Chiliad, the company that solved the 9/11 problem, hires Dan Ferranti as CEO

DolphinSearch Appoints Dan Ferranti as President and CEO

DolphinSearch Launches Information Management System

People in the News, August 2005, Legal Technology News

Fortune 500 Firms Validate Cost Savings Of Booming Offshore Outsourcing Market

For nearly 10 years Chiliad™, Inc., has been quietly working behind the scenes to develop some of the most powerful and innovative software in the U.S. government’s anti-terrorism arsenal. With the addition of Dan Ferranti, a veteran CEO with a proven 27-year track record in the information technology field, the Washington, D.C.-based company is preparing to extend the benefits of its ground-breaking technology beyond its already-impressive client base.

Chiliad’s founders were influenced by the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Investigations into both events concluded that information stored in incompatible databases and documents maintained by different departments and organizations could have allowed managers and officials to prevent those disasters. But there simply was no existing technology to “connect the dots” across so many incompatible systems and organizations. Efforts to solve this problem hastened development efforts within Chiliad and drove the first deployment of Chiliad’s software within the U.S. intelligence community to create a virtual knowledge environment across distributed information stovepipes, databases and applications.

“The phrase ‘connecting the dots’ is central to understanding Chiliad’s principal software product, Chiliad Discovery/Alert™,” says Ferranti. Ferranti adds, ”Chiliad Discovery/Alert is a comprehensive platform that provides search, information extraction, on-the-fly analysis, real-time knowledge fusion, dynamic navigation and real time alerting. Our key differentiator is the ability to seamlessly tie together all of an organization’s distributed ‘stovepipe’ applications and disconnected data repositories. In some of our U.S. government deployments, we even go across different agencies to get at the heart of the ‘9/11 problem.’ Our software makes all of these resources appear as a single virtual repository to any authorized user.”

“We go much deeper than simply linking the user to multiple systems in a federated search environment,” Ferranti continues. “Chiliad’s software has the capacity and intelligence to analyze and compare data from a variety of networked repositories simultaneously. This means we can deliver the best information available to the user, and also uncover hidden connections in the data that would otherwise be missed.”

“The company has operationally proven itself in some of the most challenging search, analysis and alerting deployments in existence within the U.S. government,” Ferranti concludes. “Chiliad has demonstrated the ability to solve challenges that have stumped vendors in the search, analysis, business analytics, and database management fields.”

Both the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence – the lead U.S. agencies in the war on terrorism – have seen the unique value Chiliad offers and have deployed the company’s software to tame the mountains of data that must be sifted and analyzed to accomplish their mission.

DolphinSearch, Inc., the leader in content search and electronic document discovery, today announced the appointment of Mr. Dan Ferranti as its President and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

Dan Ferranti brings to DolphinSearch a proven 25-year track record of leading five separate early stage technology software and service companies to fast growth, two of which he scaled to more than $400 million per annum in revenue, two others to more than $200 million per annum in revenue. Additionally, during his career, Ferranti has successfully executed seven mergers and acquisitions, and has led the pursuit and capture of more than $3.9 billion in new business.

"Dan has demonstrated the talent and experience to take DolphinSearch to the next level," said Paul Sallaberry, Chairman of Board of DolphinSearch. "Dan's ability to lead and drive fast growth companies will facilitate DolphinSearch's efforts to provide its customers with innovative solutions for their business needs, such as the recently launched ComplianSeek platform for investment advisors."

Prior to DolphinSearch, Dan Ferranti was president and CEO of Factor Software, an enterprise software company specializing in business process automation, where he achieved a dramatic growth in year-over-year net operating profits during his tenure. Earlier, Ferranti was CEO of Majesco Software Inc. (now Mastech, Ltd), where he grew revenue from $19 million to $165 million per annum, and then drove a successful merger. Before Majesco, Dan Ferranti was vice president and general manager of Perot Systems, and Chief Operating Officer of NMI Management (now Dyncorp). Earlier in his career, Ferranti held senior management positions at Cincinnati Bell Information Systems, Datapoint, MCI Communications, and U.S. Sprint.

"DolphinSearch has performed an excellent of job applying its superior patented technology to a critical market need," said Dan Ferranti. "The goal now is to fine tune the strategic and tactical execution so the company can rapidly scale to meet the growing needs of the marketplace."

Dan Ferranti holds a B.S. degree Industrial Psychology from the Catholic University of America, and an M.S. degree in MIS/Telecommunications from George Washington University.

About DolphinSearch, Inc.

