For the past several columns on knowledge warehouses, I have covered a technology called portals. These are Web sites that house and categorize knowledge that will enable your staff to navigate and gather information that they need.

A portal literally opens up vast quantities of organizational information to members of a knowledge community. As such, they are becoming increasingly important as businesses organize vast amounts of information and capabilities and make them available over the Web.

Central to the success of portals is the creation of a formal information structure known as a taxonomy. This structure allows all information to be categorized in a common manner and easily found by anyone looking for it. The next step is to deploy this Web-based knowledge center and even link it with others.

Imagine organizations all over the world busily constructing portals containing their specific knowledge elements. These independent "knowledge islands" serve up specific information to their unique user base. As they operate autonomously capturing, categorizing, and cataloging information, a knowledge mosaic begins to emerge that has a personal characterization of the organization.

Now imagine that these knowledge islands are securely and transparently connected via the Internet. Searches initiated by users of one knowledge community yield results as if the search was conducted on each of the knowledge communities. This multiple portal search feature is referred to as syndication.

Syndication is a powerful tool. It enables separate and disparate portals to operate as if they are one. Many organizational advantages accrue to the members of a syndicated community. The time it takes for information to be delivered to members of the knowledge community can be slashed, for example.

Syndication technology also lets users distribute resources from a corporate portal to any Web site, including intranets. These sites can be hosted by the same organization that hosts the portal, or by that organization's customers and partners. Users will be able to use the portal, for example, to embed an inventory report from a manufacturing system in a supplier's Web site, an events calendar from a database in its own Internet site, or competitive intelligence and marketing materials in a partner's portal.

The business-to-business (B2B) exchange of corporate portal content and services will ideally work directly in conjunction with procurement transaction systems. Portals will give partners and customers the information they need to make informed purchases as well as permit them to play an active role in product design and support before and after a B2B transaction occurs.

What ramifications does syndication mean for you? For one, the communication barriers we face and the resultant loss of time and productivity will begin to decrease. Firms that once spent days researching emerging technologies, market trends, and component pricing will be constantly sharing information directly through their portal.

The growth in the knowledge management industry is entering a new phase, a phase that I predict will see enormous sharing and cross pollination of knowledge within and between communities.

Successful companies will encourage bi-directional knowledge sharing resulting in productivity improvements and competitive advantages. Portals, powerful syndication tools, and knowledge communities are here to stay.