OASIS MEMBER NEWS: empolis releases beta of its ground breakingknowledge server empolis K42

[Laura Walker <laurawalker@earthlink.net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Markos [mailto:jsm@empolis.co.uk]




PRESS RELEASE

empolis releases beta of its ground breaking knowledge server empolis K42

Gütersloh, 8 November 2000

empolis, a world class provider of knowledge management solutions, proudly
announces the beta release of empolis K42, its cutting edge knowledge server
that is fully compliant with the ISO standard Topic Maps (see
www.topicmaps.com). The free evaluation is available at www.empolis.co.uk.

Knowledge management is recognised as a crucial part of utilising
information assets, whether it is for corporate or commercial publishers.
empolis K42 Knowledge Server provides a real time, persistent and scalable
solution to approaching knowledge management. Written in Java, in order to
aid cross-platform support, it has an extensive API allowing it to be
customised and extended to better meet customer's individual requirements.
Utilising the latest standards including XML, XLink, Topic Maps, and XTM,
empolis K42 provides access to knowledge through its Knowledge Author and
Knowledge Navigator components - both of which run within a web browser.
The Gartner Group said of Topic Maps: '…the paradigm is powerful, flexible
and extensible, topic maps will become a mainstream technology by 2003…'
empolis employees are actively involved in the Topic Maps and XTM standard
developments.

'empolis K42 provides a new paradigm for organising, maintaining and
navigating information. The information models it stores are independent of
the physical domain in which that information resides. These models can
provide the routes to information, such as a set of web resources on a
server and do not have to be contained within that information. As a result
they can be used to deploy information sets in different environments with
different requirements, and can also be personalised by individual users and
user communities.

empolis K42 is one of the keys to capturing, sharing and delivering
knowledge. Topic Maps and empolis K42 enable a vision where the relevant
information is available on demand', says Graham Moore, Vice President
Research and Development at empolis. 'The effects of empolis K42 and Topic
Maps will be to extend the expectations and demands of the users of
contemporary information systems.'

Some of the highlights of empolis K42 Knowledge Server are described below:

· empolis K42 provides a Knowledge Author component to enable the creation
and maintenance of the knowledge data. It allows the knowledge server to be
updated in real time.

· Knowledge Navigator provides a delivery solution that can be rapidly
implemented to enable companies to deliver the knowledge data in their own
corporate style through the use of XML and XSL.

· empolis K42 is written in Java in order to aid cross-platform support and
has a comprehensive API to expose the functionality it provides and to
enable customisation and integration of the software.

· empolis K42 has already been tested to persist and provide access to over
a million topics and is designed to scale to tens of millions.

empolis K42, as a beta version, utilises and supports the Topic Map
standard.  But empolis K42 is a knowledge server that will enable portals,
corporates and communities to capture, manage and deliver valuable knowledge
assets. As such, empolis K42 will support not only Topic Maps but will
include other such effective standards that help capture and express
knowledge.

"Topic Maps as an accepted ISO standard in combination with our first class
content management systems and our intelligent XML based search engine
technology will enhance our ability to deliver full scale knowledge
management solutions covering the whole value chain from the generation and
capturing of knowledge, the value-adding process by linking and enriching
information and the delivery of knowledge just in time", said Dr. Stefan
Wess, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of empolis.

empolis K42 will be available as full release during December 2000, until
then the beta will be available for trial purposes from www.empolis.co.uk.
empolis - Transforming Information Into Value

empolis GmbH, a subsidiary of the Bertelsmann MOHN Media Group, is a network
of leading media service providers and software developers. empolis has
grown to be a powerful provider of knowledge management and content
management solutions.

At present, empolis employs about 270 people. Its turnover amounted to over
50 million DM last year. empolis has its headquarters in Gütersloh/Germany
and additional locations in Berlin, Cologne, Darmstadt, Duisburg,
Kaiserslautern, Munich, Stuttgart, Trier and Würzburg. Its offices abroad
are located in London, Budapest, Warsaw and Boston.



Contact:

Jason Markos
Associate Director, Research and Development
empolis UK Ltd
Unit B, The Dorcan Complex
Faraday Road
Swindon, UK
Tel: +44 1793 485465
Email: marketing@topicmaps.com

Hans Holger Rath
Director Consulting
empolis content management GmbH
Technologiepark Würzburg-Rimpar
Pavillon 7
97222 Rimpar, Germany
Tel: +49 9365 80620
Email: info@topicmaps.com