Information Dimensions Incorporated

COMPANY BACKGROUND Information Dimensions Incorporated (IDI) is a well-known developer of data base management systems and related software products. Its principal product, BASISplus, is a data base management program with powerful text retrieval and image management capabilities. It was introduced in 1989 as a rewritten and significantly enhanced version of BASIS, a famous data base management and information retrieval program developed in the early 1970s to manage project-related textual documents at the Battelle Memorial Institute, the world's largest independent research and development organization. Fried (1971) describes its initial implementation. Battelle's clients became aware of BASIS and expressed interest in using it for their own information management applications. BASIS became commercially available in the late 1970s. In the early 1980s, Battelle Memorial Institute developed a relational data base management system called DM. Information Dimensions Incorporated integrated that system with the text-handling capabilities of the original BASIS program to produce Basisplus, an extended-relational. data base management system that is optimized for text storage and retrieval. It is discussed by Miller (1991). The BASIS family of information management products is currently installed at more than 2,500 sites worldwide. It includes the BASIS Document Manager, which incorporates Basisplus; BASIS WEBserver, which provides access to data and documents in intranet implementations; BASIS Client Suite, a set of application development tools and interfaces; and TECHLIBplus, an integrated library system. TECHLIBplus, the subject of this discussion, was introduced in 1989. It is described by Hattery (1990) and Leeves (1991). As its name suggests, TECHLIBplus is an enhanced, second-generation product that uses BASISplus as its underlying data base engine. BASISplus provides the architectural foundation for the TECHLIBplus's library functions, which were developed with BASISplus data base management and application tpols. TECHLIBplus' predecessor, known as TECHLIB/STACS, was an outgrowth of a Battelle project to automate a customer's library using BASIS. The commercially available implementation, which was introduced in 1984, combined the cataloging, circulation control, and acquisition components supported by the TECHLIB program with a Serials Tracking and Control System (STACS). Intended principally for special libraries and information centers in corporations, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations, TECHLIBplus is modular in design. As noted above, the original BASIS and TECHLIB programs were developed by Battelle Memorial Institute. Information Dimensions Incorporated (IDI) was formed in 1986 as a subsidiary of Battelle Development Corporation and was acquired by OCLC in April 1993. As discussed by Smith (1993), OCLC was principally interested in IDI's advanced information retrieval technology, rather than in specific products such as TECHLIBplus. At the time of the OCLC acquisition, IDI owned Zylab, a developer of full-text retrieval and document storage products for IBM-compatible microcomputers. IDI sold Zylab in 1994. Information Dimensions operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of OCLC. Like its parent company, IDI maintains its headquarters in Dublin, Ohio. The company has regional sales offices in major North American cities and European subsidiaries in France, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. IDI has distribution arrangements with value-added resellers, consulting firms, and other organizations in many countries. COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT TECHLIBplus is sold as software for installation and operation on customer-supplied computing equipment. Information Dimensions does not sell computers or peripheral devices. Like the BASISplus product on which it is built, TECHLIBplus is available for a variety of computing environments. …