DolphinSearch sets the standard for accuracy in electronic document discovery and regulatory compliance. By providing the most accurate information in the fastest time, DolphinSearch greatly improves the efficiency of the document review process, so attorneys can concentrate on the prosecution of their litigation strategy, and corporations are able to better manage regulatory compliance. Based in Ventura, Calif., DolphinSearch processes more than 50 terabytes of data a year for some of most trusted names in the legal profession. The company's patented technology delivers the most complete view of electronic documents for the best results, most control and the least risk in the shortest amount of time. For more information, visit www.dolphinsearch.com.

DolphinSearch Launches Information Management System
DolphinSearch Intelligent Archive Director (DIAD)
Aligns Needs of Corporate Counsel and IT
Ventura, CA, November 8, 2005

DolphinSearch, Inc., a leader in electronic document discovery, compliance and content search, today announced a new information management system designed to align the needs of both corporate counsel and IT departments – DolphinSearch Intelligent Archive Director (DIAD). This new system from DolphinSearch offers the ability to manage proactively the entire lifecycle of a company’s information, empowered with a complete suite of tools to capture email and other electronic documents, store them effectively and efficiently, and find them again when needed.

DIAD uses patented neural network, concept search intelligence in conjunction with the company’s retention policy to recognize which emails and other documents can be discarded and which need to be retained and for how long.

“This is a significant evolution in document management, since it marks the first time that a corporation can not only be prepared for electronic discovery, but is also prepositioned to be ahead of the curve,” said DolphinSearch CEO and President, Dan Ferranti. “The DolphinSearch Intelligent Archive Director is the missing piece of the Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) puzzle, allowing corporations to collect, archive and manage all of their electronic documents in a cost effective manner. It is like providing a quarterback to make intelligent real time analytical decisions. This technology has numerous applications, including compliance management, security, IP protection, litigation support, and others.” Ferranti added.

DIAD’s lifecycle management approach is significant since over 90 percent of today’s documents are produced electronically, yet few are intelligently managed.

Some key features of DIAD include:

• The ability to capture emails as they arrive, move through, or exit a company’s system.
• Automated collection of electronic documents.
• The ability to intelligently classify emails and attachments for archiving based on both content and metadata.
• De-duplication processes to ensure that the same file is not stored multiple times, while tracking all metadata associated with the file.
• Powerful litigation-hold capabilities.
• Discovery tools for periodic audits of email content.
• An effortless transition to litigation, allowing efficiency for electronic discovery review and analysis.

About DolphinSearch, Inc.

DolphinSearch is the industry leader in eDiscovery, information lifecycle management, and compliance. DolphinSearch’s patented concept-learning neural network technology enables electronic documents to be identified, analyzed, categorized, preserved, retrieved, and reviewed with unprecedented accuracy and completeness. The company combines this technology with its award-winning service, staffed with seasoned engineers, information management experts, and project managers to efficiently and effectively meet customers’ needs. DolphinSearch provides products and services for electronic document discovery for litigation, second-requests, due-diligence investigations, document retention, and compliance. It also licenses its patented technology to agencies and companies with the need to enhance the intelligence of their information management systems. Founded in 1999, the Company is headquartered in Ventura, California, with additional sales offices nationwide. For more information about DolphinSearch, Inc., visit www.dolphinsearch.com.

Choosing An Offshore Vendor Is No Longer Just A Simple Cost Reduction Issue

According to recent statistics from India-based software association NASSCOM, 203 companies among the Fortune 500 currently outsource application development to facilities in India. Exploding in the last ten years, the IT outsourcing business there has grown from a $20 million industry in 1988 to one worth a whopping $4 billion this year.

The substantial growth of offshore outsourcing parallels the shifting role of IT, from a cost reduction tool to a value and effectiveness enabler. Responses to a recent Corbett Group poll at the 1999 Outsourcing World Summit also portend continuing growth. In the poll, 97 percent of the 200-plus executive respondents predicted a 25 percent spending increase for outsourcing in fiscal 2000, despite predictions from the Gartner Group that total annual IS budgets will shrink from 4.07 percent of revenues in 1997 to just 2.75 percent by 2000.

Couple these numbers with the ongoing shortage of IT talent in the US and an expected application development boom post-Y2K, and the burning question today isn't if offshore IT vendors will positively impact the bottom line, but what they can offer an IT organization beyond less expensive code.

