DM: Silicon Graphics Announces MineSet 2.5

[Ronny Kohavi]

 Silicon Graphics Announces Version 2.5 of Award-Winning MineSet 
Software
                   http://mineset.sgi.com

New Version Improves Analytical, Visual and Performance Capabilities
for Decision Support Solutions

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (March 11, 1998) -- Silicon Graphics, Inc. (NYSE:
SGI) today announced MineSetTM 2.5, the newest version of its fully
integrated, comprehensive suite of easy-to-use analytical and visual
data mining tools. MineSet 2.5 software tools revolutionize customers'
decision support process by offering parallelized data mining
algorithms for faster performance as well as new analytical tools,
such as regression, clustering, and decision tables for more intuitive
comprehension of data.

Silicon Graphics is the first major vendor to offer a commercial
implementation of boosting with MineSet 2.5 software tools. Boosting
increases the accuracy of models by repeatedly adjusting them to
compensate for errors. Unparalleled scalability combined with improved
error correction ensures that users can make critical business
decisions faster with higher precision.

Also available in MineSet 2.5 tools is the first commercial
implementation of decision tables for both business and technical
users to conduct sophisticated On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP)
operations using a new visual paradigm to depict critical factors and
their interactions.

   "MineSet provides executives with the analytical and visual insight
   necessary to make critical decisions about their businesses," said
   Aaron Zornes, vice president of Application Delivery Strategies
   Services at META Group. "It is evident that with the new features 
in
   MineSet 2.5, Silicon Graphics has created one of the best 
analytical
   and visual data mining solutions available today."
   
MineSet 2.5 Features

Parallel implementation of Decision Tree inducer, Option Tree inducer,
Regression Tree inducer, Naive-Bayes/Evidence inducer and
discretization for faster time to insight.

Clustering algorithm that allows segmentation of data into clusters
that are similar, such as identification of customer segments for
target marketing. A matching visualizer helps users understand the
segments quickly.

Regression Tree inducer that supports prediction of continuous
(non-discrete) attributes such as profits, revenues or market share.

Decision-table inducer with matching visualizer that simplifies
multi-dimensional analysis for intuitive OLAP, allowing users to
determine critical factors in business scenarios.

Return-On-Investment (ROI) curves that depict the costs associated
with recommended actions.

   "We chose MineSet because we are aiming to integrate MineSet's
   unparalleled visualization tools with our state-of-the-art business
   intelligence tools we developed in-house," said Win Farrell, 
partner
   of the Emerging Solutions Group at Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P.
   
MineSet 2.5 redefines the standard in data mining with tighter
integration of comprehensive analytical and visualization tools to
better serve the needs of users in key industries such as
telecommunications, manufacturing, government, retail, sciences and
financial services. Pharmaceutical scientists can bring drugs to
market faster by navigating through vast amounts of genomic data and
mining for complex relationships between genes and diseases. In
addition, business executives and marketing specialists can translate
results of MineSet business models into profitable marketing campaigns
by automatically generating ROI curves.

MineSet is an award-winning data mining and visualization software
product that has received wide customer acceptance. It won the Bronze
Miner Award and ranked highest among commercial data mining vendor
products in last August's Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD)
competition.

Availability

MineSet 2.5 will be available from Silicon Graphics and its worldwide
distributors in May, 1998. MineSet 2.5 is priced at $23,000
(U.S. List) for a single client/server configuration. MineSet 2.0
customers can upgrade to MineSet 2.5 free of charge. MineSet includes
an evaluation version of Hummingbird Communication's ExceedTM3D for
Windows® users. In addition, an evaluation copy of DBMS/Copy from
Conceptual Software, Inc. is provided for support of a wide range of
data sources. MineSet is available on all Silicon Graphics® systems
running the IRIX® 6.2 operating system or higher.

Silicon Graphics, Inc. is a leading supplier of high-performance
interactive computing systems. The company offers the broadest range
of products in the industry -- from low-end desktop workstations to
servers and high-end Cray® supercomputers. Silicon Graphics also
markets MIPS® microprocessor designs, Alias|WavefrontTM
entertainment and design software and other software products. The
company's key markets include manufacturing, government, science and
industries, communications and entertainment sectors. Silicon Graphics
and its subsidiaries have offices throughout the world and
headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Silicon Graphics, IRIX and the Silicon Graphics logo are registered
trademarks, and MineSet is a trademark, of Silicon Graphics, Inc. MIPS
is a registered trademark of MIPS Technologies, Inc. Cray is a
registered trademark of Cray Research, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary
of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Alias is a registered trademark, and
Alias|Wavefront is a trademark, of Alias|Wavefront, a division of
Silicon Graphics Limited. Windows is a registered trademark of
Microsoft Corporation.  Exceed is a trademark of Hummingbird
Communication, Ltd. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the
property of their respective owners.

--

   Ronny Kohavi (ronnyk@sgi.com, http://robotics.stanford.edu/~ronnyk)
   Engineering Manager, MineSet.
   Maximize the value of your data with data mining and visualization.