Oblix, Orbital make investment gains

Oblix and Orbital Software, two new companies with distinct ties to the KM marketplace, have recently received a warm welcome from investors.

Oblix, whose Corporate Services Automation product line creates profiles of an organization's knowledge workers (called Digital Personas), has received $10.6 million in funding. Oblix will use the cash infusion towards further development and market expansion of the CSA line, which is says can save a company of 10,000 people up to $5 million annually. Primary investors Novell and Netscape are both interested in linking Oblix's CSA product with their respective directory servers.

Orbital has received $5.1 million in private equity investments from investors including Novell and 3i, one of Europe's largest venture capital groups. Orbital's Organik PersonaServer and Organik KnowledgeWare builds a knowledgebase with user profiles of from employees' experience and expertise. Integrated with Novell's Network Directory Service, Orbital's products "will deliver powerful, new information access and management capabilities that make networks work for our customers," said Steve Adelman, Novell's VP of Corporate Development.