Moving database management systems forward into the realms of artificial intelligence, Deductive Systems Ltd of Glasgow has introduced what it describes as an intelligent knowledgebase management system. The product, called Generisis, is based on research into artificial intelligence carried out at Strathclyde University, and is said to integrate aspects of artificial intelligence, relational database and fourth generation language technology to provide an environment for developing, operating and maintaining knowledge-based applications. The knowledgebase holds information and all the related rules required to interpret, draw conclusions from and take actions on that information. According to Deductive, the need for virtually all conventional programming is eliminated, enabling codeless knowledge-based applications to be developed cheaply and quickly – up to 90% faster than conventional methods, is the claim. Generisis incorporates an intelligent query language aimed at application users, which can deduce reasoned responses to almost any enquiry, no matter how imprecise, making the resultant applications easy to use. Written in C, the software runs under VMS and Unix, on DEC, Sun Microsystems Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, Compaq Computer hardware, and soon the IBM PS/2 Model 80 under AIX. Honeywell Bull Ltd is said to be incorporating the product into a production application, and Deductive Systems says it already has systems out on field trial at various public and private bodies. Formed in 1985, Deductive Systems made the spotlight two years ago when it won UKP633,000 of funding under the UK government’s Alvey Project to develop a CMOS version of its Generic Associative Memory chip. The Generic memories process in parallel and incorporate a tree structure of memory elements so that the arrays can recognise classes of elements rather than just single items (CI No 356).
