FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mary Kroening +1-828-350-0350
January 2, 1996 - Stow MA-Amzi! inc. announces WebLS 2.0. WebLS is a tool that lets webmasters easily embed rule-based expertise on Web pages. Dennis Merritt, President of Amzi!, said "We see WebLS as the tool that opens the door for a wealth of consumer-oriented expert systems. These applications were not practical before the Web, but can now provide tremendous marketing advantages for their deployers."
One class of application is the product or service advisor. These applications gather information from the user through dynamically generated Web pages, and then, based on that information, make product and/or service recommendations. For example, a car dealer's Web page can match up customer's interests and requirements with current inventory; a job placement service can match up interests and skills with career opportunities; a book or video seller can match up customer interests with titles; and a hardware vendor can help the user pick a configuration that best suits his or her needs. One immediate application for all Web sites is the site advisor, an application that generates a custom guide to a Web site based on visitor interests.
Another class of application is the diagnostic application. These are classic expert systems that diagnose problems, but when deployed on the Web have tremendous marketing potential to draw consumers to a Web site. Consider a system that diagnoses lawn problems. It would be a draw for anyone trying to figure out why there are brown spots on the lawn. If this system was provided by a fertilizer manufacturer, it could also recommend specific products, if appropriate, that can help remedy the problem. A career advisor would draw job hunters to a placement agency's Web site; a home repair advisor would draw do-it-yourselfers to a hardware store's Web site; and an aquarium advisor would draw users to a pet supplier.
A tremendous by-product of either of these classes of applications is the valuable marketing information they provide. The fertilizer manufacture with the lawn advisor would be able to see exactly what types of problems people were having with their lawns. The car dealer would see exactly what type of cars their site visitors were looking for.
These advisory applications provide a perfect win-win for the consumer and vendor-the consumer gets hassle-free, valuable information in the vendor's domain of expertise, and the vendor learns the interests and needs of potential consumers as well as having the opportunity to present products perfectly positioned for the visitor.
Mary Kroening, lead developer for WebLS, said "Server-side applications are ideal for dispensing and gathering information. A single centrally located application is much easier to develop and maintain, and can be accessed by millions of Web visitors."
The WebLS inference engine is designed to work through Web pages, dynamically optimizing the dialog with the visitor to 1) use as few Web pages as possible, and 2) only ask questions that are pertinent to following up on a visitor's interests. Rules are written in a simple 'if-then' syntax. Questions to the visitor and final recommendations are both specified in the rule base as HTML, so they can include any of the features available on Web pages such as graphics, animation, videos and sounds.
WebLS is available for Windows and Unix-based Web servers. A freeware version is available for downloading from Amzi!'s Web site, www.amzi.com. That web site also has an example of a site advisor application implemented using WebLS. Pricing for the commercial version is platform specific, contact Amzi! for details.
Amzi! inc. specializes in embeddable AI components, providing both products and consulting/customization services to its customers.
Amzi! and WebLS are trademarks of Amzi! inc.
Amzi! inc.
47 Redwood Road
Asheville, NC 28804 U.S.A.
+1-828-350-0350
www.amzi.com