New Capability Enables Fast, Real-time and Reliable Identification of Experts Based on IDOL's Automatic Conceptual Profiling of Users

CAMBRIDGE, England and SAN FRANCISCO, May 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU. or AU.L), a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, today unveiled a new Expertise Location module for its iManage Universal Search (IUS) solution, the company's pan-enterprise search solution tailored for law firms. With this new module, lawyers can quickly and easily connect with other subject matter experts within the law firm, enabling the firm to efficiently staff matters and match the right talent with the needs of a case. Powered by Autonomy's Meaning Based Computing platform, IDOL, the IUS Expertise Location module supports a law firm's complete practice support needs - all on a single platform.

As a law firm expands its global footprint, it becomes increasingly challenging to locate experts to staff a new matter, respond to a business development opportunity or ensure that clients get access to the best experts, no matter where they are located. With a globally dispersed workforce, knowledge about 'who knows what' and 'who knows who' is often times not made readily available, without disrupting the entire organization with firm-wide email inquiries. With the combination of IUS and the new Expertise Location module, lawyers can now not only connect with domain experts from across the firm, they can also effectively 'connect the dots' among related information through conceptual categorization and automatic hyperlinking.

"Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP has more than 520 attorneys in 11 offices around the world. As we continue to expand our global presence, it becomes more challenging for the attorneys to stay abreast of each others' expertise and unique skills," said Rachelle Rennagel, Chief Knowledge Officer at Sheppard Mullin, an AmLaw 100 firm. "Having an intelligent knowledge management system that connects our subject matter experts with the most relevant information within our firm is critical to our success in helping clients. I see tremendous value in the Expertise Location capabilities within IUS to help firms like ours enhance our ability to identify the right attorneys for the right matters."

Unlike traditional approaches that rely on manually created biography databases for expertise location, IUS leverages IDOL's ability to automatically build conceptual profiles of users based on the understanding of information. As lawyers interact with information as part of their daily routine in the iManage WorkSite document and email management system or IUS such as create or view documents, respond to emails, create time entry systems, etc, IUS can automatically build a profile of the user in real-time. As a result, IUS can identify experts within the law firm and connect their expertise with the most relevant information from multiple content repositories around the world.

In addition, with IDOL's unique meaning-based approach, a user can find an expert even if the exact search terms are not included in the users' profile. For example, searching for an expert in 'copyright law' will also show experts in conceptually related areas, such as 'trademark'. This powerful capability allows law firms to bring to bear the best and most experienced talent at the firm depending on the needs of the case and the client, improving customer satisfaction and overall quality of service.

"Autonomy has been recognized by industry analysts and the press as a leader in knowledge management and expertise location for more than a decade with some of the world's largest KM deployments across all industries. Autonomy iManage is the de facto standard for delivering information access and management to the world's most prestigious law firms," said Anthony Bettencourt, CEO of Autonomy Interwoven. "The combination of Autonomy's meaning-based expertise location solution with the iManage Universal Search solution provides the industry's most complete knowledge management solution for law firms."

Autonomy announced in March 2009 that the company has completed the integration of IDOL into IUS ( http://www.autonomy.com/content/News/Releases/2009/0324.en.html)--- enabling Autonomy iManage's 1,400 law firm clients to benefit from the same powerful enterprise search solution in use by more than 20,000 corporate customers. Autonomy has also announced its additional new intelligent connectors (http://www.autonomy.com/content/News/Releases/2009/0416.en.html)for the IUS solution that provide out-of-the-box connectivity to three widely used legal applications, including the LexisNexis InterAction CRM System, as well as more than 10 legal-specific research sites, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Autonomy completed the acquisition of Interwoven on March 17, 2009.

The Expertise Location module is an add-on to iManage Universal Search and is available now.

Please visit http://www.autonomy.com/imanage to find out more.

About Autonomy iManage

Autonomy iManage is the leader in information management applications for the legal and professional services market. Building on Autonomy s advanced Meaning Based Computing platform, Autonomy iManage offers the most comprehensive suites of information management applications all on a common platform. Autonomy iManage has over a decade of experience working with law and accounting firms to understand how these professionals interact with information and their need to find, manage and process large volumes of content quickly and intuitively. Organizations from all over the world, including 75 of the top 100 global law firms, are standardizing on Autonomy iManage which uniquely spans the complete EDRM on a single technology platform, including document and email management, information governance, archiving and records management, knowledge management, policy management and eDiscovery, legal hold and review. Autonomy iManage can now link over 1,400 law firms with the data inside over 20,000 corporate clients using powerful, familiar tools, and is the only vendor to offer the ability to access and analyze corporate information in-place for a case, eliminating point solutions and the risky and costly hand-offs of data used for investigations and litigation.

Customers include corporations and law firms such as Allen & Overy, BAE Systems, Bloomberg, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, DLA Piper, Grupo Santander, HSBC, LexisNexis, Linklaters, Lloyds TSB, Merrill Lynch, Slaughter and May, UK Law Society, and White & Case. More than 400 companies OEM Autonomy technology, including Symantec, Citrix, HP, Novell, Oracle, Sybase and TIBCO. The company has offices worldwide.

Autonomy and the Autonomy logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autonomy Corporation plc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

    Autonomy Editorial Contacts:

    Winifred Shum
    Autonomy (US)
    +1-408-771-6668
    wshum@autonomy.com

    Edward Bridges
    Financial Dynamics (UK)
    +44-207-831-3113
    edward.bridges@fd.com

    Ian Bain
    The Red Consultancy (US)
    +1-415-618-8806
    ian.bain@redconsultancy.com

    David Vindel
    The Red Consultancy (UK)
    +44-207-025-6529
    david.vindel@redconsultancy.com

SOURCE Autonomy Corporation plc

Back to top