Attivio: New Release, Support for 50+ Languages
September 7, 2008
I’m not sure if it’s because Attivio is located less than five miles from Fenway Park and that everyone in that area is, by default, a rabid Sox fan, but I got a preview of a slick new baseball demo they’ve put together to showcase the capabilities of their Active Intelligence Engine (AIE), which is trademarked.
For the upcoming Enterprise Search Summit West in late September, Attivio created a single index that’s composed of more than 700,000 news articles, dating from 2001 to 2007 about baseball. Attivio told me that these were fed into the AIE in XML format. Attivio also processed a dozen comma delimited files that contain baseball statistics such as batting , pitching, player salaries, team information, players post season performances. Here’s the results from my search of steroids.
© Attivio, 2008
Several aspects of this interface struck me as noteworthy. I liked:
- The ability to enter a word or phrase, a SQL query, or a combination “free text” item and a SQL query. Combining the ambiguity of natural language with the precision of a structured query language instruction gives me the type of control I want in my analytic work. Laundry lists don’t help me much. Fully programmatic systems like those from SAS and SPSS are too unwieldy for the fast-cycle work that I have to do.
- The point-and-click access to entities, alternative views, and other “facet” functions. Without having to remember how to perform a pivot operation, I can easily view information from structured and unstructured sources with a mouse click. For my work, I often pop between data and information associated with a single individual. The Attivio approach is a time saver, which is important for my work on tight deadlines.
- Administrative controls. The Attivio 1.2 release makes it easy for me to turn on certain features when I need them; for example, I can disable the syntax view with a mouse click. When I need to fiddle with my search statement, a click turns the function back on. I can jump to an alerts page to specify what I want to receive automatically and configure other parameters.
- Hit highlighting. I want to be able to spot the key fact or passage without tedious scanning.
New Features
After I looked at this interface, I did a quick catch up on the new features of Attivio Active Intelligence Engine Version 1.2, which was released about 30 days ago. Let me highlight the functions that caught my attention:
First, AIE 1.2 handles both structured data (databases, well formed XML) and unstructured data (email, reports, even media files) and most other enterprise repositories and applications. Attivio provides connectors for most standard file types and common enterprise applications. Unlike some firms who license conversion routines, Attivio has created its own connectors. The system takes note of database table row and column headings, indexing the contents of database cells, and processes unstructured data. During the content processing phase of indexing, relationships in data are maintained or discovered. An interface (as illustrated) can be configured with a search box or a point-and-click “assisted interface” to make access easier and quicker for the user.
Second, the system has been tweaked to make it easier to scale by snapping in needed resources such as additional storage or additional servers. Hardware can be added when it is needed. This eliminates the need to build out a massive infrastructure before making the system operational. Attivio’s approach also reduces the need for unexpected capital expense because the system scales in a linear fashion. Budgeting is more predictable. Use of commodity hardware further constrains the operating cost of the Attivio system.
Third, AIE now supports real-time, incremental indexing so fresh data is continuously streamed into the system and made immediately available for querying. AIE’s “active” capability allows users to drive data to end-users or to other systems as new content matches against saved queries. Alerts can be configured from the user interface (shown in the illustration) or set up by an administrator for a department. No programming is required for alerts operations.
Net Net
Attivio is one company that is addressing the dissatisfaction users express with key word search systems.
Attivio is an enterprise software company, composed of senior engineers and subject matter experts from the enterprise search, business intelligence, and data warehousing markets. Its Active Intelligence Engine™ (AIE) brings together enterprise search and business intelligence through its ability to combine structured data and unstructured content in one universal information access index.
Established search and business intelligence vendors are “bolting on” additional functionality to provide the type of end user information access that organizations are now demanding, but not Attivio. Attivio has been designed to provide information access without forcing the user to figure out when to use key word search and when to use a more formal type of query. With its support for facets, Attivio allows a busy user to explore information by pointing-and-clicking on links, scanning information, and then plugging in a specific query. Attivio combines a number of access functions in its Version 1.2 release.
Attivio is still a new company. I have added the company to my watch list. You can read the ArnoldIT.com interview with Ali Riaz, company president and founder, in my Search Wizards Speak series here.
Stephen Arnold, August 26, 2008
Comments
2 Responses to “Attivio: New Release, Support for 50+ Languages”
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I truly enjoyed this post, exceptional work – keep it up!!!!
Stone Barnes,
Your enthusiasm is an anomaly. Either you work at Attivio or have some connection with the firm. When Tess writes a news item, we get bitten or bones, not a rib eye of congratuations.
Stephen Arnold, November 5, 2008