Data mining, data warehousing, decision support and knowledge discovery make up the universe of D S * ( dsstar ), the only executive business newsletter supporting strategic employment of these technologies.

The On-Line Executive Journal for Data-Intensive Decision Support
*** Jun 1, 1999: Vol. 3, No. 22 ***
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IN THIS ISSUE:

CAN DATA MINING PREVENT SPYING?
IBM ESTABLISHES DEEP COMPUTING INSTITUTE
MICROSOFT PUSHES FOR OPEN DATA MINING SPECS

ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

TRACKING THE USE OF DATA AND INFORMATION: A MATTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY by Ed Colet

Executive Editor-at-Large Inderpal Bhandari presents a guest editorial by Virtual Gold's Acting Director of Research:

Substantial efforts are devoted to technology for collecting, storing and analyzing data. Data is an asset and converting it into useful knowledge provides competitive advantages. Unfortunately, the theft of data and information is a surreptitious way to gain advantage, and apparently a difficult matter to prosecute. In this column, I address ways to ensure that data as a valuable asset can be protected, and any misuse readily apparent.

SGI AND ACXIOM ADVANCE DATABASE MARKETING FOR THE INTERNET ECONOMY

To help small- and medium-sized companies compete in today's fast-paced economy, SGI and Acxiom Corporation have demonstrated next-generation database marketing technology designed to provide fast, affordable and easy access to customer intelligence enabling companies to more effectively market products and services. Combining the power of the Internet, SGI's high-performance servers and advanced visual data mining technology, and access to the comprehensive Acxiom Data Network, the new technology will also be offered to Internet service providers, giving them an ideal value-added service to provide to customers running e-commerce Web sites.

J.D. EDWARDS DELIVERS BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SOLUTION AS PART OF ITS ACTIVERA KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Enterprise business software provider J.D. Edwards & Company has announced new business intelligence functionality and enhanced analytical capabilities as part of its larger ActivEra Knowledge Management strategy.

IBM AND AUTOZONE SPEED ANALYSIS OF SALES DATA

In recent visits to IBM's RS/6000 Teraplex Integration Center, auto parts retailer AutoZone successfully analyzed three-and-a-half years of sales data, or 1.5 billion records, in just a couple of minutes, down from previous query times as long as several hours. These results translate to a competitive advantage for AutoZone, the nation's leading auto parts chain, proving it can more quickly identify key consumer buying trends and use that information to better manage inventory at its 2,700 stores in 39 states.

IBM ESTABLISHES DEEP COMPUTING INSTITUTE

IBM has announced the formation of the Deep Computing Institute, a $29-million research initiative that will bring together experts in academia and industry to address some of the world's most challenging business and scientific problems. "Deep computing" refers to supercomputer-scale processing initiatives that combine massive computation and very sophisticated software algorithms to attack problems previously beyond the reach of information technology. Deep computing techniques include optimization, simulation, visualization, as well as advanced pattern matching and discovery.

MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES VENDOR INITIATIVE TO CREATE OPEN DATA MINING SPECIFICATION

Microsoft Corp. has announced a new initiative to extend OLE DB data access interfaces, providing software vendors and application developers with an open interface to more efficiently integrate data mining tools and applications. A joint effort between the Microsoft SQL Server development group and Microsoft Research, OLE DB for data mining exemplifies Microsoft's commitment to delivering leading-edge technology to the developer community.

SAS INSTITUTE INTRODUCES QUALITY CENTER METHODOLOGY

SAS Institute Inc., a market leader in integrated data warehousing and decision support, has discussed the methodology at the base of its Quality Center, at the AQC Conference in Anaheim, CA.

ACTION ITEMS

Simulus Launches SIMperformer for Oracle
Simulus Ltd., the UK-based developer of Predictive Performance Management (PPM) technology, has unveiled its first commercial solution for large enterprise computing systems. SIMperformer for Oracle is a performance management solution based on Simulus' groundbreaking predictive simulation technology, which enables non-intrusive evaluation of future point in time application performance.

