Experience intermezzo I
  Objective
  to give you an overview of how the
building of usefulness may look in practice
– it is never an easy way
  Outline
  Beginning
  Searching for usefulness
  Lessons Learnt
  New usefulness
  Founded in spring 2007 as a spin-off of
Masaryk University
  Technology company
  20 people
  14 R&D team members
  all of them students or graduates of FI MUNI
  three years experience in conceptual and universal
modeling in practice
  old MM logo
In the beginning...
Formulation by National
Visualization and Analytics Center,
Department of Homeland Security
• Illuminating the path
• A major objective for NVAC is to define a
long-term research and development (R&D)
agenda for visual analytics to address the
most pressing needs in R&D to facilitate
advanced analytical insight.
• http://nvac.pnl.gov/agenda.stm
Searching for the usefulness
Searching for the usefulness
For centuries we have been improving our
ability to collect information, and this will
continue.
However, our ability to analyze this
information is sorely lacking.
The information is massive, complex,
incomplete, and uncertain.
Technologies are needed that will support
the application of human judgment to make
the best possible use of this information and
share it with others as appropriate prevent,
deter, and respond to threats!
• Create visually enabled tools to support collaborative
analytic reasoning about complex and dynamic
problems
• Develop both the theory and practice for transforming
data into new scalable representations that faithfully
represent the content of the underlying data
Searching for the usefulness
Searching for the usefulness
The visualization must
• Facilitate understanding of massive and
continually growing collections of data of
multiple types
• Provide user- and task-adaptable guided
representations that enable full situation
awareness while supporting development of
detail actions
• Facilitate knowledge discovery through
information synthesis, which is the integration
of data based on their meaning rather than the
original data type
  The basic idea of MM being useful was to
provide an universally usable platform
comprising technologies that are
  possessing the aforementioned characteristics
  easily applicable to build an visual analytics solutions on
demand
  Our mission was to provide:
  “Insight into networks”
  Networks of our primarily focus were
  computer networks
  sensor networks
Searching for the usefulness
Untapped data
Hidden connections/relationships
Dynamic events represent
opportunities or threats
Searching for the usefulness
Data
from
networks
Distributed
Uncertain
Specific
requirements
Dynamic
Extensive
Diverse
Searching for the usefulness
Data
Space
Databases
XML files
HTML files
Log files
...
Goals
Alert on emerging
opportunity
Alert on emerging
threat
Insight to context
of information
...
Provide information 

from data space which will
help 

to achieve user goals
Searching for the usefulness
Goal

Space
Data
Space
Knowledge elements of
Extraction Reasoning Visualization
Factoids
Space
Complex
Information
Space
Visual 

Space
Extraction Reasoning Visualization
More Data! Better Quality!
Data driven construction
Which opportunities and
threats we are able to
recognize in available
data space
Goal driven construction
Which opportunities and
threats we want to
recognize in our business
Searching for the usefulness
Gather
Reason
React
VisualizeAdapt
Self-refer
Socialize
The combination in one single system of the
above abilities, which enhance each other,
makes the Mycroft engine powerful and unique.
Searching for the usefulness
Task solver
Memory
engine
Integration
engine
Visualization
engine
Mediator
Entelect
Entelect
Searching for the usefulness
  MyNetScope generation 1
  BuidlingScope generation 1
  MyShop and AskAround
  only partial usage (memory and task solver)
Searching for the usefulness
  MyNetScope and BuildingScope generation 1
  gens1 were catchy at the presentation but hard to use in
daily routine
  robustness and stability issues (Java + Caché + Prolog)
  gens2 based purely on Caché
  MyNetScope was successful and have been sold within
Mycroft Mind subsidiary AdvaICT
  BuildingScope was developed too early in respect of
current customer needs
  MyShop and AskAround
  underestimation of the business part
  multi-sided (e-shops and its customers)
  project was abandoned
Robust memory engine
Combination of SQL (S-SPACE),
semantic networks (T-SPACE) and
trees (C-SPACE)
Allow to handle huge, context
dependent, uncertain and
inconsistent data
Allow to quickly recognize
complex behavior patterns
occurring in time
Based on Caché database from
InterSystems
Technology alone is never interesting for business!
• You need its applications that illustrates the value!
• What is more, you need its successful applications!
• Successful applications mean that they are really helpful to someone.
The details are very important!
• Your VP has to be as specific as it can be for every customer segment!
• The features of your product or service must support the VP details in very
straightforward way!
It is easier to align your business with already existing field!
• People will understand what you are doing easier.
• You gain their trust easier.
Even partial success is very important for motivating people!
• Many from the R&D people left in the beginning of 2010.
Get business aspects or better people involved at the very beginning!
• Our primary interest was in technology and technical solution, as we are technical
people.
Lessons Learned
We were able to enthuse all visionaries with our
intention.
However, we had only general sense of the value we
offered to customers.
We were too abstract in our VP thus customers did
not see easily that they have problems we are here to
solve!
Subjects Needs
Services
Products
Lessons Learned
  Fundamental strategy revision was done in the beginning 2010
  MM start to shift from pure technology company to
application and solution provider
  Alignment with Complex Event Processing (CEP)
  visit www.mycroftmind.com
  Principles behind remain the same and consistent, but the
message to the outer environment changed
  That makes Mycroft Mind more readable and understandable
by prospects, potential partners, investors...
  New mission statement
  “Distilling oceans of data into flows of valuable information!”
  First contract for CEP solution signed in Q1 2010
  Experience from its realization will be introduced on 18th
March within PV055 course
New usefulness
2007-2009
• member of R&D team
• focus on design and analysis of memory engine
• project management methodologist
• development and implementation of metaprocesses and supportive tools
2010
• Chief Technology Officer
• responsibility for revision and adoption of new technologies to be used for CEP-based solution
provisioning
• new business cases evaluation
• HR Manager
• project management methodologist
2011
• Chief Analytics Officer
• responsibility for revision and adoption of new procedures, methods, techniques and tools to
create and deliver new CEP-based solutions more effectively
• new business cases evaluation
• project management methodologist