Empolis, Attensity and Living-e join Forces to Become Attensity Group

GÜTERSLOH and KARLSRUHE, Germany and PALO ALTO, California, April 20 /PRNewswire/ --

-- The Combination of Three Companies in the Field of Semantic Technologies Results in the Formation of a Global Market Leader That Offers a Portfolio of Complementary Products and Services and Produces Transatlantic Synergies for Growth in the Software Market for Unstructured Information

Empolis GmbH (Gütersloh), former arvato-Bertelsmann subsidiary, Attensity Corporation (Palo Alto, Calif., USA) and Living-e AG (Karlsruhe) today announced they have united to form the Attensity Group. This move makes Attensity Group a worldwide market leader in the field of semantic technologies. The new company will employ 300 people worldwide and expects to generate revenues of approx. USD 50 million in 2009.

Together, Attensity Group combines state-of-the-art technology and decades of know-how creating a next-generation international software company that can help shape the new market for semantic processing of unstructured information. The move also represents a breakthrough for companies and organizations using semantic information technologies to analyze and automatically and efficiently process their unstructured data, as they stand to experience a quantum leap in their productivity.

The new Attensity Group unites the technologies of the three partners: Empolis GmbH a leading provider of enterprise content and knowledge management solutions in Europe; Living-e AG a leading specialist in intelligent multichannel communication and information management solutions; and Attensity Corporation, with its First Person Intelligence(TM), a leading provider of text analysis software. The new Attensity Group offers business applications that use semantic technologies to analyze, interpret and automatically process the exploding amount of unstructured data (e-mail, documents and images) businesses must deal with. These applications quickly provide relevant answers, improve processes and allow effective knowledge management as well as better management of customer relations.

Attensity Group's headquarters are in Palo Alto, California. Former IBM manager Ian Bonner has been named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the new group of companies. "We could not be happier about forming this market powerhouse. The combination of Living-e, Attensity Corporation and Empolis, all leaders within their respective market segments, creates a significant wealth of complementary and synergistic technologies, market presence and customer experience across multiple geographies," said Ian Bonner. "With the rich and expanded technology capabilities of Attensity Group, we will offer the market an integrated suite of user applications based on semantic technologies that enable companies to optimize and improve business processes."

Moving forward the US market will be supported by Attensity Corporation. In the markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) the Living-e and Empolis teams will join forces. The companies have united their sales efforts to offer combined solutions, support and implementation services to the market. Attensity Group currently holds 97 percent of the shares in Living-e. This allows customers worldwide to benefit from a portfolio of products and services that complement each other.

Dr. Stefan Wess, Managing Director of Empolis GmbH and Managing Director EMEA of Attensity Group, explains: "With Attensity Group, we will be able to develop the potential of Empolis in the international markets and solidify our position as a leading provider in the market for semantic software solutions."

"We have combined leading makers of semantic, statistical and artificial intelligence products to form Attensity Group, and we are drawing clear synergies from this. Customers of the companies involved benefit by being able to acquire integrated end-to-end solutions for efficient knowledge management from a single source," said Guido Polko, CEO of Living-e and Attensity Group's designated new senior vice president of operations and strategic projects.

    
    Contact Attensity Empolis Europe:
    Thomas Huber
    semanticom GmbH
    Unter den Linden 21
    10117 Berlin
    Telephone:    +49-30-74-69-73-97
    Mobile phone: +49-151-14-96-58-10
    E-mail:Thomas.Huber@semanticom.eu

Contact Attensity Empolis Europe: Thomas Huber, semanticom GmbH, Unter den Linden 21, 10117 Berlin, Telephone: +49-30-74-69-73-97, Mobile phone: +49-151-14-96-58-10, E-mail:Thomas.Huber@semanticom.eu