Semantic Technology for the Masses – Rapid Enterprise-Wide Deployment; Easy to Link, Browse and Analyze Content from Multiple, Disparate Sources and Formats

San Jose, Calif., June 16, 2009 (2009 Semantic Technology Conference – Booth #114)

Cambridge Semantics, the leading provider of practical semantic solutions, introduced its new Anzo platform and tools designed to make semantic technology practical and accessible for a broad range of users across all industries. Easy-to-use browser-based tools and a plug-in that allows semantic linking of spreadsheets from within Microsoft Excel(r) itself, make the Anzo suite the first enterprise-class semantic technology solution designed for non-technical users.

“Semantic technology enables a whole new level of collaboration around data that was just not viable without it,” said Mike Cataldo, Cambridge Semantics Chief Executive Officer. “Just the ability to liberate data from spreadsheets so that it is easily combined and consumed by users and other applications, has a gigantic impact. Whether the challenge is compiling weekly sales figures from dozens of subsidiaries or collecting and uploading assay results from research partners around the world, these tasks require endless copying, importing, normalizing and updating-we automate that entire process. More than that, when any user can combine and analyze data from multiple systems regardless of source or structure, it creates a whole new level of organizational intelligence and business agility.”

Book of Odds Using Anzo Suite to Build Innovative Web-based Resource

One of the first companies to use the new Anzo Suite is Book of Odds Enterprises, Inc., a start-up company launching a one-of-a-kind Website to make the odds of everyday life easily accessible. This groundbreaking site will leverage semantically linked and cross referenced content from hundreds of sources in order to create a fundamentally new reference source.

“The Cambridge Semantics’ suite has allowed Book of Odds to build a rich semantic database linking content from a wide array of sources and formats in order to create a powerful statistical reference tool which will be accessible to the general public,” said Amram Shapiro, Founder and President, Book of Odds. “Our technical team has a solid foundation in semantic technologies and spent significant time studying our options. We concluded that Cambridge Semantics offers not only the most powerful semantic platform, but also the most practical tools. That translated into a rapid and efficient implementation.”

The Anzo Suite

The Anzo Suite includes three components: Anzo for Excel, Anzo for the Web and The Anzo Data Collaboration Server. Using the suite, organizations of any size can deploy an enterprise-wide semantic fabric in just days, allowing users to quickly link internal and external data sources such as databases and spreadsheets, making the combined data easy to manipulate and cross reference, and eliminating time-consuming and repetitive data gathering tasks.

The Anzo Suite includes:

Anzo Data Collaboration Server

The fundamental semantic middleware that supports the Anzo application suite and manages all enterprise data linked to the semantic fabric to:

• Virtualize data from linked applications;
• Store data as needed in Resource Description Framework (RDF) or legacy databases;
• Enable secure, integrated access to existing and new data sources;
• Promote real-time collaboration, distributed query, new metadata and functionality for existing applications.

The Anzo Data Collaboration Server also includes a family of APIs and mapping tools called Anzo Connectors, which facilitate connecting relational databases, enterprise directory servers and Web services/SOA systems to the Anzo Data Collaboration Server to:

• Keep data where it is today to guarantee accuracy and accountability-a single source of truth;
• Display data from legacy systems in integrated views alongside content from other systems;
• Reflect changes and updates to data in the systems that house the original data.

Anzo for Excel

A plug-in for Microsoft Excel that allows users to easily link spreadsheets to the Anzo Data Collaboration Server to:

• Enable data from multiple spreadsheets to easily be combined and viewed in:
  • A consolidated spreadsheet;
  • Web applications created with Anzo on the Web;
• Use Excel as a user interface for data from other applications;
• Upload Excel data to legacy applications, databases and other spreadsheets;
• Create linked Excel templates that collect and automatically integrate Excel data.

Anzo on the Web

A browser-based modeling and analytical front-end for creating customized views of any data from any systems connected to the Anzo Data Collaboration Server, allows users to:

• Mash up views of information;
• Create intelligent lenses appropriate for the data;
• Build applications that interact in real-time with source applications.

The new products were announced at SemTech 2009, the world’s largest conference on semantic technologies, held from June 14th through the 18th at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California.