AsiaOne today announced the launch of AsiaOne Innovation, a portal aimed at encouraging the use of and building skills around Web 2.0 technologies.

AsiaOne, Singapore Press Holdings' free one-stop information portal, hopes to create greater awareness among online communities of the importance of social networking capabilities, especially for businesses that can leverage Web 2.0 to drive greater collaboration with stakeholders to achieve their business goals.

AsiaOne is delivering this latest content offering in partnership with IBM Singapore over an initial three-month timeline. The first of its kind in Singapore, this portal consolidates content around Web 2.0 to give business users an understanding of influential and emerging technologies that appeal to a new generation of online users who are familiar with Web communities such as MySpace and Facebook.

Mr Felix Soh, Head of Digital Media, English and Malay Newspapers, Singapore Press Holdings, said: "AsiaOne is delighted to have the opportunity to work with an IT giant like IBM. Such collaborations allow us to offer our readers new content and perspective. In this case, niche areas such as Web 2.0 is our focus."

Mr Soh added: "Leveraging on SPH's strength as a leading content provider, readers can find aggregated content about the second generation of web-based communities and hosted services for their workplace and businesses in AsiaOne's latest offering."

Mr Chris Tan, Marketing Manager, IBM Singapore, said: "Social computing technologies are poised to change the way businesses are conducted, just like the way the Internet revolutionised businesses a decade ago. This partnership offers an opportunity for individuals and companies to understand and leverage on the potential of social computing for their businesses."

Mr Tan went on to say: "As companies increase their reliance on new Web-based technologies to capitalise on new business opport/unities, industry players are continuously looking at how they can build and manage Web 2.0 resources, including wikis, blogs, user groups and forums."

Users can expect a series of videos and audio presentations providing insights into social computing to be streamed directly from this portal.

Other interactive features include a forum for users to collaborate and interact. There will also be events such as a series of breakfast meetings, where business leaders will be invited to share their experiences with users of AsiaOne Innovation.