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Selectica awarded patent for secure software

Ela Dutt
India Abroad Correspondent in Washington

Selectica(TM) Inc, based in San Jose, Ca., announced on Wednesday it has been awarded a patent for software design innovations that allow for greater power, accuracy and security in the configuration of complex, customised products and services on the Web.

The newly patented thin-client architecture is the cornerstone of Selectica's breakthrough Internet selling system, the company said in a release. It is a suite of software applications that automate a wide range of e-business sales processes.

Numerous industry leaders, including Cisco Systems, Dell Computer, BMW and Hewlett-Packard, use Selectica's ISS to run their Web-based selling initiatives.

"ISS enables the client's customers to quickly design, configure and price multi-component products or services through an easy-to-use browse interface," Selectica added.

"This patent represents another example of Selectica's leadership in the area of Web-centric configuration, and it demonstrates Selectica's commitment to maintaining that leadership," said Raj Jaswa, Selectica's president and chief executive officer.

"Our engineers have developed a highly scalable and secure solution for doing business on the Internet."

The new software also allows non-technical managers to make quick, enterprise-wide changes in product or price information without taking the system down, Selectica maintained.

"This architecture gives businesses the ability to create sophisticated online product configuration systems that provide unprecedented speed and efficiency without compromising any sensitive business processes," said Sanjay Mittal, Selectica's chief technology officer and co-founder, and co-inventor of the architecture.

"The level of security offered by this technology is unmatched because it mitigates virtually all risk of online tampering by keeping the underlying business logic at the server."

The thin-client configuration architecture patent is the third awarded to Selectica.

Early this year, the company received a US Patent for its process that merges multiple knowledge bases to optimize the performance of Internet selling applications.

In June 2000, the company secured a US Patent for its method of developing, storing and transmitting product configuration models across divergent computer.

Jaswa co-founded Selectica with Mittal, in 1996. Prior to that, he served as president of OPTi, Inc., a supplier of PC-compatible chipsets from January 1995 to January 1996 and as vice-president of sales and marketing from August 1989 to December 1994.

He was also Marketing Manager of Chips & Technologies Inc (later acquired by Intel Corp) from January 1987 to July 1989.

He has a B Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, an MSEE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, and an MBA from Stetson University.

Mittal started Catalogics Software Corporation before he co-founded Selectica. He also worked as a manager for the Knowledge-Based Systems Group at Metaphor, Inc., a business software company, from 1990 to 1992; and was a senior researcher at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center from 1982 to 1990.

He has a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, and an MS and PhD. in Computer Science from Ohio State University.

He is recognised for his work in configuration, artificial intelligence and object-oriented programming.

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