Data mother lode, DataCruncher mines records for customer identities and needs

A new suite of data mining solutions to be announced today lets carriers sift through their records to find high-value customers and keep them from jumping ship.

The suite, DataMind Corp.'s LifeCycle,is based around the DataCruncher, a server-based data mining engine that identifies conjunctions, or groups of factors that are important when they occur together.

The clustering agent in DataCruncher makes for rapid customer segmentation and profiling, said A.J. Brown, vice president of worldwide marketing for DataMind, San Mateo, Calif. Carriers can then create models identifying valuable customers who are likely to switch to another carrier and take steps to keep them.

Association fields within DataCruncher also can point out new services that would appeal to customers based on how they use telecommunications.

"It's not all that hard to understand that someone with voice mail might also have a use for paging," said Brown. "The trick is calling that situation to the attention of the marketing side of a carrier's operation.

The LifeCycle product is delivered to customers in three stages.

"Part of the reason for this three-part rollout is that it keeps the carriers focused on the subject of using the data," said Brown. "These days, there are so many things going on in their industry, it's easy to become distracted and implement only part of a solution.

By the end of the third phase, carriers should be able to run data mining applications on their own.

IPMI FINALIZES PARTNERSHIP The IP Multicast Initiative will convene in Boston this week to complete several commercial offerings launching this summer. The IPMI will partner with Internet service providers and content providers to create an overlay IP multicast network that will interoperate with the Internet.

ROAD RUNNER GOES TROPICAL Time Warner will launch its Road Runner cable modem service in Oahu, Hawaii, during the fourth quarter of 1997.

MOTOROLA looks to the skies Motorola has confirmed that it plans to build a $12.9 billion satellite network, its third major low orbiting system. The Celestri system will deliver data, voice and corporate video broadcasting services using 63 satellites in seven inclined orbits.