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Invitation To Speak At Dow Jones Conference Boosts the Image Of Relativity

A P Kamath

Some people may treat their technology systems like their prized automobiles -- they spend a fortune on the latest and best technology -- only to find they are outdated in a few years. So they spend another small fortune getting a new system.

But rather than shelve the old information technology systems, why not fit them with new features? Vivek Wadhwa had wondered for a long time.

And for the past two years, his 'Legacy-transformation solutions' has emerged as one of the more viable alternatives to shelving the old system. It is the computer equivalent of having one's information technology engine rebuilt. The idea is to adapt older generation products to cope with new phenomena like the Internet, he says.

When the Dow Jones Corporation and The Wall Street Journal holds its annual convention in London on June 22 and 23, Relativity Technologies Inc, will be represented by David Green, Relativity's vice-president in Europe.

"We have been around for just about two years," an apparently excited Wadhwa says. "And we are being invited to an international conference which is being addressed by the top guns at Lucent Technologies and Intel Corporation."

"We are relatively very small," he says. "But surely we have been making the right moves and impact."

It is not difficult to see why.

Recently, The Wall Street Journal wrote that Relativity, based in the Research Triangle in North Carolina, by blending Russian research with US entrepreneurship, has become a leading player in legacy transformation, already nabbing an undisclosed investment from Intel Corp.

Green, Relativity's vice-president in Europe, would, among other things, discuss at the conference how to make information technology more cost-effective and accountable.

For Vivek Wadhwa, Relativity Technologies CEO, running and guiding his own company has been a dream for many years.

"For a new company we have taken many risks," he says, referring to his firm setting up a deal with a Russian private firm (Lanit) to fix some of Russia's most acute Y2K problems. "Given the state of Russian economy, many people would not have ventured doing business there. We had not only the know-how to deal with Russian problems but were also going there, not for money but to gain experience."

Wadhwa set the goal of starting his own firm while working as a computer programmer for Xerox over a decade ago. Relativity Technologies, founded in February 1997, has been getting a lot of buzz in the media and professional circles. It recently signed agreements with two companies, Platinum Technology and Information Management Resources, to use its RescueWare technology to help clients fix Year 2000 Problems.

Recently, when the European IT services group, CMG, won a $ 3.5 million contract to assist Shell UK upgrade their current Pensions Administration Computer Systems, it sought the advanced legacy transformation technology from its new partner, Relativity Technologies. The system administers pensions for all its 9,500 permanent employees.

CMG selected Relativity Technologies' RescueWare solution for this project because of its unique 'Knowledge Mining' capability. "The calculation of pensions is a highly complex and difficult process, therefore we wanted to make sure that we captured all the business processes in the original system," said Ray Northcott, divisional director, advanced technology division, CMG. "Using Knowledge Mining, we can identify and understand the business rules in PACS and carry them forward effectively into the new system with minimal risk of losing valuable information," continued Northcott.

When major newspapers ran news stories a few months ago about Relativity going to Russia, Wadhwa says, there was too much of a focus on fixing the Y2K problems.

"But like any other progressive firm, we were looking beyond the year 2000," he said. "Being asked to address a Dow Jones conference just confirms we have been doing the right thing."

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