Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Data mining hits pay dirt
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section=51&screen=news&news_id=44031
By Don Mooradian, dmooradian@nashvillecitypaper.com
August 31, 2005

Welcome to the Information Age. Now what are we going to do with all that info, an amount so vast few humans can make sense of it?

Two Nashville companies are leading the way in new fields that have names such as data mining, text mining and knowledge discovery. These fields generally fall under the category of ?artificial intelligence.

Software has long been able to sort and organize information, but a new generation of software is going where no bytes have gone before. These programs are pinpointing customers for direct mail advertisers and fighting the war on terrorism. And some day soon they will help fight crime and cure disease.

Digital Reasoning Systems, on West End Avenue, recently landed a five-year, $7 million contract to provide its Interceptor Suite artificial intelligence (AI) software development and information-architecture services to the U.S. Army National Ground Intelligence Center for the fight against terrorism.

The software looks at enormous volumes of raw intelligence (much of it text) gathered through human and electronic sources. It finds patterns at the deepest levels of the content and then presents the information in a variety of formats. It helps enable analysts and policy-makers to quickly grasp the meaning and significance of information.

?Our company's goal is not to store data and move it around, but to start understanding the data itself. It is very important that you be able to find meaning in all this info, said Tim Estes, founder and chief executive officer of DRS. ?Not knowing something can cost money; cost lives.

He said the traditional approach is for programme"
Welcome to the Information Age. Now what are we going to do with all that info, an amount so vast few humans can make sense of it?

Two Nashville companies are leading the way in new fields that have names such as ?data mining,? ?text mining? and ?knowledge discovery.? These fields generally fall under the category of ?artificial intelligence.?

Software has long been able to sort and organize information, but a new generation of software is going where no bytes have gone before. These programs are pinpointing customers for direct mail advertisers and fighting the war on terrorism. And some day soon they will help fight crime and cure disease.

Digital Reasoning Systems, on West End Avenue, recently landed a five-year, $7 million contract to provide its Interceptor Suite artificial intelligence (AI) software development and information-architecture services to the U.S. Army National Ground Intelligence Center for the fight against terrorism.

The software looks at enormous volumes of raw intelligence (much of it text) gathered through human and electronic sources. It finds patterns at the deepest levels of the content and then presents the information in a variety of formats. It helps enable analysts and policy-makers to quickly grasp the meaning and significance of information.

?Our company?s goal is not to store data and move it around, but to start understanding the data itself. It is very important that you be able to find meaning in all this info,? said Tim Estes, founder and chief executive officer of DRS. ?Not knowing something can cost money; cost lives.?

He said the traditional approach is for programme"