TheBrain puts information in its place
 
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Imagine having all of your enterprise's digital information available through one screen. No more digging for documents through a hierarchy of file folders.
That's what TheBrain Technologies says it is offering enterprises with its latest software release, the Java-based Enterprise Knowledge Platform, or BrainEKP. Unveiled at the recent KMWorld in Santa Clara, BrainEKP aims to provide users with a single source for information management, collaboration and search.
"All the different types of information you have in your enterprise, whether file-based or Web-based or even database-driven, can be presented in this one interface," TheBrain Co-founder and CTO Harlan Hugh says. "We show all the information in your business in the way your business thinks about information."
That means content is accessed and displayed regardless of source, making it easier for knowledge workers to find the information they need, Hugh says.
BrainEKP does this by running on application servers and using "connectors" to hook into enterprise applications, relational databases and other content repositories. It then uses a dynamic visual interface to display a knowledge map that centers around a single concept and shows interrelationships with other content through "links."
Check out TheBrain's Web site and you'll see TheBrain as the center of a content map, with visual links to related information. Click on one of those related pieces of information and the map reconfigures with that concept at its center, showing additional links related to that item.
Hugh says that's the same way the software works for an enterprise, except that it centers on project-specific information, includes areas for collaboration and integrates structured and unstructured information. Enterprises set up templates that dictate how information should be interrelated and relationships can be added as workflow progresses, Hugh says. For example, an enterprise using BrainEKP could set up relationships surrounding prospective sales deals. Using the software, workers could find the information they need in a variety of ways, by salesperson, industry or deal stage, for example. Information access within BrainEKP isn't restricted by folder hierarchies or ways of thinking, Hugh notes.
"When you place a piece of information into a hierarchy, you're saying that this piece of information belongs in this folder. And you're also saying it doesn't belong anywhere else," Hugh says. "People think about information in many different ways. What BrainEKP allows you to do is create a map for all of those different relationships and fit them into a consistent way of thinking about them."
Analysts say one of the key benefits of BrainEKP is that it integrates collaboration, search and information management in one place.
BrainEKP "places collaboration where it belongs - in the same place users create and access information, and within the context of business process. As users collaborate on a process, they create additional links, share summaries of topics in notes and exchange comments," The Delphi Group says in a report it released on BrainEKP in October.
Brian McDonough, research manager for knowledge management at research firm IDC, says BrainEKP provides more knowledge management functionality than most portals do.
"Typically, in portals, you have access to applications and information managed by portlets, or smaller windows, in your browser interface that are based on technology silos. So, for example, if you want to access your content management repository, you click and a new window opens," he says. "With TheBrain interface, an end user can organize all the resources they need - whether that's people, documents, content or applications. That's the way most knowledge workers operate."
Artificial intelligence expert Ray Kurzweil was intrigued enough by TheBrain's technology that he's now using it to give an extra twist to KurzweilAI.net.
KurzweilAI.net uses TheBrain technology to provide links to concepts related to certain terms in the documents available on the site. "We use [TheBrain] as a visual representation of a knowledge base," says Lucas Hendrich, senior researcher at Kurzweil Technologies.
To date, TheBrain has signed on several customers for BrainEKP, including the Department of Defense. Firms such as Ford Motor, SC Johnson, Accenture and GE Equity are also using portions of the technology, the company says.
BrainEKP is available now and pricing ranges from $50 per user to $1,200 per user, Hugh says. Initial deployment costs $100,000, he says.
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