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Intelligent data mining - IBM ponders algorithm for Notes
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Date: Monday, February 24, 1997
Source: InfoWorld
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InfoWorld via Individual Inc. : IBM is looking to integrate a new
intelligent data-mining algorithm into Lotus Notes, making the groupware
platform better able to funnel user-focused data to desktops.
Although the project is still being discussed, IBM hopes to use its new
technology, called the Features, Actions, and Utility (FAU) algorithm, in a
variety of message-related products in 1997. The FAU technology could be
used in applications such as messaging, in which messages could be
prioritized or weeded out, as well as in news-retrieval programs and search
engines.
"It's certainly a technology that should be applied to Notes, no question
about it," said David Marshak, vice president and senior consultant at the
Patricia Seybold Group, in Boston.
IBM plans to release this year four products that use the algorithm,
although specific plans are still being ironed out, said David H. Wolpert,
manager of data-mining solutions research at IBM, in San Jose, Calif.
The company has yet to decide whether products will be add-on components
to, or integrated with, existing offerings such as Notes.
IBM's business plan does call for offering client components as freeware
while charging for server-side products, Wolpert said.
IBM did say that the algorithm will be ported to Java later this year,
enabling customers to download SurfAid -- a data-mining application that
develops profiles of Web site visitors for electronic commerce purposes --
off of IBM servers.
Although software exists today to develop application-specific user
profiles, the algorithm, with its capability to learn user browsing habits,
will require less administration and maintenance, Wolpert said.
In Lotus' Notes groupware and Domino Web server, the algorithm could be
used for functions such as prioritizing subjects and documents in Notes
databases.
FAU will appear next month in SurfAid, which will initially run on the RISC
System/6000 hardware platform.
SurfAid tracks what individuals do on a site by monitoring the choices they
select and detecting patterns in the choices, IBM officials said. Based on
this information, the software will offer a version of the site tailored to
the individual customer's needs.
IBM's algorithm could be very useful, depending on how it is implemented
for developers, Seybold's Marshak said.
Notes user Thomas Saka, an information specialist with the Hawaii
Department of Education, in Honolulu, also said that the technology is
promising.
"We could automate a lot of the information dissemination, instead of
sending out pages," Saka said, adding that FAU could augment existing agent
technology in Notes.
The technology can be combined with other software algorithms to support
optimal prediction of user habits, IBM's Wolpert said. Although IBM has
focused on Web-based deployment of the algorithm, it is extensible to other
environments, he said.
IBM, based in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at (914) 765-1900 and
http://www.ibm.com.
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