Vivisimo

Vivisimo was an American search technology company founded in Pittsburgh in 2000 by Carnegie Mellon University computer science researchers Chris Palmer, Jerome Pesenti, and Raul Valdes-Perez. The company developed software for searching and organizing information across multiple repositories, with a particular emphasis on federated search and automatic document clustering. Its technology was designed to work with both structured information, such as records in databases, and unstructured information, such as documents and web pages. Vivisimo’s distinctive contribution was its approach to organizing search results into meaningful groups rather than presenting users with only a conventional ranked list. A query such as “cell” could be divided into clusters associated with biology, batteries, prisons, and other contexts, allowing users to refine a broad search without having to formulate multiple new queries. This capability was positioned as useful for enterprises and public-sector organizations that needed to search across disparate information systems. The company commercialized its technology primarily through Velocity, an installed or hosted search application for enterprises, governments, and original-equipment-manufacturer partners. Velocity supported federated search and included social-search functions that enabled users to tag, vote on, annotate, and share search results. Those contributions could then be indexed and made available to subsequent searches. Vivisimo also provided professional services connected with deployment and use of its software. Alongside its enterprise business, Vivisimo operated Clusty, a public metasearch engine that combined results from multiple search sources and presented them with document clustering. Clusty gave the company a visible consumer-facing demonstration of its search technology. In 2010, Vivisimo sold Clusty to Yippy, Inc., separating the public search property from its principal enterprise-software business. Vivisimo secured public-sector business as well. In October 2008, it was awarded a contract to power the search function of FirstGov.gov, the United States federal government portal later known as USA.gov. The agreement illustrated the applicability of its federated-search and clustering capabilities to large government information environments. IBM acquired Vivisimo in May 2012 to strengthen its big-data analytics capabilities. Following the acquisition, Vivisimo’s technology was incorporated into IBM’s portfolio and became associated with IBM Watson Explorer, a product of the IBM Watson Group. Vivisimo therefore ceased to operate as an independent company, while elements of its technology and product heritage continued within IBM’s enterprise analytics and information-discovery offerings.

Vivisimo was established in 2000 in Pittsburgh by Chris Palmer, Jerome Pesenti, and Raul Valdes-Perez, three computer science researchers associated with Carnegie Mellon University. The company’s name was derived from the Spanish superlative adjective “vivísimo,” conveying the sense of being very lively or very clever. From its beginning, Vivisimo focused on improving how users searched large and diverse collections of information. Its core technology combined federated search with document clustering. Federated search allowed a single query to be sent across multiple information repositories, while clustering organized the resulting material into topical groups. This was particularly relevant to organizations whose information was distributed across databases, intranets, file systems, websites, and other sources. Vivisimo’s technology supported both structured and unstructured information, giving it a broader scope than a search product limited to one document collection. The company’s clustering approach was also intended to help users understand ambiguous queries. A search for “cell,” for example, could produce separate groups relating to biology, batteries, prisons, and other meanings. Users could select the relevant cluster and narrow their exploration without repeatedly redesigning the original query. This interface and discovery model became a central part of Vivisimo’s technical identity. Vivisimo commercialized its enterprise capabilities through Velocity, which was available as installed software or as a hosted application. Its target customers included businesses, government agencies, and OEM partners. In addition to the software itself, Vivisimo offered professional services to support implementation. Velocity also incorporated social-search functions: users could tag, vote on, annotate, and share results, with those contributions being indexed for use in later searches within the organization. Vivisimo maintained a public-facing demonstration of its approach through Clusty, a metasearch engine that gathered results from multiple sources and organized them using document clustering. Clusty helped expose Vivisimo’s technology to general web users, but it was not retained as part of the company’s long-term independent portfolio. In 2010, Vivisimo sold Clusty to Yippy, Inc., leaving Vivisimo more concentrated on enterprise and government customers. Government work became an important public reference point for the company. In October 2008, Vivisimo was awarded a contract to power the search component of FirstGov.gov, the official United States federal-government portal later renamed USA.gov. The project demonstrated the use of its technology in a large public information environment and reinforced its positioning in government search. IBM acquired Vivisimo in May 2012. IBM described the acquisition as a way to strengthen its big-data analytics capabilities. After the transaction, Vivisimo’s independent corporate identity was absorbed into IBM’s product organization, and its technology became associated with IBM Watson Explorer, a product of the IBM Watson Group. The acquisition marked the end of Vivisimo as a standalone company, although its search, clustering, and information-discovery capabilities continued to influence IBM’s enterprise software portfolio.

• 2012

  IBM acquisition

  [1]Vivisimoen.wikipedia.org

  IBM acquired Vivisimo in May to enhance its big-data analytics capabilities. Vivisimo technology was later associated with IBM Watson Explorer.

• 2010

  Clusty sold to Yippy

  [1]Vivisimoen.wikipedia.org

  Vivisimo sold its public metasearch engine Clusty to Yippy, Inc.

• 2008

  FirstGov.gov search contract

  [1]Vivisimoen.wikipedia.org

  Vivisimo was awarded a contract to power search on FirstGov.gov, the United States federal government portal later called USA.gov.

• 2000

  Vivisimo founded in Pittsburgh

  [1]Vivisimoen.wikipedia.org

  Chris Palmer, Jerome Pesenti, and Raul Valdes-Perez founded Vivisimo after their work as computer science researchers at Carnegie Mellon University.

Vivisimo positioned itself as a search and information-discovery specialist for complex enterprise, government, and OEM environments. Its differentiation came from searching across heterogeneous data sources and automatically clustering results into interpretable topics, helping users navigate large collections of structured and unstructured information.

• Enterprise search and information discovery

  Velocity

  Velocity was Vivisimo’s principal enterprise search application. It was offered as installed software or as a hosted service to enterprises, governments, and OEM partners. The platform searched across multiple repositories and organized results through document clustering, supporting both structured and unstructured information. Its social-search features allowed users to tag, vote on, annotate, and share results, with those interactions becoming searchable organizational content. Vivisimo also supplied professional services associated with deployment and use.

• Public metasearch engine

  Clusty

  Clusty was Vivisimo’s public web metasearch engine. It combined results from multiple search sources and applied document-clustering techniques to group them into topical categories. The service illustrated Vivisimo’s approach to navigating ambiguous or broad queries and served as a consumer-facing counterpart to its enterprise search technology. Vivisimo sold Clusty to Yippy, Inc. in 2010.

• 2012

  IBM acquisition of VivisimoM&A

  Background

  IBM sought to strengthen its big-data analytics capabilities and expand its enterprise information-discovery technology.

  Action taken

  IBM acquired Vivisimo in May 2012 and incorporated its technology into IBM’s product portfolio.

  Aftermath

  Vivisimo ceased operating as an independent company, and its technology became associated with IBM Watson Explorer.

  Source

• 2010

  Sale of Clusty to YippyM&A

  Background

  Vivisimo operated Clusty as a public metasearch engine while its core commercial business focused on enterprise, government, and OEM search software.

  Action taken

  Vivisimo sold Clusty to Yippy, Inc., separating the public web-search property from its enterprise search business.

  Aftermath

  Vivisimo continued as an enterprise and government search technology company until IBM acquired it in 2012.

  Source

1. 1Vivisimoen.wikipedia.org