KMWorld Trend-Setting Products of 2010

Just as in the past, assembling the Trend-Setting Products list is a collaborative effort with colleagues, market and technology analysts, KM theoreticians and practitioners, customers and a select few savvy users in a variety of disciplines.

We had our final selection session at the end of July; after months of electronic collaboration we set up a conference call, which was ... let’s just say “lively.” What else could be expected from a bunch of opinionated people? We had all come up with individual, “final” lists from the more than 600 products and solutions we identified earlier in the year. I must say that to us all, an unsolicited recommendation from a vendor’s customer carried significant weight in the final process.

Because our online and in-print readership comprises more than 55,000 individuals in a wide variety of businesses and disciplines, we concentrated on only those products that we all believe cover the needs of our diverse readership. That said, we didn’t, um, agree on everything—but because they request anonymity, I get to make the final decision.

We first published the Trend-Setting Product list in 2003. I suggest you go to our site to check out previous products. The technologies and markets have evolved with unprecedented speed and agility, and looking back gives us all an interesting historical snapshot.

The solutions we list below were selected by the panel because each demonstrates thoughtful, well-reasoned  innovation and execution for the most important  constituency of them all: the customer.

A2iA: A2iA DocumentReader—classification of digitized documents into categories (letter, identity papers, contract, etc.) based on both their geometry and their content.

Abbyy USA: FlexiCapture 9.0—accurate and scalable data capture and document processing system.

Accusoft Pegasus: Prizm Viewer—a Web-based image viewer.

Aivea: Commerce Server—scalable, service-oriented architecture (SOA), Web services-based e-commerce software platform with built-in integration to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, GP, NAV and AX.

Alfresco: Version 3.3—a platform for building and delivering future-proof, content-rich applications.

Alterian: Content Manager—complete Web solution allowing organizations to learn about customer Web preferences and target them with the appropriate content.

AnyDoc Software: CAPTUREit—software can work as a standalone document capture application, or as part of an end-to-end OCR for AnyDoc automated document and data capture and processing solution.

Appian: BPM Suite—100 percent Web-based BPM platform, delivering the ease of use, comprehensive features and flexibility required to accelerate process improvement.

Applied Knowledge Group: KM Solutions built on SharePoint—collaboration and knowledge management solutions for government, commercial and non-profit clients on SharePoint.

Aquire: OrgPublisher Premier—succession planning, organizational planning and powerful organization charting.

ASG Software: ViewDirect Suite—a highly scalable, full-featured archiving platform.

Attensity: Attensity360 (formerly Biz360 Community)—continuous monitoring and analysis of social media conversations and their impact on businesses.

Attivio: Active Intelligence Engine—extends enterprise search capabilities across documents, data and media.

Autonomy: Virage—video and audio analysis technology for video specialists, enabling enterprises to leverage rich media content.

AvePoint: DocAve Software for SharePoint—platform for creating a centralized knowledge repository and collaborative workspace.

Basis Technology: Rosette Linguistics Platform—multilingual text management software for information retrieval, text mining, concept extraction, search engines, etc.

Box.net: Box.net Enterprise—allows businesses to share, manage and access all their content online.

Brainware: Globalbrain Enterprise Edition—locates information on PCs, enterprise databases, file servers, the Internet, etc., supports more than 250 file formats.

Bridgeline Digital: iAPPS Product Suite—Web application management solution with deep, data-level integration within fully functional Web analytics.

Bridgeway: eDiscovery—integrated legal business technology solutions for corporate law departments and government agencies.

Caspio: Bridge 6.8—solution to visually present data on the Web with new charts feature to translate flat data into visual reports and dashboards.

Citrix Online: GoToMeeting—Web conferencing and meeting solutions.

Concept Searching: conceptClassifier for SharePoint—automatic document classification and taxonomy management to Microsoft SharePoint; works without the need to build another search index.

Connotate: Agent Community GEN2—allows non-technical users to create powerful, customized intelligent agents to access high-value content deep on the Web or in the enterprise.

Consona: Consona CRM Software Product Suite—knowledge-driven support, knowledge management, live assistance,  subscriber assistance, dynamic agents and enterprise CRM.

Content Analyst: Content Analyst Analytical Technology (CAAT)–document analytics OEM software to find, organize, and discover relevant documents using conceptual search technologies.

Copyright Clearance Center: Rightsphere—Web-based rights advisory and management service that helps corporations promote collaboration and the free flow of published information while respecting copyright.

