Portal with PDF, personalization and scalability

With every vendor this side of Mars talking about portals that deliver only the information an individual user needs, KnowledgeTrack is trying to distinguish its Knowledge Center.

Simply put, Knowledge Center (starting at $25,000 for 50 users) gives users a personalized home page with dynamically updating customized content. The principle, according to Jack Porter, KnowledgeTrack CEO and president, is to "reach in and just grab what you need."

Knowledge Center can be shaped around the needs of departments, projects and customers, and provide security on the level that a user can say 'this is what I want to see,' but the NT administrator can say 'no this is what you're going to see,' according to Porter.

Knowledge Center works on top of applications servers from Microsoft Transaction Server, SilverStream and NetDynamics. Competitor Glyphica uses its own app server as does Pleasanton, CA-neighbor Documentum with its 4i.

Recognizing the need to deliver content appropriately, regardless of format, KnowledgeTrack has turned to Adobe for PDF, which allows it delivery of "true-to-format" content regardless of platform. The Knowledge Center also integrates with external data sources including ERP, OLAP and customer relationship management systems.

While many portal market entrants other than long-standing vendor Plumtree Software can point to few customer installs, KnowledgeTrack can. As part of its launch strategy, KnowledgeTrack has built up a customer base before now coming public with the official release of its product--now version 3.0.

For Boru Corp., a consultant specializing in business growth, Knowledge Center provide a secure, single point of access to HR information and more.

"There is a tremendous amount of relevant knowledge that can easily be lost in our line of work," said Justin Daniels, director of pragmatism at Boru. "The Knowledge Center acts as our 'idea pool' -- it captures, organizes and gives us immediate access to client information, research summaries and any type of diagram, chart or graphic."

Another user is Lawrence Livermore Labs, a U.S. Department of Energy lab which makes Uranium 238 (for energy, not bombs). Using Knowledge Center, LLL scientists can look at more than 40 million documents to see research results from other company divisions, preventing costly duplication of efforts.

LeadTrack Systems, a sales force automation solutions provider, is using Knowledge Center to solve the problem of sales and customer service reps lacking information they need to win business.

Said Steve Raizes, president and CEO of LeadTrack Systems: "With a few simple steps, our employees get the satisfaction of publishing or searching for critical knowledge and we've practically eliminated the need for a Webmaster to maintain our intranet or extranet. In addition, the Knowledge Center helps new employees get up to speed quickly because they can easily access company, client and partner information from one central Web location.