Provides Seamless Access From A Single Window Across Multiple Platforms
And Data Sources To Leverage The Enterprise Knowledge Infrastructure
OTTAWA, Canada, Mar. 10 /PRNewswire/ - Fulcrum Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:
FULCF; TSE: FUL) today announced its next generation of products, the
Fulcrum(R) Knowledge Network(TM). These products create a business view of
the information assets of the corporate Intranet and beyond, a view that can
be customized for the enterprise and personalized for the user. The Fulcrum
Knowledge Network provides users and administrators alike with a simple way to
map the diverse information stores across an organization and to get access to
them. From any Knowledge Network client - Web or Windows-based, Microsoft
Outlook or Exchange -- users have simultaneous and seamless access to Web
servers, file systems, Microsoft Exchange Servers, Lotus Notes databases, and
more.
Fulcrum's new family of products will be demonstrated at Spring Internet
World, at the LA Convention Center in Los Angeles, March 12- 14, 1997, at
Fulcrum's booth, 5022.
``We believe this product brings us a huge step closer to delivering on a
long-standing promise of the information revolution,'' said Mike Laginski,
president and chief operating officer of Fulcrum. ``We are the first to
provide a software solution that gives users seamless access to a
comprehensive and growing range of information sources, in a
simple-to-install, easy-to-administer product that provides instant value out
of the box. In delivering the Fulcrum Knowledge Network, we are unveiling a
new Web-based architecture and leveraging the strengths of our previous
products. In our 14-year history, Fulcrum has worked with many pioneering
organizations that have developed advanced knowledge networking applications
with our information-retrieval software at the core. Today, our entire
development team is focused on an integrated product stream, and they have
created a powerful, unprecedented product. It is in beta now, and will be
shipping early in the next quarter.''
ABOUT THE FULCRUM KNOWLEDGE NETWORK
The Fulcrum Knowledge Network is a unique, integrated product that
intelligently connects diverse information sources across the enterprise. The
comprehensive offering leverages a Web-centric, distributed architecture to
provide a single window of access to disparate sources of corporate
information from any Fulcrum Knowledge Network client.
- At the client level, the Knowledge Desktop can be any Web-browser, a
Web-browser enhanced with ActiveX controls for enhanced viewing, or a
Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Outlook client. Using the Knowledge
Builder Toolkit, which contains a rich Object Library and the Fulcrum
WebFIND! query application, developers can create custom Microsoft
Windows or Web-based clients for specific business applications.
- At the application layer, the Knowledge Server is the heart of the
Fulcrum Knowledge Network. It provides the searching and indexing
services that integrate the multiple, distributed information sources.
The searching service dynamically constructs a personalized Knowledge
Map on a per-user basis according to the information sources available
for searching and the user's access rights.
The Fulcrum Knowledge Network works in combination with Netscape Web
servers or Microsoft Internet Information Server to support access
from Web browsers.
Because it is certified to carry the ``Designed for Microsoft
BackOffice'' logo, Fulcrum's product provides all the familiar
benefits of a true, multi-threaded Windows NT server application,
including remote administration, performance monitoring, event
logging, and SMS software installation.
- Finally, Fulcrum provides Knowledge Activators to allow access to
corporate knowledge repositories on multiple servers and running on
multiple platforms, and in sources as diverse as Microsoft Exchange
Server, Lotus Notes, Web sites, file systems, existing Fulcrum
SearchServer(TM) applications and more. Knowledge Activators embrace
diverse information sources and leverage their security models,
compound document architectures and administration profiles.
KEY BENEFITS
- Rich Knowledge Map - Users can see the entire organization's knowledge
network laid out in a business view, according to the content of the
of information rather than by location on the network or by source
application. Business views can be defined by administrators and, in
an upcoming release, by users, according to their needs.
- Low ``cost of ownership'' - The Knowledge Server has been developed
for Microsoft Windows NT. It provides all the benefits of a true
Windows NT server application, including performance monitoring, event
logging, and SMS software installation. This greatly reduces the
costs of ownership for the Fulcrum Knowledge Network. At the same
time, the single platform focus for the application server allows
Fulcrum to provide a product that is functionally rich.
- A multi-platform solution - The Knowledge Activators provide a link
from the Knowledge Server on Windows NT into the data repositories on
multiple UNIX and Windows NT servers. The Knowledge Activator for
Fulcrum SearchServer also allows users to leverage Fulcrum's
multi-platform SearchServer product as a distributed information
server.
- Fully synchronized with information repositories - Each Knowledge
Activator is fully synchronized with the original source, so that
users can search and retrieve the most up-to-date information, and to
keep administrative overhead to a minimum. Knowledge Activators
inherit the security and controls built into the applications they
treat as information sources.
- Integrated agents - Fulcrum's agents are integrated at the application
server level, so that they become a feature of the Fulcrum Knowledge
Network, rather than a stand-alone application.
- Advanced information-retrieval software - provided by the industry
leader. Built with Fulcrum SearchServer(TM) as a core component, the
Fulcrum Knowledge Network provides advanced retrieval features, like
Intuitive Searching(TM) - Fulcrum's unique similarity searching
feature - linguistic stemming, and on-the-fly document summarization.
- Protecting customers' investments - The Knowledge Activator for
SearchServer allows Fulcrum customers to leverage their existing
investments in custom solutions, and to deploy these applications more
widely, and over the Intranet, with the Fulcrum Knowledge Network.
- Searching on compound information (object within object searching) - a
key Fulcrum strength, which allows for retrieval of items in their
original context.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
The Fulcrum Knowledge Network is in beta testing now and will ship early
in the second quarter. Fulcrum will ship the Knowledge Activators for
Microsoft Exchange Server, for file systems, and for custom Fulcrum
SearchServer applications at the same time. The Knowledge Builder Toolkit
will also be available with the first release.
Beta versions of the Knowledge Activators for Web sites and for Lotus
Notes will be available with the first release of the Knowledge Network, and a
beta version of Fulcrum's integrated agents will be available later in the
second quarter.
The Knowledge Network is a modular product, and price is dependent on
configuration. For an average configuration, with access for all users to the
full range of information servers, the North American price is approximately
US$400 per user.
For 14 years, Fulcrum Technologies Inc. has led the way in building
innovative and effective knowledge management solutions for some of the
world's most important companies. Fulcrum counts major corporations and
industry leaders like Fujitsu, Microsoft Corp., Nabisco, and Novell among its
customers. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, Fulcrum extends its global reach
with offices throughout the United States, Europe, and in Australia and Japan,
and through a network of partners worldwide. Fulcrum is publicly traded on the
Nasdaq National Market (``FULCF'') and on the Toronto Stock Exchange
(``FUL''). For more information on Fulcrum and Fulcrum products, visit
Fulcrum's Web site: http://www.fulcrum.com.
Fulcrum is a registered trademark of Fulcrum Technologies Inc. and the
Fulcrum Knowledge Network, SearchServer and Intuitive Searching are trademarks
of Fulcrum. Other trademarks used throughout this document are trademarks of
their respective owners.
SOURCE: Fulcrum Technologies Inc.
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CONTACT: Gillian Brouse, Fulcrum, (613) 238-1761, ext.251, e-mail: pr(at)fulcrum.com, or Gail Smart, Rourke & Co., (617) 267-0042, e-mail: gsmart(at)rourke.com
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