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Earlier this summer, MindTouch announced its latest and biggest release: the new version of its open source collaboration and collective intelligence platform, called MindTouch Deki. This release, dubbed "Kilen Woods," delivers new workflow capabilities, adapters, and usability improvements targeted at the enterprise.

MindTouch was started in 2005 by Aaron Fulkerson and Steve Bjorg. I wrote about the first release of their product (then called DekiWiki) back in 2006.

This wiki-based platform does far more than just provide wiki technology and a place to collaborate or connect with others online. It literally pulls information from a myriad of systems internal and external to the organization and allows business users to mash it up and consolidate this data into a meaningful dashboard. Rather than adding yet one more solution to the already overcrowded mix within an organization, MindTouch Deki consolidates existing legacy and other data.

In a recent conversation with MindTouch CEO Aaron Fulkerson, he explained that what makes MindTouch different from other Web 2.0 products is that it takes the existing distributed heterogeneous network within the enterprise and creates a "collaborative canvas."

MindTouch Deki connects and integrates disparate enterprise systems, web services, and Web 2.0 applications to enable real-time collaboration and collective intelligence. Imagine pulling together CRM data from customer databases, sales databases, Google Maps, and external RSS feeds and combining it into one useable and meaningful application. That is what you can do with the interoperability inherent in MindTouch Deki.

The Kilen Woods release introduces new enterprise edition modules, workflow tools, and Deki scripts. New adapters and extensions allow for easy integration to more than 100 web services and applications. It enables businesses to connect and mashup applications and data silos from legacy systems, CRM and ERP applications, databases, and Web 2.0 applications. Imagine creating a dashboard that brings together one view of all the data you have on customers both internally and from the Internet. One-stop shopping for business intelligence can now be possible.

In the online demo for Kilen Woods you can see how one client of MindTouch used the tool to aggregate customer data so its sales force can see all the internal customer and sales data along with Google Maps, LinkedIn contact data, and Internet newsfeeds for each of its customers. The video provides one great example of how working local news and personal connections into conversations with potential and existing customers literally closes deals. Anyone who knows how to create truly successful business relationships can sense how with this type of integration you gain a competitive advantage.

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