Identity Resolution Daily

By Douglas Wood, Infoglide SVP of Sales and Services

I noted with interest the August 31 announcement that IBM is buying UK based i2 Inc.  I was in my hotel room when I read the announcement, attending the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators (IAFCI) conference in Charlotte.  I was actually so surprised that I dropped one of my shoes onto the floor as I was hurrying out of the hotel room.

Perhaps I should not have been so shocked, though.  It was clear to me that the 2009 COPLINK/i2 ‘merger’ never quite developed the way either party had intended, and that neither entity was working particularly well with the other. Looks like IBM saw the same thing and swooped in to put the pieces together.  Good play on their part.

With loads of customers in several countries, i2 is a large provider of intelligence analytics for crime and fraud prevention serving the banking, defense, health care, insurance, law enforcement, national security and retail markets.  I suspect that IBM’s plans will include integrating the i2 and COPLINK platforms into the overall Infosphere portfolio, particularly the Identity Insights solution formerly known as Entity Analytics Solution (EAS).  With a new base of customers in which to up-sell software and services, IBM looks well positioned to take on SAS and other behemoth players in the fraud analytics business.  Or are they?

I don’t expect SAS to sit on its hands.  They never do.  Although more traditionally thought of as a NIH shop, I would expect some rapid bulking up on their part.  And what of HP?  The acquisition of Autonomy was interesting to say the least.  I find it hard to believe they are going to stop there.  Even BAE Systems is ready with their recent purchase of Detica/Norkom and the Netreveal platform.

In the meantime, startups such as Palantir Technologies and Infoglide Software continue to make major strides in building our respective next-gen technologies and customer bases. I am particularly proud of our Identity Resolution Engine product and MinorMonitor offerings.  The former provides cross database single-request fuzzy searching, social link discovery, anonymous resolution for data privacy and real time red flag analytics for commercial and government clients.  MinorMonitor is our free web tool that – using the same core technology used to keep terrorists off of airplanes - alerts parents on what their children are being exposed to on Facebook.

The possibilities are endless heading into the fourth quarter.  What’s going to happen next?  I’m not sure.  I expect that other shoe to drop sooner rather than later, though.

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