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Gensym Launches G2 Optegrity 5 for Ensuring Continuity of Mission-Critical Operations; Major Upgrade Sets Benchmark for Real-Time Prediction and Resolution of Industrial Problems

Posted on: Thursday, 15 June 2006, 18:00 CDT

Gensym Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: GNSM), a leading provider of rule engine software for mission-critical solutions, today announced a major upgrade of its G2 Optegrity(TM) product for ensuring continuity of critical industrial operations including for those in manufacturing, utilities, aerospace, and transportation. With its many enhancements, G2 Optegrity version 5.0 sets a new benchmark for real-time prediction, diagnosis, and resolution of equipment and process problems that can lead to unplanned downtime, broken schedules, safety hazards, inefficient operation, poor quality, and other costly operational problems.

Abnormal conditions and the resulting problems are frequently caused by equipment failures, process changes, or human error. These are estimated to cost the U.S. economy over $20 billion per year, according to a study funded by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. The increasing complexity of automation strategies, equipment, and processes and greater volumes of real-time information seriously challenge the real-time decision making of operating staff as they respond to these conditions.

Built on Gensym's proven, award-winning G2(R) real-time rule engine platform, G2 Optegrity improves management of abnormal conditions by predicting and resolving potential problems before they escalate into costly impacts. Unlike traditional alarm management approaches, G2 Optegrity intuitively combines sophisticated reasoning technologies, including real-time rules, fuzzy logic, causal models, neural networks, and statistics, that enable the detection of problems as early as possible. G2 and G2 Optegrity applications have been documented to proactively alert operators to problems between minutes and hours before they would have otherwise have been notified by automation system alarms. Through early detection and responses, G2 Optegrity can significantly reduce the quantity of alarms that operators must monitor.

"G2 Optegrity 5.0 offers tremendous value for helping to maintain business continuity," said Lowell Hawkinson, Gensym chairman, president, and CEO. "G2 Optegrity and its underlying G2 rules technology are proven for helping enterprises such as El Paso Energy, ExxonMobil, Hitachi, Lafarge, and NASA improve the availability and performance of their mission-critical operations. With version 5.0's new capabilities that further strengthen Optegrity's technology advantages, Optegrity is even a more compelling choice for managing abnormal conditions across a broad range of industries."

Partners Leveraging G2 Optegrity 5.0

"We are building a G2 Optegrity based solution for critical electric power systems, such as those for Navy ships, air traffic control centers, offshore platforms, and production facilities. Our solution is designed to help keep the systems operational, to enhance safety, and to reduce maintenance and manpower costs," said Mark Walker, a lead engineer with General Atomics, a Gensym partner headquartered in California and a leading technology firm specializing in diversified research, development, and manufacturing in defense, energy and other advanced technology areas. "Our solution predicts onset of failures, automates troubleshooting, and enhances the training of personnel. We have been working with prerelease versions of G2 Optegrity 5.0 and look forward to taking advantage of its new technology capabilities, especially in the area of root-cause analysis. We have found that version 5.0 speeds modeling, testing, and integration, enabling us to maximize the amount of time we spend on validating the underlying fault-analysis logic."

"We've deployed over 40 installations of G2 in the mining industry that automatically control mineral production processes to improve production throughput and quality," said Michael Schaffer, manager of advanced systems with SGS Advanced Systems Group in Canada, a Gensym partner that is part of the global SGS Group. "Mineral processing is complex, with many possible sources of disruptive problems within plant equipment assets and production processes. We see substantial value in solutions that help operators and maintenance staff predict and very quickly respond to these problems. We are pleased to be using G2 Optegrity 5.0 to enable us to build and deliver such solutions. We plan to take advantage of 5.0's new capabilities for predictive event detection and real-time diagnosis."

"Industrial electronic systems are very challenging to troubleshoot," said Huang Yongcan, a planning manager with Galleric Electronics, a Gensym partner based in Beijing, China focused on electronic system design. "Our customers include those in the electronics and aerospace industries for whom it is critical to maintain availability of electronic systems infrastructure. When problems occur, it is vital to detect these early and to quickly determine the best course of action for resolution. We have been working with prerelease versions of G2 Optegrity 5.0 to develop solutions for electronic system fault detection and recovery. Optegrity 5.0's new user interface improves usability, and its SymCure module is a very useful capability that we are leveraging to automate system troubleshooting."

Capabilities Span Problem Cycle

G2 Optegrity 5.0's capabilities span the entire cycle of real-time problem management including:

-- Prediction: By analyzing real-time data, typically from automation systems, G2 Optegrity detects and alerts operators to abnormal conditions that are predictors of potentially costly problems, conditions such as increasingly inefficient operations, sudden process fluctuations, projections of high temperature or pressure states, and many others. Version 5.0 re-architects Optegrity's detection capabilities to enable ready creation and extension of its Intelligent Objects(TM), which are software objects that monitor and recognize potential problems in industrial equipment. Version 5.0 includes a library of prebuilt Intelligent Objects for manufacturing equipment, including those for heaters, compressors, instruments, and controllers. A new option to embed neural networks for virtual measurement of process conditions further enhances problem prediction.

-- Diagnosis: Detected abnormal conditions trigger real-time diagnosis by Optegrity's SymCure module, which graphically models relationships between symptoms, root causes, and projected impacts. Version 5.0 enhances SymCure through improvements in diagnostic explanations for operators and engineers and through richer modeling capabilities.

-- Response: Diagnoses trigger responses in the form of operator guidance and automatic actions. Version 5.0 redesigns Optegrity's user interface to speed up the navigation of messages and explanations of problems by all types of users, including operators, engineers, and managers.

For more information about G2 Optegrity's capabilities, please visit its page on Gensym's Web site at http://www.gensym.com/?p=g2_optegrity.

Availability

Gensym's G2 Optegrity 5.0 is planned for availability in July, 2006. Gensym will demonstrate G2 Optegrity's new capabilities in a Web workshop on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 titled "Predictive Abnormal Condition Management." To register, visit the Seminars and Workshops page of Gensym's Web site at http://www.gensym.com/?p=seminars_and_workshops.

About Gensym Corporation

Gensym Corporation (www.gensym.com) is a leading provider of rule engine software and services for mission-critical solutions that automate decisions in real time. Gensym's flagship G2 software applies real-time rule technology for decisions that optimize operations and that detect, diagnose, and resolve costly problems. With G2, the world's largest organizations in manufacturing, utilities, communications, transportation, aerospace, finance, and government maximize the agility of their businesses and achieve greater levels of performance. Gensym and its numerous partners deliver a range of services throughout the world, including training, software support, application consulting, and complete solutions.

Gensym and G2 are registered trademarks and Optegrity is a trademark of Gensym Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Source: Business Wire

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