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By DON DODSON Copyright 2005 The News-Gazette CHAMPAIGN – RiverGlass Inc. has landed its first million-dollar contract, furnishing the Illinois State Police with sophisticated data-mining software that can help analyze crime data. The sale, completed in late summer, is being implemented now, and the final product should be in place next spring, said Kirk Dauksavage, the company's chief executive officer. RiverGlass is based on technology developed by the company's founder, Michael Welge, and its development offices are based in Champaign. About 12 people are employed at its offices in EnterpriseWorks in the University of Illinois Research Park, and five or six others work at the company's headquarters in West Chicago. "We provide tools that help analyze data in real time," Dauksavage said, adding that state police have about 80 analysts who sift through crime data. Their effectiveness and productivity will be enhanced with the new software called RiverGlass Recon. The system was incorporated in the state police Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center, said Master Sgt. Rick Hector, a spokesman for the state police. That center is a part of the new State Emergency Operations Center that opened in Springfield in October. RiverGlass is also negotiating a contract with a large metropolitan area and hopes to have that finalized by the end of the year, Dauksavage said. "Revenuewise, we'll beat our plans for this year, and next year we expect to be five times where we are this year," he said, declining to release specific figures. Data-mining technology can be used in several different markets, he added. "Clearly law enforcement is interested in it, and there are lots of opportunities at both the state and federal levels," he said. The technology can be used in maritime security at ports and in identifying fraud for insurance and financial services, he said. Welge, who works at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the UI, said both industry and government can gain insights from streaming real-time data. He predicted changes in the use and analysis of real-time information with the advent of sensor networks and radio frequency identification, or RFID, technologies. "At RiverGlass, we are seeing RFID applications develop in personal identification – military and civilians – livestock management, food security, supply chain management and maritime cargo security," he said. So far, RiverGlass has received equity investments from IllinoisVentures, the Illinois Finance Authority and Waypoint Ventures in Ann Arbor, Mich., as well as from several angel investors, Dauksavage said. Rob Schultz, senior director of IllinoisVentures, said he was "thrilled and extremely excited" by RiverGlass' contract with the state police. "It's always positive for an early-stage company to find a customer of this stature to help develop a product," Schultz said. "The Illinois State Police is considered to be one of the big technology users in the country among state-level law enforcement agencies," he said. "They're also a tremendous influence on adoption of technology across other states." |
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