Cynapse has just released version 2 of its open source cyn.in enterprise collaboration and knowledge management platform, including multiple new features and enhancements. But beyond the feature set is an even more interesting twist -- you can chose to download and run it on your own server, have Cynapse run it for you in a fully hosted software as a service model, or buy it as an all-in-one server appliance.The free Community Edition download is a good way to get to know the basic features of the system, and it comes as a VMware image which can be run on any system that supports VMware. Stepping up to the Small Business or Enterprise Edition opens up the hosted and appliance options, as well as adding additional features.

I don't want to gloss over what the platform can actually do, though. Beyond these multiple options for running it, cyn.in v2 has a solid set of features for collaboration and knowledge management. On the content management side, cyn.in v2 has support for wikis and blogs, as well as support for document version control and workflows. As for collaborative workgroup functionality, there are shared file repositories, calendaring and discussion forums, as well as team collaboration workspaces. That's just a sample of the highlights -- the overview on its site goes into additional detail.

There's a comparison matrix on the cyn.in site that lines it up against Microsoft SharePoint, Atlassian Confluence, Jive Clearspace, Knowledge Tree, Social Text, and Alfresco. Obviously, cyn.in focuses on the areas in which it is strong, but the breadth of its feature set does tell an interesting story.

Cyn.in v2 offers a laundry list functionality in an integrated system. I've only just started kicking the tires on the free version, but with value-minded pricing, interesting installation options, and an impressive set of features, cyn.in v2 is likely to turn some heads.