Many leading corporations have implemented Learning Management Systems (LMS) to answer to their needs in knowledge management. Knowledge management is becoming a strategic issue. For the education domain, institutions and training companies have started to invest in LMS targeting pupils and students but also individuals who have no easy access to education and training.

Many LMS exist on the e-learning market. To be marketable, they must offer basic features. They should support blended learning (classroom and virtual courses), integration with human resources systems, third-party integration content and adherence to standards such as SCORM and AICC for interoperability. As added value, they can also propose the following functionalities: assessment of the courses followed by the learners, skills management, configurability and finally online communities (chat rooms, bulletins boards, newsgroups, online support, tutors, etc.).

In the FELLOWS IST project, CybEOsphere, a French company providing knowledge management and e-learning products and services, is currently developing a new version of their LMS, CybEO2 (Cyber Enseignement Ouvert, release 2). This Open Distance Learning (ODL) platform will be tested by the following populations: (i) unemployed young people, (ii) young people involved in vocational training who risk dropping out without personalised support, (iii) women at home needing retraining to work, and, (iv) semi-illiterates people in both rural and urban areas (suburbs) including immigrants.

CybEO2 is a modular ODL platform: every training service is parameterised to accommodate optimally the wide variety of pedagogical approaches: self-learning, tutored distance training, collaborative work (forums, chats) and face-to-face work. These approaches can be combined to set up a training model specific to each learning group or individual. CybEO2 is easy to use by the different e-learning actors with no specific computer background: the platform and management administrators, the content producers, the tutors and of course the learners. Each trainee uses her/his desktop to follow her/his training curriculum, in her/his own language.

The CybEO2 platform is based on Internet technologies (Java, XML) around three core components: the learning tracking module, the communication module and the content generator. It implements a new software architecture (a kernel, an API and an application layer) that enables the features to be adapted to the training needs of each organisation. The platform is quick to install on any Linux or Windows NT4/2000 server. The users need simply a Windows system and Internet Explorer 5 browser.CybEO2 implements two main standards : (i) the SCORM standard , and (ii) the J2EE standard concerning the software architecture. The main advantages of CybEO2 are : (i) it can be used on different platforms (PC, interactive digital TV, Wap, PDA), (ii) it contains adaptable learning features, and (iii) it can be integrated in the Information System of any organisation.