Coveo: Customer Information Access Solutions—a dashboard approach to provide users with a complete, 360-degree view of customers and call center operations.

CT Summation: CaseVault Services—a full-service consulting and ASP hosted offering providing clock project management, ESI forensics, litigation support consulting and technical support.

Darwin Ecosystem: Awareness Engine—an enterprise solution that fetches and correlates its own Web 2.0 information sources, as well as WWW selected sources, to provide timely awareness about what is happening in the enterprise and the Internet.

Datameer: Datameer Analytics Solution—designed to solve the challenges of accessing, analyzing and using massive amounts of data using Apache Hadoop as its foundation.

Digital Reef: DigitalInformation Governance—robust services to govern the life cycle of information and physical assets.

Discover Technologies: DiscoverPoint—automatic relevant content delivery and expertise matching, delivering access to experts, resources and published content automatically.

eGain: eGain Social—a solution to monitor social media sites for conversations about the organization, enabling companies to identify and respond to customer inquiries or complaints.

Ektron: CMS400.NET—a platform with complete functionality to create, deploy and manage world-class Web sites.

EMC: SourceOne Suite—family of products and solutions for archiving, e-discovery and compliance aimed at helping companies centrally manage multiple content types in order to apply consistent retention, disposition and overall life cycle management.

Endeca: Information Access Platform—foundation upon which configurable, search-based business applications can be built and deployed.

EPiServer: CMS 6—a site management platform where certain features and functionality appeal more to specific roles; business owners, editors, marketers and developers.

eTouch: SamePage V. 4.3—an enterprise wiki and Enterprise 2.0 solution for knowledge management, including content and document management.

EXSYS: CORVID—a robust knowledge automation expert system development tool.

Exterro: Genome—dynamic data mapping solution that allows corporate legal and IT teams to identify, manage and analyze the life cycle of data sources and electronically stored information.

Fabasoft: Mindbreeze Enterprise—finds distributed information in all data repositories across the corporation ... e-mail, notes, calendar entries, contracts and personal data.

FatWire: Digital Asset Management Solution—a platform that enables interactive marketers to maximize the value of rich media to drive brand consistency, marketing effectiveness and cost efficiencies.

FTI Technology: Ringtail Analytics—provides e-discovery teams with data analytics and visual review software to address a wide variety of e-discovery tasks.

Global360: analystView 3.0—offers business analysts process modeling and simulation functionality within Microsoft Visio 2010.

GlobalNet Services: Google Search Solutions—search optimization and clustering, security and personalization for structured and unstructured data.

Google: Commerce Search 2.0—hosted, complete search solution for retailers.

HP: HP TRIM 7—a records management system with SharePoint support that provides a scalable, policy-driven foundation for information governance strategy.

IBM: Content Manager—imaging, digital asset management, Web content management and content integration for multiple platforms, databases and applications.

iDatix: iSynergy—integrated content management designed to enable organizations to innovate their approach to managing content and simplify their daily workflow.

IGLOO Software: Online Community Solutions—integrated suite of content management, collaboration and knowledge sharing tools within a single secure social business platform.

Information Builders: iWay Enterprise Information Management (EIM) Suite—real-time management of any information from anywhere across your entire enterprise.

Inmagic: Presto—robust, complete social knowledge management platform.

Innodata Isogen: Content Services for Publishers—consulting, technology, editorial and production services to media, publishing and information services.

InQuira: Intelligent Search—a unified system combining advanced semantic search techniques and contextual understanding.

Integrify: Integrify 5.0—a lean BPM solution that helps organizations reduce costs and improve employee satisfaction by providing process definition, workflow automation and visibility for areas such as IT, human resources, finance, sales, marketing and other services.

IntelliResponse: Instant Answer Suite—enhances consumer experience across a variety of interaction channels, including corporate web sites, agent desktops, social media platforms and mobile devices.

ISYS Search: ISYS Document Filters—an embeddable set of document filters for extracting text from a comprehensive library of file, container and e-mail formats.

JackBe: Presto Platform—allows application developers and power users to create, customize and share enterprise application mashups.

Jive Software: SBS 4.5—integrated collaboration, community and social networking software for all types of online communities: employee, public or both.

MarkLogic: MarkLogic Server—a powerful XML server to accelerate the development of information applications to meet all sharing and delivery requirements.

Metastorm: Enterprise—aligns business strategy with execution while optimizing the types and levels of business resources it uses.

Microsoft: SharePoint 2010—arguably the most versatile business platform ever.

