Sense Networks

Last updated
Sense Networks, Inc.
Sensenetworks logo.png
Type of business Private (venture backed)
Founded New York City, New York, USA
Headquarters New York City, New York , United States
Area served Worldwide
Founder(s) Greg Skibiski
Key people Alex Pentland (CPO)
Tony Jebara (Chief Scientist)
Christine Lemke (COO)
Mikki Nasch (EVP BD)
Launched February 2006
Current status Active

Sense Networks is a New York City based company with a focus on applications that analyze big data from mobile phones, carrier networks, and taxicabs, particularly by using machine learning technology to make sense of large amounts of location (latitude/longitude) data. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Big data Information assets characterized by such a high volume, velocity and variety to require specific technology and analytical methods for its transformation into value

Big data refers to data sets that are too large or complex for traditional data-processing application software to adequately deal with. Data with many cases (rows) offer greater statistical power, while data with higher complexity may lead to a higher false discovery rate. Big data challenges include capturing data, data storage, data analysis, search, sharing, transfer, visualization, querying, updating, information privacy and data source. Big data was originally associated with three key concepts: volume, variety, and velocity. Other concepts later attributed with big data are veracity and value.

Mobile phone portable device to make telephone calls using a radio link

A mobile phone, cell phone, cellphone, or hand phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area. The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, which provides access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephone services use a cellular network architecture, and, therefore, mobile telephones are called cellular telephones or cell phones, in North America. In addition to telephony, 2000s-era mobile phones support a variety of other services, such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications, business applications, video games, and digital photography. Mobile phones offering only those capabilities are known as feature phones; mobile phones which offer greatly advanced computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.

Machine learning branch of statistics and computer science, which studies algorithms and architectures that learn from observed facts

Machine learning (ML) is the scientific study of algorithms and statistical models that computer systems use to effectively perform a specific task without using explicit instructions, relying on patterns and inference instead. It is seen as a subset of artificial intelligence. Machine learning algorithms build a mathematical model of sample data, known as "training data", in order to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform the task. Machine learning algorithms are used in the applications of email filtering, detection of network intruders, and computer vision, where it is infeasible to develop an algorithm of specific instructions for performing the task. Machine learning is closely related to computational statistics, which focuses on making predictions using computers. The study of mathematical optimization delivers methods, theory and application domains to the field of machine learning. Data mining is a field of study within machine learning, and focuses on exploratory data analysis through unsupervised learning. In its application across business problems, machine learning is also referred to as predictive analytics.

Contents

In 2009, Sense was named one of "The 25 Most Intriguing Startups in the World" by Bloomberg Businessweek [5] and was called "The Next Google" on the cover of Newsweek. [6]

<i>Bloomberg Businessweek</i> magazine

Bloomberg Businessweek is an American weekly business magazine published since 2009 by Bloomberg L.P. Businessweek, founded in 1929, aimed to provide information and interpretation about events in the business world. The magazine is headquartered in New York City. Megan Murphy served as editor from November 2016; she stepped down from the role in January 2018 and Joel Weber was appointed in her place. The magazine is published 47 times a year.

Newsweek is an American weekly magazine founded in 1933.

In 2014, Sense Networks was acquired by YP, "the local search and advertising company owned by Cerberus Capital Management and AT&T." [7] It was subsequently sold off to Verve in 2017 [8]

History

Sense Networks was founded by Greg Skibiski in February 2006 (2003?) near his home in Northampton, Massachusetts. After establishing an office in NoHo, New York City near Silicon Alley, Skibiski recruited Alex Pentland, Director of Human Dynamics Research and former Academic Head of the MIT Media Lab, Tony Jebara, Associate Professor and Head of the Machine Learning Laboratory at Columbia University, and Christine Lemke, who would later become co-founders. [9]

Greg Skibiski American businessman

Gregory Roman Skibiski, is an American entrepreneur, currently Founder & CEO of Thasos Group, an artificial intelligence based data analytics firm that uses real-time locations from mobile phones worldwide to provide information for the financial services industry. Skibiski was also the Founder and former Chairman & CEO of Sense Networks, a New York City based company focused on analyzing big data from mobile phones and carrier networks. Skibiski is named lead inventor on three patent applications for analyzing emerging sensor data streams from mobile phones, culminating in the Macrosense, Citysense, and Cabsense products.

Northampton, Massachusetts City in Massachusetts, United States

The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton was 28,549.

