Memex Technology Limited

Memex Technology Ltd
Type	Private
Industry	Law Enforcement, Security, IT
Founded	1979
Headquarters	East Kilbride , Scotland, UK
Key people	David Carrick (Chairman & CEO) ; Graham Scott Chief Financial Officer
Products	Intelligence analysis software
Revenue	£5,113,497 (Y/E 2011)
Number of employees	110 (2013)
Website	www.memex.com

Last updated April 24, 2019

Memex Technology Limited is a Scottish software company delivering mission-critical information systems and services for the Law Enforcement and Security markets. It is headquartered in Peel Park in East Kilbride. In July 2010 it was acquired by SAS Institute Inc. with the aim of expanding SAS' presence in the law enforcement market.^[1]^[2]

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Sharing a border with England to the southeast, Scotland is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, by the North Sea to the northeast and by the Irish Sea to the south. In addition to the mainland, situated on the northern third of the island of Great Britain, Scotland has over 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

Computer software, or simply software, is a collection of data or computer instructions that tell the computer how to work. This is in contrast to physical hardware, from which the system is built and actually performs the work. In computer science and software engineering, computer software is all information processed by computer systems, programs and data. Computer software includes computer programs, libraries and related non-executable data, such as online documentation or digital media. Computer hardware and software require each other and neither can be realistically used on its own.

A mission critical factor of a system is any factor that is essential to business operation or to an organization. Failure or disruption of mission critical factors will result in serious impact on business operations or upon an organization, and even can cause social turmoil and catastrophes.

Areas of business

Memex has developed a number of software databases and analysis applications used by UK and US Police Forces.^[3]^[4] Approximately 25% of the United Kingdoms Police Forces make use of Memex's software, and a number of United States federal agencies use Memex in counter-terrorism.^[5]^[6]

Application software computer software designed to perform a group of coordinated functions, tasks, or activities for the benefit of the user

Application software is software designed to perform a group of coordinated functions, tasks, or activities for the benefit of the user. Examples of an application include a word processor, a spreadsheet, an accounting application, a web browser, an email client,a media player, a file viewer, an aeronautical flight simulator, a console game or a photo editor. The collective noun application software refers to all applications collectively. This contrasts with system software, which is mainly involved with running the computer.

Counter-terrorism activity to defend against or prevent terrorist actions

Counter-terrorism incorporates the practice, military tactics, techniques, and strategy that government, military, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or prevent terrorism. Counter-terrorism strategies include attempts to counter financing of terrorism.

The company has a global presence, operating through a network of commercial partners. The United States is the country where Memex has the strongest presence outside the UK, and the company has a dedicated office in Vienna, Virginia.^[6]

Vienna is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, it had a population of 15,687. Significantly more people live in ZIP codes with the Vienna postal addresses bordered approximately by Interstate 66 on the south, Interstate 495 on the east, Route 7 to the north, and Hunter Mill road to the west.

History

The company is named after the concept of Memex, a machine that could act as an extension to the human memory, into which vast amounts of varied information could be deposited and later retrieved.

The memex is the name of the hypothetical proto-hypertext system that Vannevar Bush described in his 1945 The Atlantic Monthly article "As We May Think". Bush envisioned the memex as a device in which individuals would compress and store all of their books, records, and communications, "mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility". The memex would provide an "enlarged intimate supplement to one's memory". The concept of the memex influenced the development of early hypertext systems and personal knowledge base software. The hypothetical implementation depicted by Bush for the purpose of concrete illustration was based upon a document bookmark list of static microfilm pages and lacked a true hypertext system, where parts of pages would have internal structure beyond the common textual format. Early electronic hypertext systems were thus inspired by memex rather than modeled directly upon it.

In 1972, as technology progressed, two academics in Edinburgh set out to realise Dr. Bush's vision. Professor Fred Heath, then Dean of Computing at Heriot-Watt University, and Dr. Graham Woyka designed the state diagrams and circuitry necessary to implement Bush's Memex concept.

