Press Release Back Number(2005)

New technologies for strongly supporting information collection via the Internet
-Trial release of the world's first automatic link-list generation and visualization technologies-

March 9, 2005
Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.

In partnership with TIS Inc. (President: Susumu Okamoto; Address: 9-1 Toyotsu-cho, Suita-shi, Osaka), we have developed the world's first "automatic link-list generation technology (patent pending)" and "link-list visualization technology." These technologies increase the efficiency of information collection via the Internet. Today we launched "NSBoard," a search site that adopts these technologies, on a trial basis using TIS's server (URL: http://netsurfersboard.com). During the period of this trial release (scheduled until August 31), we will offer the use of this site for free so that we can incorporate user feedback into the future commercialization of these technologies.

There is a vast amount of information on the Internet. When a conventional keyword search is used, the websites at the top of the list of search results are not always the desired ones. In addition, significant time is required to search through the related websites.

This newly developed automatic link-list generation technology helps you collect desired information more efficiently, gathering a wide range of link lists via the Internet and evaluating them in terms of their "reliability" and "relation." More specifically, this technology finds major websites on a certain subject based on the assumption that "the reliability of websites becomes higher with an increase in the number of lists that link to them," and evaluates relations among websites based on the assumption that the "sites that are included in the same list are closely related with one another." Using lists of links that have been evaluated based on these criteria, you can reach desired sites efficiently.

We developed the link-list visualization technology as a new way to view information. This innovative technology displays a large number of automatically generated links in an intuitively understandable manner.

Adopting these two technologies, NSBoard allows you to access desired information significantly faster than with conventional search sites.

The key features of NSBoard are as specified below

1. Facilitates website searches and analyses of trends

NSBoard automatically generates useful link lists on over 600 categories ranging from fashion to specialized areas. Therefore, you can efficiently collect information such as finding major sites on subjects of interest, and trend analysis.

2. Reflects the latest trends on the Internet

As link lists are automatically updated every two weeks, you can always view information items that reflect the latest trends on the Internet.

3. Provides a function for visualizing link lists

The dedicated visualization software "NSMap" allows you to intuitively understand major sites and keywords displayed on the screen (quick user registration is required).

4. Allows users to create link lists on subjects of interest

Registered users can create link lists by entering keywords related to subjects of interest.