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, often called New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in both the state of New York and the United States. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

Sense Networks investors include Intel Capital, Javelin Venture Partners, and Kenan Altunis. [10]

Intel Capital is a division of Intel Corporation, set up to manage corporate venture capital, global investment, mergers and acquisitions. Intel Capital makes equity investments in a range of technology startups and companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, mobility, consumer Internet, digital media and semiconductor manufacturing.

Founder Greg Skibiski was pushed out by lead investor Intel Capital [11] in November 2009 following the company's B round of financing, the same week company won the Emerging Communications Conference "Company to Watch" Award. [12]

The company has three published patent applications for analyzing sensor data streams, System and Method of Performing Location Analytics (US 20090307263), Comparing Spatial-Temporal Trails in Location Analytics (US 20100079336), and Anomaly Detection in Sensor Analytics (US 20100082301). [13]

The company was acquired by the Yellow Pages in 2014. This is a marketing conglomerate under AT&T and Cerberus Capital Management. [14]

Products and services

The Citysense consumer application, that shows hotspots of human activity in real-time from mobile phone location and taxicab GPS data, [15] was named by ReadWriteWeb (in The New York Times) as "Top 10 Internet of Things Products of 2009". [16]

The Cabsense consumer application, that shows the best place to catch a New York City taxicab based GPS data from the vehicles, launched in March 2010. [17]

The Macrosense platform is for mobile application providers and mobile phone carriers to analyze billions of customer location data points for predictive analytics in advertising and churn management applications.

Privacy & Data Ownership

The company allows users to opt-out of their service through their website, and users may monitor their profile through their application. The company does not collect identifiable data (such as phonenumbers or names); it collects data received from cellphone to construct anonymous profiles of consumers. This anonymous data/profiles may then be sold to third parties.

The company's privacy and data ownership policies are based on The New Deal on Data, as advocated by Alex "Sandy" Pentland, head of the Human Dynamics group at MIT. [18]

See also

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Locative media or location-based media (LBM) are media of communication functionally bound to a location. The physical implementation of locative media, however, is not bound to the same location to which the content refers.

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References

  1. ↑ Fitzgerald, Michael. "Predicting Where You’ll Go and What You’ll Like", The New York Times , New York, 22 June 2008. Retrieved on 2010-05-12.
  2. ↑ Sheridan, Barrett. "A Trillion Points of Data", Newsweek , New York, 28 Feb 2009. Retrieved on 2010-05-12.
  3. ↑ Baker, Stephen. "Mapping a New, Mobile Internet", Bloomberg Businessweek , New York, 26 February 2009. Retrieved on 2010-05-12.
  4. ↑ Markoff, John. "You're Leaving a Digital Trail. What About Privacy?", The New York Times , New York, 29 November 2008. Retrieved on 2010-05-12.
  5. ↑ Ante, Spencer. "The World's Most Intriguing Startups", Bloomberg BusinessWeek , New York, 12 November 2009. Retrieved on 2010-05-12.
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ "YP, a Mobile Search Firm, Buys Sense Networks", New York Times.
  8. ↑ "VERVE™ Completes Acquisition of Sense Networks' Software and Intellectual Property Assets from YP, LLC" PRNewsWire
  9. ↑ Junietz, Erika. "A Sense of Place", MIT Technology Insider, Boston, August 2008. Retrieved on 2010-05-14.
  10. ↑ "Press Release: Sense Networks Secures Series B Funding for Location Analytics, Led by Intel Capital", Intel Capital , New York, 30 June 2009. Retrieved on 2010-05-13.
  11. ↑ Baker, Stephen. "Data correlation: Used-car customers drop cell-phone service?", The Numerati , New York, 8 January 2010. Retrieved on 2010-05-14.
  12. ↑ "Sense Networks Wins the Emerging Communications Conference & Awards Inaugural "Company to Watch" Award", Press Release , New York, 2 November 2009. Retrieved on 2010-05-16.
  13. ↑ US Patent & Trademark Office. Retrieved on 2010-05-12.
  14. ↑ techcrunch/newyork times
  15. ↑ Silver, James. "The Hidden Persuaders", Wired Magazine , London, 22 June 2009. Retrieved on 2010-05-12.
  16. ↑ Macmanus, Richard. "Top 10 Internet of Things Products of 2009", The New York Times , New York, 8 December 2009. Retrieved on 2010-05-13.
  17. ↑ Grynbaum, Michael. "Need a Cab? New Analysis Shows Where to Find One", The New York Times , New York, 2 April 2010. Retrieved on 2010-05-16.
  18. ↑ needs citation
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