Verity K2 Enterprise 5.5 Brings Powerful Analytics and Improved Information Access to Large-Scale Intellectual Capital Management Systems
New Release Allows Analysis of Usage Aspects to Ensure Optimum Performance Includes Unique Session-Based Recommendations Feature
SUNNYVALE, Calif - 2004-03-01 - Verity Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTY), today announced the availability of release 5.5 of its Verity® K2 Enterprise (K2E) advanced search, classification and recommendation software that enables organizations to maximize the return on their intellectual capital investment. The latest version of the company's flagship product includes five powerful new capabilities that will enable intellectual capital management (ICM) system administrators to better monitor and manage their systems and users to locate or uncover information with greater ease, speed and accuracy. The new features are:
• Advanced Query Analytics, that enable real-time analysis of how an ICM system is being used and performing;
• Event-Driven Indexing, to provide users access to new, time sensitive documents in real time;
• Session-Based Recommendations, to suggest relevant documents, experts or other entities based on the user's profile and most recent search activities;
• Query-Based Summaries, to assist users in identifying relevant content without opening the document;
• Spelling Suggestions, to improve search results with alternate spellings, even for words not found in standard dictionaries.
"The new features in the latest Verity K2E release are a demonstration of Verity's ability to anticipate and help to manage the next set of challenges large organizations will face in making the most of their intellectual capital," said Anthony J. Bettencourt, Verity's president and CEO. "Verity K2E provides administrators with deep insight into how an organization's ICM system is being used to ensure the best performance, user satisfaction and cost-effectiveness possible."
As several industry observers have noted, data in large organizations continue to grow exponentially. The new features of Verity K2E will allow users to better manage and use intellectual capital at both the system and user levels.
Advanced Query Analytics Improve System Performance
The new Verity K2E Advanced Query Analytics system provides real-time analysis of the ways people use an ICM system. It allows administrators to learn all aspects of ICM system usage and performance, from types and trends of user queries, to what content is being accessed most often or sought but not found. Verity's Analytics system then allows administrators to act on those findings to adjust content, the metadata or the presentation.
"Unlike other offerings, Verity K2E provides more than just a snapshot of query performance. It is a complete feedback loop that lets administrators learn more about the ICM system and gives content professionals the tools they need to maximize the search process," Bettencourt said. "In fact, the BMW Group recently turned to Verity K2E 5.5, in part, because of its new analytics capability."
This capability helps to optimize the combined performance of the Verity K2E software as well as the repositories and enterprise applications it accesses. Since K2E reporting and analysis is based on XML, the metrics can be easily integrated into an organization's existing reporting and analytics models or import them into current measurement tools.
"The American Hospital Association's enterprise portal is a significant resource that must meet the needs of our very demanding users," said Herman Baumann, executive director of Strategic Development at the American Hospital Association. "The analytics capabilities found in the new version of Verity K2E will give us the data we need to improve service and allow us to keep pace with the rapidly changing health field."
Event-Driven Indexing Gets the Right Documents to the Right Users, Right Away
The new Event-Driven Indexing capability completes the feedback loop for administrators, going from content analysis to content input and delivery. As new content is created, it can be automatically and immediately inserted into the enterprise data index and made available to users in real-time. This eliminates the need to wait for scheduled spidering processes to locate and index new and time-sensitive content, enhancing the value of content evaluation applications.
Unique Session-Based Recommendations for Real-Time Suggestions
Added to Verity K2E's ability to analyze a user's past performance and automatically recommend related documents, categories, products, queries or communities of interest, is the Verity K2E's new Session-Based Recommendations feature, which monitors a user's current actions and queries, updating their profile in real-time. This is an especially attractive capability in enterprise or e-commerce environments in which user information needs change rapidly. Further, recommendations based on a combination of a user's persistent profile and the actions within the current session provide higher search relevance.
"The quality of the Web experience an organization can offer its customers, employees, partners, and investors has now become a proxy for the competence of the business itself. One of the key capabilities in creating a compelling experience is provisioning context," said Hadley Reynolds, director of research for independent research and advisory firm Delphi Group. "Most Web interactions have failed to respond in an on demand or dynamic basis to users' shifting intentions and goals. The new Verity K2 Enterprise release enhances the existing capabilities in the platform which discover, present, and connect users with knowledge resources that match the immediate context of their session -- whether they are involved in commercial, process-driven, or investigative activities."
Query-Based Summaries Speeds Identifying Relevant Results
To assist users in quickly identifying the most relevant items in a results list without downloading or reading an entire document, the Query-Based Summaries feature introduced in version 5.5, dynamically generates document summaries based on a user's query. Unlike most search solutions, Verity K2E constructs summaries that show the context in which the query terms appear in the document. Verity K2E also includes administrator-defined summary length and search term highlighting within summaries.
Spelling Suggestions for a Large-Scale Enterprise System
To allow users to make the best use of the intellectual capital, Verity K2E's new Spelling Suggestions capability enhances the user's experience by eliminating the frustration and waste of time that comes with misspelling or mistyping a search query. The Verity Spelling Suggestions feature offers multiple spelling suggestions to users. In addition, unlike traditional dictionary-driven spell checking, the spelling suggestions are built from the system's index, incorporating proper names, company-specific terminology, and acronyms. In addition, the number search function can handle model number queries to offer suggestions for numerical terms.
About Verity Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Verity provides software solutions that help organizations maximize the return on their intellectual capital investment by utilizing Verity's industry-leading enterprise search, classification and personalization technologies. Verity software is used for sharing information within and between enterprises; for facilitating e-commerce sales; and for B2B activities on Web-based market exchanges. In addition, Verity technology serves as a core component of many leading e-business applications.
Verity products are used by more than 3,500 organizations in the private and public sectors. Customers include Adobe Systems, AT&T, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Cisco, Documentum, Dow Jones, EDGAR Online, Financial Times, H-P, Home Depot, Lotus, META Group, SAP, Siemens, Stellent, Sybase, Time New Media and Timex.
The statements in this press release regarding the benefits that Verity expects its customers will receive from Verity K2 Enterprise 5.5 are forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the risk that: the benefits may not be obtained due to technical or other reasons; and the structure of certain customers' organizations may not be conducive to realizing these benefits. Other risks relating to Verity and its products are set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on January 9, 2004.
For more information, contact Verity at info@verity.com or at World Wide Web site http://www.verity.com or call 408-541-1500.
Verity and the Verity logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Verity, Inc.
Verity Editorial Contacts:
Winifred Shum
Verity, Inc.
(408) 542-2363
wshum@verity.com
Steve Hoechster
ElsterGroup
(646) 495-5401 or (914) 393-9219
shoechster@elstergroup.com
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