair, an analyst at Gartner Group Inc. in Stamford, Conn. This category will grow faster than groupware and other information retrieval software by 1998 because of the need for products that can organize information from the Internet, Bair says.
KnowledgeX builds a record of files stored in corporate databases on the Internet and on intranets. It recognizes word-processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, HTML documents, images, sound, and video. Users can submit files to the KnowledgeX repository or instruct the product to index the contents of databases and other data sources. KnowledgeX parses the files it finds and suggests items to add.
Users can ask KnowledgeX to show all information that meets certain c
riteria or to show the relationships among specific subjects. For example, a manager can request the connections between a competitor and other organizations. KnowledgeX responds by showing one of two views: a hierarchical tree of files or a latticework of files connected by lines. The views show users that content in one document is related to content in another.
KnowledgeX notifies users of new files, relationships, or changes by sending messages through Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, or KnowledgeX itself. The product sends daily, confidential summaries of important developments. It also produces reports that let managers track sources, contributors, and frequently used materials.
Atlantic Richfield Co. in Los Angeles is evaluating KnowledgeX as a tool for analyzing information about its competitors in the petroleum industry. The company is using the product with guidance from Psytep Corp., a competitive intelligence outsourcing firm in Corpus Christi, Texas. "All the companies we work with use in
formation-aggregating technology to bring information together but without context," says Paul Caldwell, CEO at Psytep. "KnowledgeX lets us go into that information and organize it and show how it all relates."
Other companies evaluating Atlanta-based KnowledgeX's product are professional services firm Arthur Andersen in Chicago, electronics maker Texas Instruments in Dallas, and software vendor SAP America in Philadelphia. Other products that offer visual maps of associated information are CBR Content Navigator from Inference Corp. in Novato, Calif., and Vineyard from Data Fellows Inc. in San Jose, Calif.
KnowledgeX requires Windows 95 on client machines and Windows NT 4.0 or higher on the server. The base price is $25,000.
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nowledgeX Inc. this month shipped its namesake product, whi
ch diagrams the relationships among files from various online sources. Companies in several industries are determining whether the product can help them find and organize information on competitors.
