Interwise this week plans to ship its Enterprise Communications Platform (ECP), a Web-based application the company believes will facilitate e-learning and training for groups of all sizes.
The Tel Aviv, Israel-based company also garnered $34 million in a third round of investment from Accenture Technology Ventures, Lazard Technology Partners and UBS. The round brings total funding to $70 million, said Interwise CEO Frank Zvi.
In addition, Jim Manzi, former chairman of Lotus Development Corp. and an Interwise investor, is now non-executive chairman of Interwise.
 Former Lotus executive Manzi is now Interwise's non-executive chairman. |
"If you're an enterprise, human resources can use it to have the CEO talk to everyone in [broadcast] mode and at the same time also talk to specific groups in [seminar] mode," Zvi said.
A workgroup member can also include users who aren't using ECP by sending an e-mail with authorization to enter a Web-based session. Interwise is charging $75,000 per year to cover an unlimited number of concurrent users.
Integrators can use ECP to help companies cut travel costs.
Sue Carpenter, a consultant for Anheuser-Busch, said Interwise fills the bill for the brewing company, which typically flies its large sales force into its St. Louis headquarters for classroom training, she said.
"They wanted me to figure out how to get more information to them more quickly," she said. "The complaint from field people is, when they're training, they're out of the market [and] they're not selling."
Interwise competes with Centra Software, Lexington, Mass., but that company downplays the rivalry.
"They're a small player compared to us, and they've copied a lot of our strategy. Looks like I've got my very own Philippe Kahn," said Centra Chairman and CEO Leon Navickas.
Like Manzi, Navickas is a former Lotus executive. Former Borland Chairman Kahn got a lot of attention by following Lotus' spreadsheet game plan years ago.
