Knightsbridge Solutions Launches E-business Practice

Knightsbridge Solutions LLC announced "Xtreme-E," a new suite of systems integration services delivering high-performance data "e-frastructure" solutions for firms with terabyte-class data volumes, massive throughput needs, high reliability requirements, and intense demand for user access. Xtreme-E services will be delivered through a new practice area that leverages the firm's deep experience in high-performance data warehousing.

"The growth of e-business has led to exponential growth in data volumes, data complexity, and demand for user access," said Rod Walker, president and COO. "Power users want direct access to data integrated across channels, they want granular levels of data in real-time, they want to implement customer care and marketing programs that personalize delivery--and they want it now. Knightsbridge is uniquely qualified to help them achieve these results."

"Big data" problems are emerging as the Achilles's heel in the mushrooming B2B and B2C e-business markets. Stamford-based analyst firm Gartner Group projects B2B services will grow to $7.3 trillion by 2004, and B2C will grow to $380 billion by 2003.

Today's data infrastructures are not truly scalable for data volumes that are by some estimates doubling, tripling, even quadrupling every year.

Practice Area Foundations in Scalable and Parallel Technologies

The Knightsbridge e-business practice will leverage the company's deep skills in high-performance solutions for terabyte-class data warehouses. Knightsbridge solutions typically utilize parallel and scalable technologies to implement durable, robust data infrastructures with low cost of ownership. The company has achieved performance improvements that are 10, 20, 30 times better than current run times, delivered data warehouses that scale easily to many terabytes of data, and pioneered technology to support continuous clickstream processing. "When you need extreme scalability, extreme reliability, and extreme flexibility, you need industrial-strength solutions; that's what Xtreme-E delivers," explained Tim McBreen, e-business practice area leader.

Four Core Competencies Headline "Xtreme-E" Service Offering

The "Xtreme-E" service suite includes four services that address the need for high-performance data solutions:

• Continuous data extraction, transformation, and analysis (ETL)-- Knightsbridge is pioneering continuous clickstream processes, with techniques to extract and analyze volumes as high as 2 billion clicks a day. Parallel technologies for real-time data collection enable clients to understand activity at an extremely granular level in order to support customer interaction strategies such as personalization, fine-tune marketing strategies, or other high-value business processes.
• B2B data aggregation and syndication--Another application of continuous clickstream technology, B2B data aggregation and syndication supports the needs of digital marketplaces to aggregate product, price, and service information from thousands of suppliers and information syndicators and redistribute it to buyers and affiliates.
• Cross-channel data integration--Integrating Web data to existing legacy sources has emerged as a significant challenge for most brick-and-mortar firms. Knightsbridge integrates all data channels in a near real-time enterprise warehouse to support the evolution of these firms to true "click-and-mortar" organizations.
• Interaction management and self-service solutions--Working with partners in the delivery of customer interaction strategies, 1Knightsbridge builds the high-performance data backbone necessary to deliver in real-time a single view of the customer and respond with appropriately personalized responses and self-service options.

Senior executives in leadership roles

Knightsbridge has recruited senior executives from within the IT industry to lead the new practice and is building a team of e-business consultants with experience in e-commerce, high-performance data solutions, and customer relationship management. Senior executives include:

Timothy McBreen, Practice Area Leader--Mr. McBreen has over 25 years of business and software systems experience in strategy planning, analysis, design, testing, and implementation of complex state-of-the-art information systems for Fortune 500 firms. His specialty is managing critical business system projects and retooling information systems organizations to take advantage of new enabling technologies, such as clickstream processing, CORBA, MQ-Series, and XML exchange.

Mr. McBreen has directed implementations in e-commerce, enterprise resource planning, data warehousing, order entry, and customer service systems in support of customer relationship management and supply chain management. He is experienced delivering these solutions to a variety of industries including telecommunications, consumer products, travel, financial services, manufacturing, retail and food services.

David Z. Tyson, Senior Principal--Dave Tyson is the practice area's senior technologist, bringing 20 years of technology consulting experience in customer relationship management gained in the automotive, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, telecommunications, and logistics industries.

Mr. Tyson has extensive senior-level experience implementing advanced customer contact solutions such as Web personalization, immediate callback systems, call routing, call scheduling, and call analysis. With experience developing multichannel customer contact centers, customer tracking systems, and data warehouses, Mr. Tyson has helped a number of large organizations achieve heightened awareness of customer activity.

"Xtreme-E positions the organization to compete in the `new economy,'" said Walker. "Our clients can manage the extreme volumes of data, respond real-time to new information and changing business rules, and leverage their integrated Web and legacy data." Knightsbridge anticipates the practice will be a strong complement to existing competencies in telecommunications, financial services, pharmaceuticals, retail, and consumer products.

Knightsbridge Solutions is a systems integration firm delivering high-performance data-centric solutions to power the smarter, faster, and more flexible global enterprise. Knightsbridge implements scalable data warehousing and e-business infrastructures that solve terabyte-class data problems and enable high-value business processes. The firm participates in marketing partnerships with IBM Corporation, NCR Corporation, Ab Initio Software Corporation, Hyperion, MicroStrategy Inc, and other leading providers of high-performance data solutions.

Contact Porter Novelli Convergence Group, Ronda Duncan, 847-714-8600 ronda.duncan@pnicg.com.