NEW SOFTWARE ENABLES DECISION-MAKERS TO VISUALIZE
"SWEET SPOT" IN COMPLICATED BUSINESS INFORMATION
Visual data mining is the new cutting edge of business applications and information management tools that benefit both analysts and decision-makers in information-intensive markets.
Today's high-end data mining tools utilize technology derived from statistics, artificial intelligence, and neural networks. They require technical expertise plus clear comprehension of data significance within particular industries (finance, biotech, network management, operations research). But even with such expertise, users find that many tools can't deliver the results required for success. They can't "see" the vital patterns quickly enough.
Not having enough data isn't the problem. The problem is that desktop visualization tools can't reach the vast amounts of mined data that business decision-makers need to understand. The solution? A start-up Research Triangle Park, NC company has produced one.
Software engineers at Electrohouse, Inc., founded in January 1998, have developed a software product that allows standard Virtual Reality (VR) browsers available from SGI, Sony and Intervista to be used for data visualization with leading databases and data mining products available from Oracle, SAS, Sybase, Informix and Microsoft.
The company's solution, called VRCharts, is the first product developed to transform VR browsers that are designed for gaming and entertainment into powerful business tools. The product enables a new class of hybrid "visual data mining" tools, combining the decision-support power of data mining with the intuitive understanding of visualization. Delivered to the desktop, VRCharts allows businesses to replace high-end specialty visualization packages that run only on expensive graphics workstations with the virtual reality plug-in software used by web-browsers from Microsoft and Netscape.
As a result, decision-makers at all levels of business will be able to visualize the "sweet spot" in complicated business information. "Over 20 million users have installed VR browsers on their desktop, today. But, these browsers are aimed at the casual user to view games and entertainment content," said Michael Neacsu, Electrohouse founder and president. "They can only open and read simple file input, but they don't connect to databases. This is a serious bottleneck with the result is that only simple, static, applications can be built for visualizing business data. Serious VR business solutions will not be embraced until these data access limitations are addressed."
Until now the means of connection between information in databases and viewable content in VR browsers has been unavailable for PC-based application developers and systems integrators. Electrohouse plans to change that, and usher in its vision of new cutting edge of business applications and information management tools. These visual data mining applications are dependent on the availability of scalable technologies and tools to support the VR-data management and transmission requirements of users. The widespread adoption of visual data mining applications and user-interfaces will be enabled by the availability of powerful VR database software and client/server development tools.
"Visualization has transformed every industry that it has touched, from engineering and medicine to entertainment and games," said Neacsu. "We anticipate that business will also be transformed by 'visual data mining'. Once we introduce VRCharts into business application development and systems integration, we believe that decision-makers will demand more than traditional picture charts and graphs."
Electrohouse, an N.C.-based software research and development (R&D) company, has built the VRCharts product that allows the software to be directly integrated with other business applications.
The product will be distributed via the WWW by the publisher AlterVue Systems at http://www.vrcharts.com VRCharts runs on Windows 95/98 and NT systems. VRCharts works with industry-leading databases such as ORACLE, SYBASE, INFORMIX, Microsoft SQL-SERVER and ODBC. It easily integrates with VR browsers from Intervista (WorldView), Silicon Graphics Inc. (COSMO) and Sony (Community Player). VRDEV supports the leading VR charting and graphing packages such as Visible Decision's VizIT, Intervista's Worldchart, Virtual Data's CyberGraph3D, and Altervue's VRCharts, which was also conceived and developed by Electrohouse. Michael Neacsu, a seasoned R&D executive in North Carolina's 'Virtual Valley," formed the company to deliver high-performance visual data mining solutions to the business community. He and several members of his software engineering team with backgrounds in advanced technology from the North Carolina Supercomputing Center, consult internationally in the High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) industry.