Teragram: SAS’s Search Launchpad

March 20, 2008

This week SAS announced that it purchased Teragram, a content processing company with deep roots in, computer science, mathematics, and blue – chip clients. If you poke around Teragram’s Web site, you learn that the company supports double byte languages. If I read the Teragram information correctly, this little-known outfit not far from Harvard Yard has proprietary technology strongly suggestive of the super – sophisticated techniques in use at IBM, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

The Teragram system can match other systems advanced functions like advanced function — NLP (natural language processing)? Automatic summarization? No problem. Hosted services option? Check. Autonomy – Recommind type patten matching? Done. Attensity and Bitext style linguistic analysis? Covered. Teragram has a warehouse chock full of search and content processing goodies.

Now SAS owns this “search tech” tool box.

Teragram, founded in 1997, was a privately-held content processing company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Two wizards — both from Luxembourg — have applied their computer science and mathematical expertise to unstructured information for more than a decade. That’s a long time in the fast-moving search and text processing sector.

I learned about Teragram when someone told me that the company was a technology provider to Fast Search & Transfer SA. Fast Search’s Dr. John Lervik is a canny technologist, and he has a good nose for solid technology.

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Enterprise, Feature, Search, Text processing | 1 Comment

Beyond Search: A New Look, More Search Information

March 20, 2008

We’ve introduced a new look for Beyond Search: The Web log. Several people — including Blossom Software’s wizard, Alan Feuer — told me that it was impossible to find posts. The “earthworm” format is now officially gone. It’s been eaten by the squawking goose logo, a three-column format, and more hot links to the Beyond Search essays.

Keep in mind that Beyond Search is both a Web log and the title of my new study to be published by Frank Gilbane. The Web log, however, has been a surprise to me. We have readers from Australia to Norway and China. Not a day passes without an email, a comment, or a telephone call sparked by the information presented in Beyond Search: The Web Log.

Here’s a run down of the changes:

My essays will appear in the left – hand column (Column A, if you are familiar with Gutenberg – style publishing lingo). These will be the interviews, profiles, and opinion pieces characteristic of the postings of old.
The center column will contain — what I said I would never include — news. I am fortunate to have an anonymous professional assisting me with these stories. I think it will take me a month or so to sort out the “real” news from the “faux” news. If you have a story, please, send me an email (seaky2000 at yahoo.com). Maybe you can submit an article, and I will pay a modest amount for your work. I want to go slowly with inputs from the news pro on the East Coast plus over-the-transom ideas as well
The right – hand column will feature a search box, Google advertisements, and hot links to the various types of information in the Web log.

You may notice some white space at the foot of each column. I’m trying to figure out what widgets to include. Expect some fiddling around over the next two or three months.

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Feature | 1 Comment

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.