Briefs

March 23, 2001. Armonk, N.Y.  In a move that helps elevate data
analysis into real time, IBM plans to integrate the "scoring service"
capability of its Intelligent Miner tool into its DB2 database, giving
users quicker access to data that identifies such things as customers'
buying habits and credit potential.

The Armonk, N.Y., company today announced that, come next Friday, it
will offer the scoring service as an extension to DB2. The scoring
tool can be used with Oracle Corp.'s database as well.

"It runs on an Oracle cartridge," said Janet Perna, IBM's general
manager of data management. "There have been a number of data mining
products that use this scoring capability. What companies are trying
to do is to get a more transaction-oriented relationship with
customers. What we are doing is putting scoring services in the
database to deliver a more transaction-oriented process."

Previously, the scoring service was purchased from a separate company
or as a separate offering. Now that it's built as a DB2 extender, it
works directly from the relational database to speed up the data
mining task. IBM is working on extracting other features from
Intelligent Miner and offering them as extensions to DB2, officials
said.

Microsoft Corp. last year built some of its analysis tools into its
SQL Server 2000 database, while Oracle plans to incorporate its
high-level analysis tools into its forthcoming Oracle 9i database.

The move addresses the need by companies to more efficiently use data
pulled together through data analysis. For example, the scoring
service could enable an insurance salesperson to quickly identify the
best policy for customers based on their record.

"Now they can score in real time and come back and say, 'You might
want to consider an umbrella policy,'" Perna said.

DB2 Intelligent Miner Scoring, available for general release on March
30, is priced at $15,000 per processor.

See www.ibm.com