Autonomy Corporation
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| Type | Public (LSE: AU.) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Joint Head Quarters: San Francisco, USA & Cambridge, UK |
| Area served | Global |
| Key people | Dr Michael Richard Lynch, OBE, Founder and CEO Sushovan Hussain, CFO |
| Industry | Information Technology |
| Products | Search engine for unstructured Information |
| Revenue | USD503 million (2008) |
| Operating income | USD207.5 million (2008) |
| Net income | USD148.0 million (2008) |
| Employees | 2,300 |
| Website | www.autonomy.com |
Autonomy Corporation PLC (LSE: AU.) is an enterprise software company with joint head quarters in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and San Francisco, USA. The company uses a combination of technologies born out of research at the University of Cambridge. It develops a variety of enterprise search and knowledge management applications using adaptive pattern recognition techniques centered on Bayesian inference in conjunction with traditional methods. In January 2009, it entered the Enterprise Content Management Space through its acquisition of Interwoven.
It has grown rapidly from a startup in 1996 and is currently listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index[1] and is the UK's largest software company by market cap.
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[edit] History
Autonomy was founded in Cambridge, England by Dr Michael Lynch and Richard Gaunt in 1996 as a spin-off from Cambridge Neurodynamics.[2]
Autonomy floated in 1998 on the Easdaq exchange at a share price of approximately 30p. At the height of the "dot com bubble", the peak share price was £30.[3]
In December 2005 Autonomy acquired Verity, Inc., one of its main competitors, for approximately $500m.[4]
In May 2007 after exercising an option to buy a stake of technology start up, Blinkx Inc, and combining it with its consumer division, Autonomy floated Blinkx on a valuation of $250m.[5]
In July 2007 it acquired Zantaz, the leading email archiving and litigation support company, for $375M.[6]
In January 2009, it acquired Interwoven, a niche player in the Enterprise Content Management space for $775m.[7]
[edit] Operations
Autonomy is a proponent in the rapidly growing area of Meaning-Based Computing (MBC). Autonomy's position as a global leader in the sector is acknowledged by analysts including Gartner Group.[8] In November 2007, Autonomy Corporation was presented with an award for the best performing software company in Europe by the European Commissioner for IT.[9]
[edit] Products
The main technology is called Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL), and is to unstructured information what an RDBMS is to structured information. IDOL allows search and processing of text, audio, video, and structured information. The processing of such information by IDOL is referred to by industry analysts as the Meaning-Based Computing sector.[10]
At its core, Autonomy's technology can understand any form of unstructured information, whether text, voice, or video, and based on that understanding perform automatic operations on the information.[8]
[edit] Customers
Autonomy also has over 300 OEM partners and more than 400 Value-added resellers and integrators, numbering among them are leading companies such as Citrix, EDS, Novell and Symantec. [11]
[edit] Offices
Autonomy has major offices in the US, the UK, Canada, France, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Germany and smaller offices throughout Europe and Latin America.
[edit] Senior management
The Company's Board includes:
- Dr Michael Richard Lynch
- Richard Gaunt
- Sushovan Hussain
- Barry Ariko
- John McMonigall
- Richard Perle
[edit] References
- ^ Fresnillo, Inmarsat, Autonomy, Stagecoach enter ftse 100 reshuffle
- ^ The Kindness of Strangers VNU Net
- ^ "What that £10k is worth now", 31st Dec 2001, zdnet.co.uk
- ^ "Autonomy buys Verity", Information World Review
- ^ Blinkx IPO goes ahead
- ^ Autonomy buys Zantaz
- ^ Autonomy to buy Interwoven for $775m
- ^ a b Gartner Group: Autonomy
- ^ Truffle 100
- ^ What is meaning-based computing
- ^ autonomy.com customer list
[edit] External links
- Company site
- "The Quest for Meaning" WIRED
- What Is Meaning-Based Computing?
- Michael Lynch On Meaning-Based Computing
- Virage
- etalk
- Cardiff
- ZANTAZ
- Meridio
