SEMANTICA

A NETCENTRIC™ APPROACH TO ANALYSIS

AN OVERVIEW AND COMPARISON OF THE SEMANTICA ANALYSIS SOFTWARE PLATFORM

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BACKGROUND

Focus Africa is a private risk management company, providing

risk management services to multinational companies, NGOs

and private clients operating throughout Africa and the Middle-

East.

Focus-Africa provides the following types of services:

• Country Risk Management

• Compliance

• Specialised Security Services

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EXPERIENCE WITH ANALYSIS PLATFORMS

Through various historic and ongoing projects and operations,

Focus-Africa has directly and indirectly used and made use of

many analysis software platforms, for example:

• Online Intelligence

• IBM i2 Analyst’s Notebook

• SAS MEMEX

• Palantir

Focus-Africa has no special allegiance to any platform, but

rather looks for the platform that provides the most operational

and strategic value for itself, its partners and its clients.

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THE VALUE OF ANALYSIS

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THE VALUE OF ANALYSIS

Personal

Relationships

Organizational

Relationships

Technical

Processes/Flows

Electronic Connectivity/

Information Flows

Transportation

Networks

Currency/Financial

Transfers

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WHAT IS SEMANTICA

Semantica is a holistic and flexible intelligence analysis tool,

developed and maintained by Semantic Research Inc.

• San Diego, California USA company, formed in 2001

– Business office in Arlington, Virginia USA

• Semantica evolved from an education-oriented tool

– 27 year pedigree: 17 in Education; 10 in Intelligence

– Initial application was for the construction and transfer

of expertise

– Based on the application of Semantic Network Theory

• Evolved into NetCentric Intelligence analytical

environment

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GETTING KNOWLEDGE OUT OF BIG DATA

THE LAST METER: Semantica

provides the human interface to

understand Big Data in context

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KEY FEATURES OF SEMANTICA

1. Compatibility – can connect with virtually any data source

2. Open API - enable customer to interface other solutions with our framework

3. Import / Export data - import and export almost any type of local or external data

4. Flexibility - ontology flexibility allows subject matter experts to easily extend the

ontology, on the fly, as new information is uncovered; included developer kit allows customer

to customize Semantica

5. Workflows - Workflows automate repetitive tasks, increasing time available for analysis

6. Provenance (Sourcing) - application-wide capture of source, marking, and

confidence

7. Multiple Views

• Traditional Link Chart View – Multiple variations of traditional Link Charts

• Card View – A view that displays semantic network content in a convenient and user-

friendly, tabular layout – an easily customizable virtual dossier

• Geospatial View - visualization providing advanced semantic network overlay and

timeline capability

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SEMANTICA – INTELLIGENCE PROCESS

1 2 3 4Access and Fuse Key Data Sources

SemanticaData Model

& Persistent

Knowledge Repository

Define Meaningful:- Entities- Relationships- Templates

Enhance Understanding- Pattern Matching- Visualizations- Standard Queries

Produce Actionable Knowledge

Organization Data

External Data

User Data

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SEMANTICA – COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

1. Connectivity• Connect, import, and map information from many external data sources

without additional tools

• Semantica includes the ability to connect to an almost infinite number of

sources of almost any type with built-in ETL tools

• Federate searches from the desktop to any number of internal and external

sources and to export in industry standard formats

2. Graph Back-End Design (RDF Triple Store)

• Information is stored as entities and relationships, providing true context to

vast quantities of data

3. Extendibility (future friendly)

• Wizard Walkthroughs

• Open Standards

• ODBC/JDBC

4. Customisable (custom ontology without technical support)

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SEMANTICA – COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

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SEMANTICA – COMPARISON (EXAMPLE)

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SEMANTICA – COMPARISON (EXAMPLE)

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SEMANTICA – INTELLIGENCE VALUE CHAIN

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SEMANTICA – CONNECTIVITY

• Structured

– SQL (multiple)

– CSV, Excel

– JSON, XML

• Unstructured

– Word/PDF Documents

– Webpages

– Large-Scale Indexed Search

• Cyber Sources

– Packet Capture

– Email Inboxes

– Website Surveying

• Other Applications

– IBM i2, Palantir

– ESRI/Google Earth

• Private and Public Sources

• Internet

– Built-in web parser

• Commercial Services

– LexisNexis Accurint

– Thomson Reuters

• Social Media

– Twitter

– Facebook

– LinkedIn

– Instagram

– YouTube

• Mobile Forensics

– Lantern

– Cellebrite

– Penlink

Examples of just some of the datasets that Semantica can connect to:

