PLANEGG, Germany — Biomax Informatics announces a major release of its enterprise platform, the BioXM™ Knowledge Management Environment. The BioXM system integrates information from different data sources to dynamically build semantic networks representing up-to-date knowledge, which can be mined and analyzed. BioXM version 4.0 introduces web-application functionality (web apps) and numerous other enhancements. This next-generation BioXM platform is the realization of Biomax’s vision to provide an easy-to-use, cost-efficient, configurable knowledge management platform that builds upon current semantic concepts.

BioXM version 4.0 adds the ability to publish browser-based web applications that dynamically access the semantic network maintained by the BioXM enterprise server, thus providing an easy-to-use web frontend for untrained users. Building on an open source wiki framework, a set of BioXM wiki-plugins allows users to easily publish BioXM smart folders, query templates and reports, and interactively browse, annotate, add and modify content in the knowledge environment in a familiar web browser.

“Among the new features introduced with BioXM v4.0, the web apps layer truly stands out,” says Biomax’s head of product management, Dr. Sascha Losko. “We carefully built on our proven, knowledge management platform and added support for a web application layer that allows portal solutions to be published for large end-user communities.” During the last year, the approach was validated in close collaboration with two corporate customers. Dr. Losko explains, “the BioXM web apps framework allowed us, together with our customers, to build highly specific solutions within a few weeks — a task that would have taken many months using a traditional software development process. This agile approach allowed us to rapidly reach user communities of 200+ end users, who have used these web solutions on a daily basis ever since.”

Other functionality added to the BioXM platform increases overall usability and allows application in areas that previously have been difficult to address. The introduction of spreadsheet-style formulas allows on-the-fly calculations directly within object tables or network graph style definitions. This simplifies mathematical analyses and chart drawing. Additional functionality expands the network graph capabilities of the BioXM client. Dynamic visualization styles allow greater flexibility to tailor graph presentation to exact research needs.

BioXM version 4.0 is available immediately, existing customers are already being upgraded.