[topicmaps-comment] ANNOUNCE: Ontopia Knowledge Suite 1.3 released

[Geir Ove =?UNKNOWN?Q?Gr=F8nmo?= <grove@ontopia.net>]

               QUERY and SCHEMA TOOLS for TOPIC MAPS
               -------------------------------------

               Ontopia announces the release of the
               Ontopia Knowledge Suite, version 1.3


OSLO, NORWAY, 7 MARCH 2002 - Ontopia AS, providers of advanced topic
map tools and services and co-creators of the topic mapping standards,
today announced the release of version 1.3 of the Ontopia Knowledge
Suite(TM).

Topic mapping is a new paradigm for organizing, retrieving, and
navigating information resources. Through the provision of a
'knowledge layer' that is independent of the information resources
themselves, topic maps help capture and manage corporate memory,
improve indexing, and enable the integration of information that spans
multiple, disparate repositories. Topic maps are based on an
international standard, defined by the ISO, and are interchanged using
the Extensible Markup Language (XML) defined by the W3C.

The Ontopia Knowledge Suite (OKS) comprises a full-featured Topic Map
Engine written in 100% Java; the Ontopia Topic Map Navigator
Framework, a framework for building J2EE compliant web applications;
integration with full-text search engines; and an RDBMS backend for
persistent storage of very large topic maps.


New functionality
-----------------

Version 1.3 of the OKS adds significant new functionality in the form
of a query engine and schema tools. Among other enhancements, all
components now support Java2 version 1.4, memory consumption has been
reduced by on average 30%, and support has been introduced for version
1.2 of LTM, the Linear Topic Map notation.

The query engine, which utilises the 'tolog' query language, enables
complex queries to be performed on topic maps. For example, the
following query against the well-known Italian Opera topic map,
returns a list of cities in descending order of the number of
premières they hosted:

      select $CITY, count($OPERA) from
      { premiere($OPERA : opera, $CITY : city) |
        premiere($OPERA : opera, $THEATRE : theatre),
        located-in($THEATRE : containee, $CITY : container) }
      order by $OPERA desc?

The schema tools allow the validation of semantic constraints
expressed using the Ontopia Schema Language (OSL), and the development
of more intelligent, schema-aware end-user applications. For example,
it is possible to constrain associations of type "born in" to have
exactly two roles, "person" and "place", each of which must be played
by topics belonging to the superclasses "person" and "place"
respectively.

In addition to providing customers with much-needed additional power,
'tolog' and OSL are major contributions to the projects currently
underway in ISO to develop a Topic Map Query Language (TMQL) and a
Topic Map Constraint Language (TMCL).

Together with the Navigator Framework, these new features enable
customers to build powerful topic map-driven web portals that
integrate information from a variety of sources, provide much more
intuitive navigational interfaces for end users, and greatly simplify
web site development and maintenance.


New Omnigator
-------------

To coincide with the release of version 1.3, there is also a new
version of Ontopia's popular free topic map browser, the Omnigator.

The Omnigator is a generic application built on top of the Ontopia
Navigator Framework that allows users to load and browse any
conforming topic map, including their own. Designed primarily as a
teaching aid to help newcomers understand the topic map concepts, it
is also an extremely useful tool for debugging topic maps and for
building demo applications.

Some of the new features in the Omnigator 6 include plug-ins for
performing querying and validation, the ability to display class
hierarchies (in both text and graphics modes), better stylesheets, and
an improved statistics printer. The Omnigator 6 can be downloaded for
free from

  http://www.ontopia.net/download/freedownload.html


New product structure
---------------------

As of version 1.3, the Ontopia Knowledge Suite will be offered in
three different editions, corresponding to the needs of different
groups of users. Each edition is available under either a Development
License (D) or a Runtime License (R). OEM licenses are also available
at negotiable prices.

PERSONAL EDITION: $500 (D), $5,000 (R)
  - Includes the Topic Map Engine and the Omnigator.

PROFESSIONAL EDITION: $2,000 (D), $20,000 (R)
  - Includes the Topic Map Engine, the Navigator Framework, the
    full-text integration, query engine, and schema tools.

ENTERPRISE EDITION: $3,000 (D), $30,000 (R)
  - Extends the Professional Edition with the RDBMS backend for
    persistent storage of very large topic maps in relational
    databases.

"We are proud to be able to offer to the world the most complete
implementation of the topic map specification so far available,"
stated Steve Pepper, Chief Executive Officer at Ontopia and
co-editor of the XML Topic Map (XTM) specification. "Implementers
now have the possibility of building extremely powerful topic
map-based applications without having to make big investments up
front. This is very important since topic mapping is a new concept
and early adopters need to be able to build low cost prototypes in
order to be able to justify investment in full-scale commercial
deployment."


About Ontopia AS
----------------

Ontopia, The Topic Map Company(TM), is the world's leading provider of
generic topic map software. Its principals have been actively involved
in developing and promoting the topic map paradigm for many years.
Ontopia technology provides added value to web portals, content
management systems, knowledge-based intranet applications, and
enterprise application integration.

Ontopia also offers a wide range of consulting services, including
workshops and training on all aspects of topic mapping.

The company is privately held and has headquarters at Waldemar Thranes
gt. 98, N-0175 Oslo, Norway. Tel: +47-23233080. Fax: +47-23233081.
Visit Ontopia's Web site at www.ontopia.net.


Company Contact:
----------------
Steve Pepper, CEO
+47-23 23 30 80
pepper@ontopia.net