Small and medium businesses now have an easy and cost-effective way to manage their documents with the general availability of KnowledgeTreeLive - a software as a service solution (SaaS) that utilizes open source and cloud computing to deliver a flexible and secure document management system.

Built on top of the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud™ (Amazon EC2) and the Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and delivered as a virtual appliance using rPath Linux Software Appliances, KnowledgeTreeLive provides customers with immediate access to KnowledgeTree's powerful features without requiring any investment in their own infrastructure. It is the latest offering from KnowledgeTree - a fast-growing provider of Open Source document management software.

"Not too long ago, only large enterprises needed a robust document management system. Geographically dispersed teams and compliance challenges have now brought this challenge to small and medium-sized businesses," said Daniel Chalef, COO of KnowledgeTree. "With KnowledgeTreeLive, business owners can get up and running very quickly, with no extensive training and absolutely no up-front investment in software or hardware. The system can grow right along with their business."

Powerful features backed by the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
KnowledgeTreeLive is a hosted, on-demand service delivered to any Internet-connected computer. The cloud computing-based SaaS application is built using virtual appliances and hosted within the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud. Secure document storage is provided by the Amazon Simple Storage Service™. Together, this provides customers with the assurance that their document management system is always available, secure and running on redundant systems, ensuring business continuity.

KnowledgeTreeLive provides customers with the peace-of-mind that they're not locked in: data can move seamlessly between KnowledgeTreeLive and the on-premise KnowledgeTree products, including the open source and commercially supported versions, both of which are run as traditional software on the customers' own servers.

New features of KnowledgeTreeLive include:
- Drag and Drop capabilities, including integration with Microsoft Office;
- A Windows desktop "hot folder" that enables users to fax, scan or save documents to the folder and have them simultaneously saved to their KnowledgeTreeLive repository;
- Integration with Zoho Office, an online office suite accessed via web browser;
- Publication of the KnowledgeTreeLive Web Service application programming interfaces (APIs) to enable developers to build mash-ups between various web applications.

"We chose KnowledgeTreeLive because it combines robust functionality with ease of use," said Kirk Gaburo CTO of WorkPlace Training, in Minneapolis, a provider of computer-based training, testing and documentation services. "Starting with no knowledge of the system, we were able to specify a folder hierarchy, create users, assign permissions and upload documents in less than thirty minutes. We are very pleased with the service."

"The goal of Amazon Web Services is to enable companies to develop innovative new products and services for their customers, without having to worry about the hassle and expense of maintaining a massive web-scale infrastructure on the back end", said Steve Rabuchin, Director of Developer Relations for Amazon Web Services. "We're pleased that KnowledgeTree's document management system and rPath's virtual appliance platform can be combined with Amazon Web Services to enable a new Software as a Service offering."

"Virtual appliances are ideal for massively scalable application deployments that offer traditional application providers all of the benefits of Software as a Service, without the expense of re-architecting their application," said Billy Marshall, CEO and founder of rPath. "By leveraging virtual appliances and cloud computing, KnowledgeTree is able to offer its customers a hosted application that is easy to use, cost-effective and secure."

Availability and Pricing

KnowledgeTreeLive is available immediately at http://www.knowledgetree.com/live.

Pricing begins at $30 per user per month.