Applied Intelligence Solutions LLC tech startup of the month.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: Attitude at Altitude

INITIAL LIGHTBULB

When Jeff Gilb took the reins of Boulder-based Parascript LLC, an international leader in pattern-recognition software, in 2000, he pushed to adapt the company's technology for new verticals. After a few years of internal incubation, the company spun off a startup in Applied Intelligence Solutions to provide "intelligent decision support" to large retailers, said AIS President and CEO Jim Dixon.

"We're a wholly owned subsidiary of Parascript," he noted. "AIS's charter is to take their technology and extend it into other markets."

AIS is an attempt to push the envelope of Parascript's technology. As Parascript emerged from one of the first joint ventures between Russian and U.S. companies, "We wanted to get back to the roots of the company, the old Russian Academy of Sciences days," Dixon said. "We wanted to challenge the R&D team."

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IN A NUTSHELL

Launched in 2004, AIS's first product was AllocationXpert. "It's software that can learn to make business decisions ... and help guide users down the path of making best-practice decisions," explained Dixon. "We've got the ability to have software learn from people like allocators, look at the kind of data they're presented with, and then monitor their behavior. Said differently, the software can learn the decision-making practices of top performers."

New this year is MarkdownXpert, a similar product designed to let pricing analysts sidestep "a bloodbath markdown at the end of a season," said Dixon. "Instead, they can do it in a way that makes sense to their business."

Ultimately, both products offer a unique form of knowledge management in high-turnover areas of retail personnel. Dixon said allocators are typically trained and promoted just after they master the intricacies of the job. "The business benefit is pretty obvious," Dixon said. "You can train the engine to work...