"Three factors are driving the changing role of IT: more demanding customer requirements, increased organizational focus on core- competency, and enabling technologies like the Internet," says Daniel Ferranti, the CEO at Majesco Software Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif.- based outsourcing vendor with offshore resources available via their Bombay, India-based operations centers.

Backed by a client list featuring AT&T, SeaLand, and Internet ventures like CMGI and Internet superstore Adatom.com, Ferranti says Majesco's role as an outsourcing provider is shifting in lockstep with the changing role of IT. Rather than talking exclusively about cost savings, he advocates approaching IT outsourcing from a value-added perspective, largely because it has matured into a legitimate strategic tool.

"Offshore outsourcing should be viewed as a way to increase an IT department's capacity for value generation, because while it delivers all the expected benefits of local outsourcing like lower cost, it can also deliver additional value in terms of resource availability and faster project turnaround," says Ferranti. "Today's CIO is under tremendous pressure, with demand for new applications and system improvements multiplying at the same time they face skyrocketing salaries and heavy competition to land top staffers. This shortage of IT talent makes it increasingly difficult—and expensive—for IT departments to keep time-intensive processes like software development, integration, and maintenance functions in house," says Ferranti.

Accordingly, the capacity enhancing benefits alluded to by Ferranti can be critical to achieving larger enterprise goals that are increasingly falling under the aegis of the IT department. Offshore outsourcers help relieve the growing pressure by providing supplementary knowledge and manpower, and typically increase project throughput while reducing the total implementation curve.

Kevin Campbell, global managing partner for business-process management with Andersen Consulting's outsourcing unit, confirms the trend: "Outsourcing has moved from a cost-reduction tactic to a strategic weapon. Companies look to outsourcers for research capabilities, past experience, and a broad set of skills. These things can help the CFO, COO, and CEO when they're going through dramatic change."

"Offering specialized knowledge in terms of specific applications, technologies, and development processes, outsourcers can help an IT organization quickly integrate new technologies and efficiently scale its workforce without drastically increasing labor overhead. New US government accounting guidelines are also accelerating the trend toward using outsourcers by requiring the capitalization of new development and enhancement projects done in house,"says Ferranti.

Even the time differential between the US and India, once a source of logistical headaches, now offers efficiency gains—as well as a continuing cost benefit. Several of the top offshore firms now employ 24/7 development environments, allowing stateside programmers to create specifications during the day that their offshore partners code while they sleep.

Application outsourcing in particular, either as a one-off project or in a longer term engagement, allows an IT organization access to additional work capacity on demand and can speed application development time which can increase revenues," says Ferranti.

Ferranti adds that long-term engagements without outsourcers are also becoming more common as IT takes on a more strategic role. This offers an IT organization the flexibility to seize strategic opportunities that might otherwise pass them by, as well as eliminating the need to maintain multiple vendor relationships.

Phil Hopkins, manager of National Clinical Systems Development at San Diego-based non-profit healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente, explains that their focus is on getting the best results for every dollar spent, and underscores that IT outsourcing plays its specific role quite well. "There isn't a massive movement toward 'virtualization' at Kaiser, but there will be continuing growth. Application development for specific types of applications is already being outsourced."

According to Hopkins, outsourcing is present in varying degrees at every level of the Kaiser IT organization. About fifty percent of the team behind their current NCIS (National Clinical Information System) project is external. A large pharmacy application created in Power Builder technology was completely coded in New Delhi, and they have also developed applications with a Bombay-based outsourcing firm.

Majesco's Ferranti says Kaiser's increasing use of outsourcing for application development is typical, and points out that to realize the value-added benefits available via offshore outsourcing it is in the best interest of IT organizations to establish solid, long-term relationships with their outsourcing firm of choice. "Establishing the level of trust that must exist between the organizations takes time," he says.

Ferranti lists four elements as necessary for a successful offshore engagement:

• Three-tiered communication between customer and vendor to align vision, management, and execution
• A phased plan for transitioning to a "steady state" engagement
• Metrics and measures specific to each phase of the engagement
• Customizable support processes to meet different engagement objectives

Ferranti adds that the mature infrastructure and processes of the current offshore outsourcing engagement model are no longer enough in the face of the changing role of IT. The key to success is the three-tiered engagement model, which creates a virtual extension of an IT department that uses local accountability and remote development to significantly reduce operational costs and the client's risk management overhead."We created the three-tier model to clearly define responsibilities and build effective communication with our customers," Ferranti says. "Onsite management keeps the engagement aligned with the client's larger organizational vision, while business-level insight is handled by directors and project managers to focus technical skills and application knowledge."