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian, it is located in Lothian on the Firth of Forth's southern shore.

Heriot-Watt University is a public university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, it was granted university status by royal charter granted in 1966. It has campuses in Edinburgh, the Scottish Borders, Orkney, United Arab Emirates and Putrajaya in Malaysia. It takes the name Heriot-Watt from Scottish inventor James Watt and Scottish philanthropist and goldsmith George Heriot.

During this process, Woyka and Heath founded the Research and Development firm Memex Group Limited.

In 1984, Memex released the first of its hardware database solutions - the Memex Intelligence Engine, which remained at the core of the company's software products for many years. In its early years, Memex experienced steady growth, primarily selling into Military markets.

A military is a heavily-armed, highly-organised force primarily intended for warfare, also known collectively as armed forces. It is typically officially authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct military uniform. It may consist of one or more military branches such as an Army, Navy, Air Force and in certain countries, Marines and Coast Guard. The main task of the military is usually defined as defence of the state and its interests against external armed threats. Beyond warfare, the military may be employed in additional sanctioned and non-sanctioned functions within the state, including internal security threats, population control, the promotion of a political agenda, emergency services and reconstruction, protecting corporate economic interests, social ceremonies and national honor guards.

The software version of the Memex Intelligence Engine was developed in 1988 and three markets emerged for the software: Law Enforcement, Defence Intelligence and Commercial Fraud.

The company was subject to a management buy-out in 2001^[4] and merged with SAS in 2010^[2] and became SAS Public Security.

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In espionage and counterintelligence, surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, activities, or other changing information for the purpose of influencing, managing, directing, or protecting people. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment or interception of electronically transmitted information. It can also include simple no- or relatively low-technology methods such as human intelligence agent and postal interception. The word surveillance comes from a French phrase for "watching over" and is in contrast to more recent developments such as sousveillance.

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SAS Institute is an American multinational developer of analytics software based in Cary, North Carolina. SAS develops and markets a suite of analytics software, which helps access, manage, analyze and report on data to aid in decision-making. The company is the world's largest privately held software business and its software is used by most of the Fortune 500.

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Crimint is a database run by the Metropolitan Police Service of Greater London which stores information on criminals, suspected criminals and protesters. It was created in 1994 and supplied by Memex Technology Limited. It supports the recording and searching of items of intelligence by both police officers and back office staff. As of 2005 it contained seven million information reports and 250,000 intelligence records.

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References

↑ SAS Press Release on Memex Acquisition Archived 2011-04-26 at the Wayback Machine .
1 2 "Memex sold to US software company". BBC News. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
1 2 "Coping with the crunch: Crime does pay for firm behind intelligence-gathering software". The Scotsman. 22 June 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
1 2 Dorsey, Kristy (17 September 2001). "Memexgears up after buy-out". Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
↑ Nisse, Jason (15 January 2006). "Prime suspects: British boffins sort the data for America's finest". The Independent. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
1 2 Haverstein, Heather (13 January 2006). "Los Angeles police use data analysis to fight terrorism". Computerworld. Retrieved 27 November 2017.

External links

Memex Technology Limited website

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[1] SAS Press Release on Memex Acquisition Archived 2011-04-26 at the Wayback Machine .

[bbc10-2] 1 2 "Memex sold to US software company". BBC News. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2017.

[S09-3] 1 2 "Coping with the crunch: Crime does pay for firm behind intelligence-gathering software". The Scotsman. 22 June 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2017.

[gh01-4] 1 2 Dorsey, Kristy (17 September 2001). "Memexgears up after buy-out". Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2017.

[5] Nisse, Jason (15 January 2006). "Prime suspects: British boffins sort the data for America's finest". The Independent. Retrieved 27 November 2017.

[cw06-6] 1 2 Haverstein, Heather (13 January 2006). "Los Angeles police use data analysis to fight terrorism". Computerworld. Retrieved 27 November 2017.