UK software start-up Alterian Ltd is to license Microsoft Corp’s Visual Basic for Applications 5.0 in its new data mining technology. Established in May, Alterian is in the process of testing data analysis and client-server technology that will enable value added resellers to build applications tailored to their customer base. Currently based in Chester, but on the move to Bristol in the new year, Alterian has developed a 32-bit Windows interface designed for data analysis it calls Alterian Molecule, including VBA to provide customization capabilities. Alterian Atom is a groupware application server, while Alterian Nucleus is a relational analysis database server engine that sits at the heart of the technology. Early benchmarking tests are said to have shown Nucleus capable of analysis speeds in excess of 20 million records per second. Co-founder and managing director David Eldridge regards the technology as the tools to enable others to develop specific applications. Alterian is privately held, a position Eldridge wants the company to remain in, being quite content with the venture capital funding it is operating on presently. But long term plans do include expansion. The company hopes to have doubled its seven person staff to 14 by this time next year, and is talking to companies in the US to take the technology across the Atlantic.
