Intellext emerged from research. Intellext ( http://www.intellext.com ),
the "Intelligence in Context" software company, today announced that it has
emerged from its research and development stage and is now commercially
marketing and shipping its software solution, Watson. The product of research
conducted by Intellext co-founders Dr. Jay Budzik and Dr. Kristian Hammond at
Northwestern University, Watson removes the burden of search from the
shoulders of computer users. By reading and understanding what people are
working on and using that knowledge to proactively find and deliver useful
information to the user, Watson is able to find information the user didn't
know existed -- in places they otherwise might not have looked.
Watson's patent-pending technology was incubated at Northwestern
University's DevLab in Evanston, Ill., and has been in commercial development
for the past two years. In emerging from the incubation stage, the company
has changed its name to Intellext from Open Road Technologies, has unveiled a
new corporate identity and web presence, and has hired veteran technology
entrepreneur, Al Wasserberger, as its chief executive officer. The company
will also be moving out of the DevLab facility to a downtown Chicago office.
Wasserberger's expertise is in leading the development of new technologies
and business models, and in funding and growing technology companies. Prior
to joining Intellext, he was the chairman and chief executive officer of
Spirian Technologies, which he founded in 1996 and built to a venture-backed
Inc. 500 software company before selling the company to SecureInfo Corporation
in 2003. Wasserberger is president of The Orbis Forum, a non-profit member
organization comprising the top technology entrepreneurs in Chicago, and is a
member of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's Mayor's Council of Technology
Advisors.
"The days in which manually typing terms into a search box was the only
way to find information are over," said Al Wasserberger, CEO of Intellext.
"While this method will continue to be important, we're now at a pivotal point
in the evolution of how people interact with information. Watson
revolutionizes how we all get and use information by using modern search
infrastructure such as Web search engines, corporate intranets and desktop
search technologies on our behalf -- even when we don't know we should be
looking."
Watson determines what information is relevant to each user, and forms
contextually-based queries rather than simple one or two-word search terms to
generate the most useful and complete set of results. Watson automatically
brings users any relevant information from their company's external and
internal information sources including websites, desktop search applications,
online news sites, subscriber services and search engines, as well as
documents and data from a company's corporate knowledge management systems,
databases and intranets. If the user chooses, Watson will even retrieve
advertisements that are related to their current work. Information from
Watson's multiple sources is then organized by relevance regardless of its
source, and presented to the user in a completely non-intrusive way. The
online information collected and presented by Watson is based solely on
relevance, so users do not receive intrusive advertisements and unrelated
content that interrupts their work.
Watson runs on a lean integration platform so it is easy to implement and
scale from a single-user application to fit any company's size and structure.
Available management tools also make the software inexpensive to manage and
maintain in corporate networks. Enterprise customers' IT departments can
determine what information sources Watson checks, so enterprise privacy and
security is always maintained.
"I can always count on Watson to find timely and relevant information
instantaneously, something that is critical in the rapid-paced environment of
mergers and acquisitions," said Watson user Don McLellan, corporate vice
president, mergers and acquisitions, Motorola, Inc. "As it runs automatically
in the background, Watson explicitly understands the context for my work. I
frequently receive information I didn't even know existed, let alone, thought
to search for."
Salt Lake City-based MuseGlobal has decided to incorporate Intellext's
Watson technology as an optional add-on component to its MuseSearch(TM)
products and services. Many leading information management software and
content providers feature MuseGlobal's MuseSearch metasearch architecture as
underpinning technology for their products and services. Now these customers
will also be able to use Intellext's Watson technology to proactively drive
adoption and use of their technologies.
"Watson's ability to proactively drive the MuseServer to gather timely,
relevant information greatly enhances the already compelling value proposition
we offer to our customers," said Kate Noerr, CEO of MuseGlobal. "Watson as a
front-end application driving the MuseServer powered back-end makes a very
powerful information discovery system. As we expand into new markets such as
legal and financial services, we expect this new functionality to make us an
even more compelling choice."
Intellext is also offering the MuseSearch MuseServer as part of the Watson
solution for large organizations -- the Watson Enterprise Edition. Users of
this software are able to access the more than 3,000 preconfigured information
sources available through the MuseServer. Additionally, enterprises can
concentrate all search activity through one or more servers, gaining even more
control and manageability.

The Watson product suite is available in three editions:

-- Watson Standard
- The Standard Edition is for individual business users to take
advantage of in the workplace
- Proactively searches websites and desktop search applications for
information relevant to what the user is working on. Information
sources included with Watson Standard include web search engines,
news sites, analyst and media databases and subscription-based
external data sources.
- Watson Standard can be downloaded to an individual's desktop from
the Intellext website, http://www.intellext.com
-- Watson Professional
- Watson Professional is available for small and medium-sized
businesses with up to 500 users.
- In addition to the functionality of Watson Standard, Watson
Professional users also have access to corporate data sources such
as corporate portal intranets and extranets, knowledge management
solutions and corporate databases
- Easily configured to search new information sources so customers
can decide which information sources are used by Watson.
-- Watson Enterprise
- Watson Enterprise is for large organizations with complex
environments
- Increases the visibility and utilization of information within the
enterprise, thereby boosting internal data-sharing and
productivity
- This edition includes all functionality available in Watson
Professional, and also includes:
* The Watson Enterprise Server, which consists of software
management and reporting tools, important offerings for
enterprise customers
* Access to a more extensive, customizable set of information
sources with the MuseServer and its more than 3,000
additional information sources
* The ability for companies to customize and brand the Watson
application  ¶ 07:05