Quadstone Unveils $10(£6.3)Million Investment Package for Global Expansion
Edinburgh-based data mining software house, Quadstone Limited unveiled the details of a $10 (£6.3) million investment package from a consortium led by international venture capital investors 3i plc.

E*Trade Trades Data for Knowledge with Information Discovery Inc.'s System
As the competition for on-line web-based financial services heats-up, new technology is giving the leading service providers with yet another winning edge. E*Trade, the world's largest on-line brokerage service is using Information Discovery's Pattern Query Language to access a Pattern Warehouse of prospect and customer behavior to fine tune its marketing strategies.

Leading Data Mining Vendor Expands E-Commerce Offering to Improve Sales Productivity
SPSS Inc. opened the doors of an expanded online store at http://www.spss.com/store/software The e-commerce site offers customers the speed and convenience of Internet shopping along with the assurance of secured transactions. This expansion offers secure transactions to SPSS North America customers, and frees sales staff to focus on larger, enterprise-wide sales.

Spotfire Offers Low-Cost Mining Tool
Medical research isn't often turned to for its economic wisdom, but now a data visualization tool aimed primarily at life-science and pharmaceutical researchers may well point the way toward a form of low-cost data mining for business users.

Mitsubishi Electric Forms Strategic OEM Partnership with Informatica to Target Japan's Data Warehousing Market
Informatica Corporation and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation have announced a strategic partnership in which Mitsubishi will resell Informatica's PowerCenter and PowerMart data warehousing software as part of a comprehensive, high-performance data warehousing solution for the Japanese market.

Daylight Software Introduces Daylight DataWarehouse and Daylight Dimensions: Powerful Analytical and Presentation Tools for Hotel Sales and Catering Automation
Daylight enterprise allows sales managers in hotel properties, regional offices, and corporate headquarters to view their business more strategically, make smarter decisions based on real-time information, and provide better customer service.

Broadbase Releases Next Generation Suite of Web-Based Analytic Applications for E-Business, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service
Extending its leadership in customer-focused analytic applications, Broadbase Information Systems, a leading provider of Enterprise Performance Management Solutions (EPM), has introduced Broadbase EPM 3.0 -- a new version of Broadbase's award-winning suite of Web-based analytic applications that enable businesses to optimize their operations across all customer touch points.

A Service to Combat Fraud
The service is built on neural network technology that sorts through volumes of transaction-level data for patterns of fraud and provides a rank-ordered scoring system that users can adjust to set their own fraud parameters. Pricing for the service is based on transaction volume.

Evoke Unlocks Mainframe Data with MA/Extract; New Product Works with Evoke's Migration Architect to Reduce Time and Cost of Migrating Legacy Data
Until now, migrating non-relational data "locked away" on OS/390 (MVS) mainframe systems to newer packaged applications and data warehouses has presented a challenge because it was too time consuming and expensive to understand.

IBM Announces Open-Source Availability of 3D Visualizaton Software
The IBM Deep Computing Institute has announced open access to the source code for IBM Visualization Data Explorer, a powerful software package used to analyze and create visual representations of data. With the release of the Data Explorer source code, developers can collaborate with IBM to make improvements to the software that will benefit the entire user community.

E-Dialog and DataSage Form Strategic Partnership to Provide Marketers With Extensive Insight Into Customer Patterns
E-Dialog, the pioneer of E-Direct Response Marketing, and DataSage, the leading developer of integrated customer intelligence software solutions, has announced a strategic partnership to combine E-Dialog's powerful suite of E-Direct Response Marketing services with DataSage's robust customer intelligence solutions. The move will significantly augment a marketer's ability to create and foster valuable, ongoing relationships with target audiences via the e-mail channel.

Gentia Announces a New Platform for Intelligent Applications Combining the Company`s Innovative OLAP Database Architecture with Predictive Analysis
Gentia Software, a leading provider of intelligent analytical applications for enterprise-wide deployment, has announced a development project jointly with K.wiz Solutions to integrate the machine learning and compression technology from the K.wiz data mining framework with GentiaDB.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"There is a great need in the industry to bring strategic business analysis and visual data mining capabilities and tools to mainstream markets."

CONFERENCES & SEMINARS 06.01.99

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