Teamwork: Blogtronix, BrainKeeper, Firestoker, System One
Under the Radar attendees were just treated to the battle of the online corporate-collaboration tools. There wasn't a shortage of good ideas; it's just that getting corporations to even warm to the idea of sharing information online or moving past e-mail for collaboration is a big challenge. The four tools presented are similar, with each demonstrating secure ways for users to share information and work together on projects.
Blogtronix stood out just for the sheer amount of capabilities it offers. The product is a social and secure platform for connecting employees online through a mixed Web 2.0 bag: blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, and social networking. Blogtronix is based in Bulgaria and will let companies brand the product under their own corporate name. Their main target is financial services companies with global offices.
System One was by far the slickest-looking interface. Also an online collaboration tool, it's a wiki at heart, but seems to require very little prior knowledge of how to use it. Companies can deploy the system and users get a blank page. It's features include drag and drop files, Web bookmarks, RSS feeds, files, videos and more. The Austrian company has been around for two years.
Firestoker set itself apart by being upfront: "We don't do wikis," the company said. It described itself as "social networking meets enterprise blogging." The tool is aimed at the new generation of employees that are used to a MySpace or instant-messaging style of communication. Users can collaborate on a problem in real-time by blogging about it. The product also lets users join groups and subscribe to other users' feeds that are most relevant to their own work. The product sits behind a company's own firewall.
Brainkeeper made no bones about it: It's definitely a wiki, and ideally, it wants to be the enterprise version of Wikipedia for your company. It's similar in concept to the other collaborative platforms presented, but Brainkeeper is a hosted service. It emphasizes the degree of control companies can have over both the tool and the information uploaded. Employees can blog content, tag it, and search for information, but with different levels of permissions. Brainkeeper will let corporations brand the tool with their own logo. The company charges $5 per month for 3 users, $35 for 9 users, and $60 for 18 users.
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur. E-mail Erica. 
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