empolis announces the release of the k42 version 1.1

["Schreyer,Cécile (empolis GmbH)"<cecile.schreyer@empolis.com>]

Press Release

empolis announces the release of the k42 version 1.1

Swindon/Rimpar, 11 June 2001. empolis, a world class provider of knowledge
management solutions, announces the release of empolis k42Ô version 1.1, its
cutting edge knowledge server that is fully compliant with the TopicMaps
standard. The free evaluation is available at http://k42.empolis.co.uk.

Knowledge management is commonly acknowledged as a crucial part of achieving
success in today's market place.  Organisations, whether they are
corporations who use information to support the primary business goal or a
publisher whose business is based on selling information, need to be able to
gain the maximum utilisation of the assets at their disposal.  This means
not only re-purposing and re-using content in the traditional sense but also
finding ways to unlock the knowledge in your workforce, stakeholders and
customers. k42 will provide organisations the fundamental building blocks,
enabling them to build the infrastructure to attain this goal.

Building on the success of the initial release of k42, v1.1 has been
released to provide a richer set of functionality to truly enable
organisations to embrace knowledge standards such as TopicMaps. The first
release of k42 was already a strong technology: written in Java, enabling
cross platform support, it has a comprehensive API. Its Jini and RMI support
means that k42 is well suited to a distributed environment and can truly be
deployed on an enterprise scale.  The inference engine allows for the
deduction of implicit knowledge and the built in templating mechanism
provides guided editing. This comprehensive functionality has now been
extensively augmented. Below are the highlights:

·         Web Author
·         Web Author is the web interface with which users can edit and
maintain the TopicMap in a real time.  This has been completely remodelled,
based on our ever growing experience and the feedback from our user base.
As well as a much cleaner interface and easier to use, the new interface
will also allow users to define properties for Topic constructs. Furthermore
Web Author 1.1 implements the important concept of reification. A strong
authoring environment will be crucial to the success of any TopicMap
implementation.

·         TMV
·         TMV (TopicMap View) is an out of the box way that k42 provides for
'browsing' your TopicMap.  Requiring no configuration, you can import a
TopicMap and be browsing it in seconds.  Utilising the XSL standard, we have
also made it easy for users to customise this view without having to write
any code - they can simply write a new style-sheet.  TMV also provides both
an interface for querying your TopicMap, utilising TMQL (TopicMap Query
Language) as well as allowing users to navigate the map based on Scope.  k42
is now also available with Star Tree from Inxight providing a powerful
visualisation tool for your TopicMap.

·         TopicMap Manager
·         k42 allows users to import and export standards compliant
TopicMaps through a simple web interface.  This interface also supports
multiple encodings, including UTF-16 and ZIP.

·         Developer Support
·         As well as the extended API, developers will have access to
comprehensive documentation, including API code examples and tutorials.  As
well as providing for remote clients through the Jini/RMI architecture, k42
has been extended to include an architecture for server side services. 

k42 is rapidly establishing itself as the leading technology for TopicMaps
and Knowledge Management.  k42v1.1 is available for download from
http://k42.empolis.co.uk for trial purposes.

empolis - Transforming Information Into Value
empolis GmbH, a subsidiary of the Bertelsmann MOHN Media Group, unites
leading media service providers and software manufacturers in one group. The
company offers solutions for knowledge and content management. In the last
fiscal year, with 250 employees, the turnover amounted to over 50 million
Deutsch Marks. The company currently employs approximately 400 people
worldwide. Meanwhile, empolis has eight locations in Germany and foreign
branches in Swindon/UK, Budapest/Hungary, Warsaw/Poland, Oslo/Norway and
Boston/USA. 

Contact:
Jason Markos
empolis UK Ltd
Unit B, The Dorcan Complex
Faraday Road
Swindon, UK
Tel: +44 1793 485465
Email: k42@empolis.com

Dr. H. Holger Rath
Director Research and Development
empolis GmbH
Havelstr. 9
64295 Darmstadt, Germany
Tel: +49 6151 380 292
Email: k42@empolis.com