AllegroGraph Named to Big Data 50 – Companies Driving Innovation in 2019

Franz Inc. Acknowledged as a Leader in Knowledge Graph Solutions

OAKLAND, Calif., September 18, 2019 — Franz Inc., an early innovator in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and leading supplier of Graph and Document Database technology for Knowledge Graphs, today announced that it has been named to Database Trends and Applications (DBTA)  – Big Data 50 – Companies Driving Innovation in 2019.

A new generation of tools is making it possible to leverage the wealth of data flowing into organizations from a previously unimaginable range of data sources. Machine learning, AI, Spark, and object storage are just some of the next-generation approaches gaining traction, according to recent surveys conducted by Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc.

Today, more than ever, businesses rely on data to deliver a competitive edge. The urgency to compete on analytics has spread across industries, fueled by the need for greater efficiency, agility and innovation,” remarked Thomas Hogan, Group Publisher at Database Trends and Applications. “This list seeks to highlight those companies that are really driving innovation and serve as a guide to businesses navigating the rapidly changing big data landscape.”

“We are honored to receive this acknowledgement for our efforts in delivering Enterprise Knowledge Graph Solutions,” said Dr. Jans Aasman, CEO, Franz Inc. “In the past year, we have seen demand for Enterprise Knowledge Graphs take off across industries along with recognition from top technology analyst firms that Knowledge Graphs provide the critical foundation for artificial intelligence applications and predictive analytics.   Our AllegroGraph Knowledge Graph Platform Solution offers a unique comprehensive approach for helping companies accelerate the creation of Enterprise Knowledge Graphs that deliver new value to their organization.”

Franz’s Knowledge Graph Platform Solution includes both technology and services for building industrial strength Knowledge Graphs based on best-of-class tools, products, knowledge, skills and experience. At the core of the solution is Franz’s graph database technology, AllegroGraph, which is utilized by dozens of the top F500 companies worldwide and enables businesses to extract sophisticated decision insights and predictive analytics from highly complex, distributed data that cannot be uncovered with conventional databases.

Franz delivers the expertise for designing ontology and taxonomy-based solutions by utilizing standards-based development processes and tools. Franz also offers data integration services from siloed data using W3C industry standard semantics, which can then be continually integrated with information that comes from other data sources. In addition, the Franz data science team provides expertise in custom algorithms to maximize data analytics and uncover hidden knowledge.

Companies Across the Globe Use Franz Knowledge Graph Solutions

Organizations in customer service, healthcare, life science, publishing and technology have relied on Franz to help develop their knowledge graph solutions.

Global B2B technology firm N3 has utilized Franz’s Knowledge Graph Solution to build an ‘Intelligent Sales Organization,’ which uses graph based technology for taxonomy driven entity extraction, speech recognition, machine learning and predictive analytics to improve quality of conversations, increase sales and improve business visibility.

“In a typical sales organization, the valuable content within the online chat or voice conversation between the agent and customer goes into a black hole,” said Shannon Copeland, COO of N3. “Franz helped us build a modern Intelligent Sales Organization (ISO) by creating a real-time Knowledge Graph that knows everything about customers and agents and provides the raw data for machine learning to improve doing the business of ISO. Now we use the rich information between agents and customers to improve the quality of the interaction in real time, which ultimately creates more sales and provides far better analytics for management.”

In 2015, Dr. Parsa Mirhaji, his colleagues and industry partners, including Franz Inc. embarked on a project to bring Knowledge Graph technology to Montefiore, a Bronx-based medical center. “Our strategy at Montefiore is to build a data-driven and evidence-based health system – essentially a learning healthcare system – that can understand its own population thoroughly, understand and improve its practices, and develop the highest quality of services for the people it serves,” said Parsa Mirhaji, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Health Data Innovations at Montefiore and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “In order to accomplish that goal, we have created a system that harvests every piece of data that we can possibly find, from our own EMRs and devices to patient-generated data to socioeconomic data from the community.  It’s extremely important to use anything we can find that can help us categorize our patients more accurately.” (Health IT Analytics, At Montefiore, Artificial Intelligence Becomes Key to Patient Care, September 10, 2018)

Wolters Kluwer is using graph analytic techniques to accelerate the knowledge discovery process for its clients. “What we’re really interested in is achieving insights that today take a person to analyze and that are prohibitive computationally,” said Greg Tatham, Wolters Kluwer CTO of Global Platforms. “We’re providing this live feedback. As you’re typing, we’re providing question and suggestions for you live. AllegroGraph gives us a performant way to be able to just work our way through the whole knowledge model and come up with suggestions to the user in real time.” (Datanami, How AI Boosts Human Expertise at Wolters Kluwer, June 6, 2018)

Gartner Identifies Digital Ecosystems, Knowledge Graphs and Semantics as Key Technologies for AI

Gartner noted,  5 Trends Appear on the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2019 , Digital Ecosystems, which includes Knowledge Graphs, as an Emerging Technology with significant impact on business, society and people over the next five to 10 years.    Gartner states, “Digital ecosystems are web-like connections between actors (enterprises, people and things) sharing a digital platform. These ecosystems developed as digitalization morphed traditional value chains, enabling more seamless, dynamic connections to a variety of agents and entities across geographies and industries. In the future these will include decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), which operate independently of humans and rely on smart contracts. These digital ecosystems are constantly evolving and connecting, resulting in new products and opportunities.”

In 2018 Gartner first  recognized Knowledge Graphs as a key new technology in both their Hype Cycle for Artificial Intelligence and Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies. Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Artificial Intelligence 2018 states, “The rising role of content and context for delivering insights with AI technologies, as well as recent knowledge graph offerings for AI applications have pulled knowledge graphs to the surface.”

Semantics has also been identified by Gartner as critical for effectively utilizing enterprise data assets. “Unprecedented levels of data scale and distribution are making it almost impossible for organizations to effectively exploit their data assets. Data and analytics leaders must adopt a semantic approach to their enterprise data assets or face losing the battle for competitive advantage.” (Gartner, How to Use Semantics to Drive the Business Value of Your Data, Guido De Simoni, November 27, 2018) For more information about the Gartner report, visit the Gartner Report Order Page.

About Franz Inc.

Franz Inc. is an early innovator in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and leading supplier of Semantic Graph Database technology with expert knowledge in developing and deploying Knowledge Graph solutions. The foundation for Knowledge Graphs and AI lies in the facets of semantic technology provided by AllegroGraph and Allegro CL.  The ability to rapidly integrate new knowledge is the crux of the Knowledge Graph and Franz Inc. provides the key technologies and services to address your complex challenges.  Franz Inc. is your Knowledge Graph technology partner.

About Database Trends and Applications

Database Trends and Applications (DBTA), published by Information Today, Inc., is a bimonthly magazine that delivers advanced trends analysis and case studies in data management and analysis developed by a team with more than 25 years of industry experience. Visit www.dbta.com for subscription information. DBTA also delivers groundbreaking market research exclusively through its Unisphere Research group.