Lotus 'K-station' on track

Raven, the knowledge management project from Lotus Development Corp., is

on the verge of making its first in a series of product deliveries, according

to the company's president.

The Lotus K-station, a knowledge-oriented portal, will begin shipping

before the end of the year, said Al Zollar, who also serves as chief executive

officer.

"It brings together knowledge workers, employees or those in the supply

chain that have enterprise relationships through internal places, documents

or basic services like e-mail, calendaring and scheduling," Zollar said

during an interview while in Washington, D.C., for the Lotus Global Government

Forum.

Zollar said Raven should be thought of as a solution with multiple deliveries.

The second delivery will be Discovery Server, which Zollar said will include

the "killer app": expertise location.

That means "being able to find the right expert in seconds rather than

days," Zollar said. "Government and business waste a lot of time at that

right now, and that's right on the verge of being delivered."

Zollar said the main point of having a global government forum was for

the company to listen to its government clients.

"We're here to explain what we're doing, but also to listen and learn

what our government customers are thinking about," he said. "We want to

hear their needs and requirements to keep helping them today and in the

future."