Dialog hopes for global standard

Online information provider Dialog hopes last week's licensing agreement with Fujitsu will lead to its Info-Sort indexing software being adopted as a global standard, writes Peter Branton.

The automatic categorisation system reads documents electronically and indexes material into key topics, making it easier to retrieve and cross-reference information. In one of the largest deals ever made by a UK software supplier, the Japanese computer giant said it will install InfoSort as a standard on its hardware and networking products, and use it as its own standard software.

Fujitsu will also develop and distribute a Japanese version of InfoSort, as well as versions of Dialog information products and services. Fujitsu is the largest online provider in Japan, with over three million subscribers.

Dialog chief executive Dan Wagner described the multi-million pound fee Fujitsu will pay in licensing as 'nominal' compared with the potential royalties Dialog could earn from other suppliers if InfoSort is adopted as a global standard. Dialog is in talks with a number of other companies over adoption of InfoSort, he said.

Tatsuzumi Furukawa, group president of Fujitsu's network and content group, said Fujitsu believes InfoSort is the best product of its kind available, and the two companies would work together to make it a global standard.

'There is no point in organisations collecting masses of data if they can't do anything with it,' said George O'Connor, technology analyst at investment bank Granville.

While Fujitsu's backing does not guarantee Dialog will be able to turn InfoSort into a global standard, O'Connor argued European companies have begun to establish worldwide technologies - such as the GSM phone standard.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said the deal was 'a significant step forward in the new global knowledge economy'.