MindTouch: MindTouch CLOUD—an affordable tool allowing users to collaborate with the ease of a wiki but with the capabilities of an enterprise platform.

MobilVox: IRIS—intelligent retrieval information system running in a browser, enabling search of hundreds of gigabytes of data on the network.

NetBase: ConsumerBase—helps to create consumer insight strategies by capitalizing on social media explosion and internal data.

Newsgator: Social Sites—integrates directly into SharePoint’s collaboration to add value to customers and unify technology infrastructure.

nGenera: Spaces—wikis, blogs, and messaging that allow users to connect and share using familiar tools.

Noetix: Noetix Analytics—a packaged analytics solution for the Oracle E-Business Suite designed to greatly speed the process of implementing a data warehouse.

Northern Light: MI Analyst—text analytics and meaning extraction application optimized for business research applications.

Omtool: AccuRoute—a document handling platform that captures, converts and distributes paper and electronic documents.

Open Text: ECM Suite—a robust platform addressing all management capabilities needed to handle each type of enterprise content—including business documents, records, Web content, digital, e-mail, forms, reports, etc.

Oracle: ECM 11g—a suite that tightly integrates its content management platform into the Fusion Middleware architecture and is built on a unified content repository.

PaperThin: CommonSpot—a user-friendly, intuitive Web content management system.

Parature: Customer Service—a SaaS offering integrating a customer portal, rich knowledgebase and full trouble ticket software.

Project Performance Corp.: KM Solutions—consulting and IT solutions with an emphasis in the areas of environment and energy.

Raytion: Enterprise Search Connectors—a family of vendor-independent enterprise search connectors that enables secure and easily retrievable business-critical information.

Recommind: Decisiv Search—automated categorization, filing, storage and retrieval of e-mail-based information.

Rivet Logic: ECM Solutions—enable organizations to transform traditional content repositories and static intranets into dynamic, collaborative work environments through open source functionality.

RSD: Enterprise Output Solution (EOS)—enables organizations to achieve concise and compliant information deliveryin a heterogeneous and demanding IT environment.

SAS: SAS Text Analytics—a framework that enables organizations to maximize the value of information within large quantities of text that is generated, acquired or exists in repositories.

SDL: SDL Tridion—an enterprise Web content management solution facilitating delivery of personalized content to target audiences internationally.

Search Technologies: Search Application Assessment Process—comprehensive customer assessment program that provides a structured and pragmatic approach to search implementation.

Sinequa: Enterprise Search 7.0—combines linguistic and semantic technology to drive intelligent decision making.

Sitecore: Sitecore CMS—full Web content management suite to create and maintain dynamic sites of all types.

Siteworx: Enterprise Search Consulting—facilitates development of intuitive, customized search interfaces for a wide variety of business sectors.

Smartlogic: Semaphore—three components that analyze, classify and reveal content, including ontology management, content classification and search enhancement.

Sophia Search: SOPHIA—enterprise search solution that understands the different contextual meanings for a query and intelligently returns results organized in structured thematic folders.

SpringCM: Content Management Service—affordable, cloud-based content and document management.

Stored IQ: Intelligent Information Management (IIM) Platform—software-based appliance for managing the intersection of e-discovery, information governance, records management and storage management.

SumTotal Systems: ToolBook 10.5—e-learning solution that allows subject matter experts and learning professionals to create interactive learning content, quizzes, assessments and software simulations.

SwiftKnowledge: Version 9 for the Enterprise—business intelligence software with “mashboards” of structured and unstructured data, Web 2.0 content, search, new user interface and new dashboard/report layout designer.

Symantec: Norton 360 Version 4.0—threat protection to detect viruses, Trojans horses, spyware, etc.

TEMIS: Luxid—text-mining discovery and knowledge extraction tools for immediate access to internal and external data sources.

Traction Software:TeamPage—pioneering Enterprise 2.0 solution featuring security, threaded discussion, moderation, document management, social networking, search, etc.

Unify: SQLBase 11.5 SP3—database technology designed for ease of use, high performance and worldwide application deployment.

Vivisimo: Velocity Platform—designed to harness and optimize information regardless of the source and to drive innovation, real-time decisions and actionable insight.

Xerox: DocuShare—enables users to capture, manage, share and protect a wide range of paper and digital content in one secure, central and highly scalable repository.

ZyLAB: eDiscovery and Production System—engineered for legal departments to efficiently manage the most expensive and tedious elements of litigation in house with automated tools.