ACADEMIA

Autonomy Corporation plc a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, today announced that Autonomy has been awarded a contract by Norwich Union Life, the largest provider of life, pensions and long-term financial services in the UK. Autonomy will supply Norwich Union Life's Sales and Marketing Department with the technology to leverage the greatest value from its market and competitor information. The implementation and ongoing support of the technology will be coordinated by Autonomy's partner Amaze. Norwich Union selected Autonomy's IDOL technology to spider 100,000 internal documents and external marketing information, creating a receptive system that understands and connects data, locating and delivering the right information to the right recipient. Automatic categorization capabilities bring order into the growing number of documents arriving in Norwich Union Life's repositories, while automatic hyperlinking features provide instant links to matching data, creating associations between content and facilitating the automatic analysis of information. Autonomy's partner Amaze will oversee the deployment of the technology and provide Norwich Union Life with continuous professional support. The effective analysis of marketing and competitor information is key for the commercial success of any organisation, and especially so in the competitive environment of the finance and insurance worlds. Autonomy enables the Customer Insights Team at Norwich Union Life to manage relevant research and intelligence material in a more timely and efficient manner, allowing the company to understand the needs of its customers and react dynamically to the latest market developments. As Autonomy's technology works similar to the human brain, it is able to comprehend the actual content of documents, rather than simply reacting to keywords or meta-data, applying this intelligence to perform numerous automatic processes on information in the enterprise. Radan Payget at Norwich Union Life said "Our sales and marketing teams generate and handle vast amounts of information on a continual basis. This information can provide great insight and benefits to the business, but the sheer volume of data involved can make it a challenge to effectively access and use the data. This technology will help us allow us to effectively harness all our information sources and realise their full potential." Charlotte Herbert, Global Marketing Manager Autonomy, commented, "Autonomy's advanced technology tackles the problem of information overflow that organizations in every sector are struggling with today. It is the only software that can understand information intelligently, automatically and in real-time - an unbeatable combination that provides companies like Norwich Union Life with the ability to leverage the maximum value from their information assets." Stuart Melhuish, Chief Executive of Amaze said, "Amaze works with clients to understand their business and deliver innovative and user-focused solutions. Autonomy's technology will provide Norwich Union Life with a simple, quick and reliable way of finding and accessing any research information. Amaze is pleased to announce the award of this contract, managing the successful implementation of Autonomy and offering expert support." Autonomy's unique Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) integrates unstructured, semi-structured and structured information from multiple repositories through an understanding of their content. Autonomy grants enterprises the flexibility to use advanced information retrieval or legacy-based approaches. At the heart of Autonomy's software is its ability to process text, voice and video and identify and rank the main concepts within them. It then automatically categorizes, links, summarizes, personalizes and delivers that information. Autonomy's technology also drives collaboration across the enterprise and enables organizations to effectively leverage expertise. Autonomy's infrastructure technology is used to automate operations within enterprise information portals, customer relationship management, knowledge management, business intelligence and e-business applications, among others.