SAIC: Future Point Systems and the Starlight Visual Information System
Introduction
The Starlight Visual Information System, by Future Point Systems, is information visualization software that enables the graphical analysis and synthesis of large quantities of disparate and complexly related information. By making abstract relationships among information objects visible, Starlight enables exciting and powerful new forms of information access, understanding, and control. Starlight's capabilities are completely generic, making it applicable to a broad range of problems. Starlight is being used in applications as diverse as counterterrorism, intelligence analysis, law enforcement, public safety, supply chain management, market research, computer forensics, and cybersecurity. In the military intelligence arena, Starlight enables command and control centers to process large volumes of message traffic quickly. Further, Starlight supports the integration and concurrent analysis of message data with other kinds of information. Examples include free-text data, spreadsheet data, database records, and raster and vector geospatial data.
Starlight is software for sensemaking-that is, a tool that enables you to directly manipulate and understand the meaning inherent in your information. Taking advantage of emerging theories about how humans naturally organize, relate, and synthesize information about the world around them, Starlight enables you to similarly organize, relate, and synthesize the digital information that you have at your disposal. This approach makes it possible for you to more easily integrate the information available to you with your own knowledge and expertise. Starlight can also provide an ideal framework for more traditional data mining techniques. Starlight enables mining results to be placed into contexts that help make their significance more understandable.
Starlight enables you to derive value from large, heterogeneous information collections in two ways. The first is by helping you find particular items or sets of items that are germane to the problems you are trying to solve. The second is by helping you discover and understand important, anomalous, or otherwise meaningful relationships that exist among the items in your collections. Unlike traditional link analysis software, however, Starlight incorporates a broad range of integrated visualization capabilities into its design. In addition to standard network, timeline, and geospatial visualization capabilities, Starlight includes tools for visualizing conceptual similarities among free-text content; hierarchical relationships among items; complex structured property relationships; and category memberships, among others. Further, Starlight includes comprehensive information preprocessing capabilities that can be used to augment information prior to use, greatly increasing its analytical value. Together, these capabilities form an advanced visual analytics platform capable of accelerating and improving a wide range of sensemaking tasks.
For questions and comments concerning any products and services offered by Future Point Systems, please contact the following:
Chuck Knutson
703-562-8221
edwin.c.knutson.jr@saic.com
Overview of Future Point Systems Products
Starlight XML Engineering Environment (XEE) Software License
XEE is the "Extract, Transform, Load" (ETL) component of Starlight. XEE provides data ingestion, transformation, filtering, and routing functionality, and also interfaces directly with Starlight. Unlike traditional ETL software, however, XEE also allows information to be enriched with additional content prior to analysis. XEE can dynamically process live data streams, and uses a graphical programming interface to simplify the specification of information processing tasks. This product consists of two components, the Starlight XEE Workbench and the Starlight XEE Service.
Starlight Workgroup Server Software License
The Starlight Server is the data sharing component of Starlight. The integrated data warehouse can manage large amounts of XML and multimedia data. The Workgroup Server also enables Starlight VIS users to share a variety of other analytical resources, facilitating collaboration via the exchange of related data. This product consists of two components, the Starlight Server and the Starlight Server Administrator. The Server Administrator is used to monitor Server activity, manage data resources, and administer users and access privileges.
Starlight Visual Information System (VIS) Software License
The Starlight Visual Information System (VIS) is the primary interface for manipulating, analyzing, and understanding information. The Starlight VIS provides a variety of search and retrieval functions for accessing information. Further, the Starlight VIS facilitates comparison and recombination of the retrieved material. Most significantly, the Starlight VIS generates rich, interactive graphical representations that can reveal key items and relationships present within large, heterogeneous information collections. The Starlight VIS license includes everything the average user needs to get started analyzing data with Starlight.
Starlight XML Engineering Environment (XEE) Annual Maintenance
Annual Maintenance includes Product Upgrades and Software Support. Support means the provision, when and if available, of assistance with the Licensed Software by telephone or Internet during Standard Business Hours, including: (a) clarification of functions and features of the Licensed Software; (b) clarification of the Documentation; (c) guidance in the operation of the Licensed Software; and (d) error verification, analysis and correction.
Starlight Workgroup Server Annual Maintenance
Annual Maintenance includes Product Upgrades and Software Support. Support means the provision, when and if available, of assistance with the Licensed Software by telephone or Internet during Standard Business Hours, including: (a) clarification of functions and features of the Licensed Software; (b) clarification of the Documentation; (c) guidance in the operation of the Licensed Software; and (d) error verification, analysis and correction.
Starlight Visual Information System (VIS) Annual Maintenance
Annual Maintenance includes Product Upgrades and Software Support. Support means the provision, when and if available, of assistance with the Licensed Software by telephone or Internet during Standard Business Hours, including: (a) clarification of functions and features of the Licensed Software; (b) clarification of the Documentation; (c) guidance in the operation of the Licensed Software; and (d) error verification, analysis and correction.
Overview of Future Point Systems Training
Starlight Instructor-Led Classroom Training (1-day) *
Starlight Visual Information system (VIS) instructor led training covers all Future Point Systems Inc. (FPS) products. SAIC will tailor instructor-led hands on training based on the needs of the customer.
The Starlight VIS is information visualization software that enables the graphical analysis and synthesis of large quantities of disparate and complexly related information. By making abstract relationships among information objects visible, Starlight enables exciting and powerful new forms of information access, understanding, and control. Starlight's capabilities are completely generic, making it applicable to a broad range of problems. Starlight is being used in applications as diverse as counterterrorism, intelligence analysis, law enforcement, public safety, supply chain management, market research, computer forensics, and cyber-security. In the military intelligence arena, Starlight enables command and control centers to process large volumes of message traffic quickly. Further, Starlight supports the integration and concurrent analysis of message data with other kinds of information like free-text data, database records, spreadsheet data, and raster and vector geospatial data.
Typical Starlight VIS classes conducted at an SAIC location or a customer location are typically one to five days in length depending on class skill level. Class topics may include "Introduction to Starlight VIS," "Introduction to XEE and Data Engineering," and "Advanced VIS Solutions." These class topics are instructor-led, hands-on training for one to five students. This training daily rate includes commutable travel equal to or less than one hour travel time from the instructor's home base office to the customer location/facility.
Starlight Customer Site Training, half day travel**
Customers who would rather have instructor-led training at their site can purchase a fixed price rate to cover travel time to and from a client site. Half day travel equates to greater than one hour and equal to or less than four hours travel time from the instructor's home base office to the customer location/facility.
Starlight Customer Site Training, full day travel**
Customers who would rather have instructor-led training at their site can purchase a fixed price rate to cover travel time to and from a client site. Full day travel equates to greater than four hours travel time from the instructor's home base office to the customer location/facility.
*Price is for one day of training, up to five students. Classes larger than five students will require two instructors and the purchase of two units of training.
**Additional travel costs will be incurred for travel time to customer site. Customer site training and Starlight services support will also require that the customer reimburse at cost for all travel expenses (transportation, lodging, per diem).