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SEMANTICA – DATA CAPTURE

< Import Manager

< Document View

Form Entry >

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SEMANTICA – DATA UNDERSTANDING

< Entity View

< Network View

Entities Overview >

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SEMANTICA – DATA UNDERSTANDING

< Tabular Entity View

Advanced Entity Meeting Analysis >

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SEMANTICA – DATA UNDERSTANDING

< Complexity Management

Multiple Views of the Same Network >

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SEMANTICA – STREAMLINING

Workflow Management

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SEMANTICA – MULTIPLE PLATFORMS

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SEMANTICA – EXTRA FEATURES

Advanced Social Network Analysis

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SEMANTICA – EXTRA FEATURES

Flexible Geospatial Network Analysis

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PLATFORM COMPARISON

Other important distinguishing factors between some of the

major intelligence analysis tools include:

• Location, ownership and security of information

• Network and internet requirements

• Database structure and the ability to transfer information

between platforms easily (without meta-data loss)

• Spectrum of various visualisations and analyst tools

• Interoperability and customisability of software and data

• Logical integration of time and geographic information

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PLATFORM PRICE COMPARISON

The following SINGLE USER subscription quotes were received

for the various analysis platforms (all prices exclude VAT):

• IBM i2 Analyst’s Notebook: R365 753.44

• Online Intelligence: R167 233.28

• SAS Memex: R279 931.00

• Palantir Intelligence: R459 202.00

All the above quotes are for only for one year (and must be renewed annually) and does not

include installation, connection, training or support

• Semantica: R263 250.00*

* This is a once-off price (with 25% yearly subscription) which includes installation, connection, training and

support. Please note that this amount depends on the exchange rate and is based on US$ 20 250,00.

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PLATFORM PRICE COMPARISON

As an example, let us compare the estimated real costs of

subscription for over a period of 5 years:

NOTE: Of all the above mentioned platforms, only Semantica includes all of the following in

the price: installation, connection, maintenance, training and support

ANALYSIS SOFTWARE 1 User 5 Users

IBM i2 Analyst’s Notebook R 1 428 767.20 R 7 143 836.00

Online Intelligence R 436 166.40 R 2 180 832.00

SAS Memex R 1 199 655.00 R 5 998 275.00

Palantir R1 896 010.00 R 9 480 050.00

Semantica R 487 500.00 R 2 281 500.00

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PLATFORM COMPARISON

ANALYSIS

SOFTWARE

INPUT &

CONNECTION

FLEXIBILITY &

USABILTIY

ANALYSIS

TOOLS

OUTPUT &

INTEROP.PRICE TOTAL

Analyst’s

Notebook5 6 7 7 5 30

Online

Intelligence2 2 3 4 9 20

SAS Memex 6 5 4 5 7 27

Palantir 7 7 9 8 3 34

Semantica 9 8 8 8 8 41

NOTE: Each platform was scored out of 10 for each comparative criteria (total out of 50)

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THE FINAL CHOICE - SEMANTICA

After making direct and indirect use of most of the intelligence

analysis software toolkits on the market, Focus Africa identified

Semantica as the most suitable option. This decision was not

made lightly and the key considerations were:

• Price and relative cost effectiveness

• Overall functionality and analysis capabilities

• Macro and micro environmental considerations

• Easy-of-use, visual appeal and support

• Flexibility and adaptability of underlying data

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SEMANTICA – LOCAL SUPPORT AND TRAINING

With the support and technical backing of Semantic Research

Inc. in the USA, Focus-Africa can provide the following local

services for Semantica Pro™ users in Southern Africa:

• Installation, setup and connectivity support

• Data identification and integration

• Basic and advanced user training

• Report, interface and data customisation

• Customised ontology development

• Ongoing issue, maintenance and upgrade management

• Custom user workflow management

• Specific functionality requests and improvement

programs

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SEMANTICA – DEMO

There will now be a brief example of different applications and

networks as used in Semantica Pro™

Examples include:

• Geo-located communications analysis

• Al Queda terrorist network

• Mexican drug cartel

• Social media tracking

www.focus-africa.co.za