IBM announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Language Analysis Systems (LAS) provider of multi-cultural name recognition software solutions for mission critical applications. IBM customers will be able to leverage a unique knowledgebase of linguistic information on demand from LAS’s 20 years of linguistic research and the analysis of millions of names gathered from across the world. This will enable them to create an accurate, real-time view into the linguistic and cultural properties of names. This technology has historically been and continues to be widely used within the federal government to support the identity recognition needs of solutions ranging from border control to international law enforcement. Today IBM’s global name recognition technology has seen increased utilization in the private sector where it is being used to increase the accuracy of watch list checks, ferret out fraud, and enable global customer-facing applications. Through better recognition and verification of customer names, customers can better ensure that operations like call centers and direct marketing run smoothly. Industry applications of the technology include: Intelligence and Security, Financial Services, Financial Services – OFAC Compliance, Law Enforcement, Homeland Security, and Marketing Services. IBM markets a total of nine global name recognition products designed to help search and manage name data. Each product can be used independently or in an integrated fashion to improve the processing of names for any organization. These include the following: IBM NameClassifier identifies the culture(s) of a name; IBM NameGenderizer identifies the gender of a name; IBM NameHunter culturally sensitive name comparison algorithm; IBM MetaMatch culturally sensitive phonetic name comparison algorithm; IBM Name Variation Generator produces name variants based on culturally sensitive rules; IBM NameParser culturally sensitive personal name parser; IBM Name Reference Library encyclopedia of names, name use and variations; IBM NameInspector Analyzes name data for parsing issues, erroneous names, gender and culture distribution, etc.; and IBM NameStats – Analyzes name data for frequency statistics. http://www.las-inc.com, http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/globalname/