October 1998, Vol. 15, No. 10 Legendary AI pioneer acquired by UK systems integrator Logica acquires Carnegie Group for $35 million Carnegie Group Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.cgi.com), one of the legendary "Gang of Four" expert system vendors that contributed mightily to creating an AI industry back in the early 1980s, has been acquired by Logica Inc. (Lexington, Mass.; www.logica.com), a subsidiary of the London, U.K.-based Logica plc, for $35 million. Logica's expertise is in systems integration, consulting, products and core process out-tasking/applications management. Logica's position in providing customer contact and customer care solutions to the telecommunications, financial services, energy and utilities, and automotive markets will give Carnegie Group access to new channels for delivery of its proprietary solutions. The acquisition will create synergy for both organizations and produce additional capabilities for growth. Carnegie Group will form a separate customer contact and advanced decision support division within Logica Inc., Logica's North American operating subsidiary. This division, to be known as Logica Carnegie Group, will be run by Dennis Yablonsky, currently CEO of Carnegie Group. Carnegie Group was originally formed by a group of AI researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, and as such was one of the first commercial vendors of expert system development tools, with its Knowledge Craft software. After a series of growing pains including a management exodus in the mid-1980s, the company refocused its strategy and aimed at a more vertical, niche marketplace namely, the manufacturing arena, which it served with its TestBench expert diagnostic system. In the early 1990s, Carnegie Group was instrumental in launching the Initiative for Managing Knowledge Assets (IMKA) consortium. In recent years, the company has concentrated on providing intelligent solutions and services to the telecommunications industry. And earlier this year, the company acquired Advantage kbs, a developer of intelligent problem resolution software (see ISR, April 1998). Logica Carnegie Group will provide business and technical consulting, client/server and Internet-based custom software development, third-party package implementation and systems integration services. Web Site © Copyright 1997, 1998 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Lionheart Publishing, Inc. 2555 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 299, Atlanta, GA 30339 USA Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969 E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com Web: www.lionheartpub.com Web Design by Premier Web Designs E-mail: lionwebmaster@preweb.com