Arlington, VA — June 12, 2003 — A private company funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has signed a broad licensing deal with software company Tacit Knowledge Systems to deliver Tacit's enterprise collaboration technology to selected customers within the U.S. intelligence community.
In-Q-Tel is a CIA-funded enterprise launched in 1999 with the charge of identifying and investing in companies developing cutting-edge information technologies that serve U.S. national security interests.
The U.S. intelligence community came under fire following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks for alleged failures in sharing information between government agencies. Tacit's software is designed to automatically discover expertise and activity across large or multiple organizations and connect people so they can collaborate, share information and coordinate their activities.
According to Tacit, its ActiveNet software enables automated activity and expertise discovery, "intelligent people search" and contact brokering, automatic person-to-person networking, automated categorization, managed discussions and content sharing. ActiveNet integrates with existing collaboration tools, processes and distributed information assets.
The new licensing deal will allow Tacit and In-Q-Tel to meet growing government interest in Tacit's collaboration management software.
"We recognized that Tacit's new products are of particular interest and undeniable value to a wide range of government customers," said Gilman Louie, In-Q-Tel's CEO. "Tacit's technology can contribute significantly to many government organizations' efforts to enhance their information-sharing practices, making it appropriate to do this first-ever extension of a licensing arrangement with a portfolio company."
"This multi-year, multi-project deal highlights the importance of Tacit's technology to the collaboration and information-sharing processes within and across large government organizations," said David Gilmour, Tacit's president and CEO. "We have worked with In-Q-Tel to structure licensing that enables rapid acquisition of that technology on behalf of current and future intelligence community customers, and we look forward to continuing our close partnership."
For information on how one pharmaceutical company has used Tacit's solutions to accelerate product development cycles and shorten time-to-market, read the June 20, 2002, iSourceonline article "Tapping the Enterprise's Expertise Infrastructure."
