IBM InfoSphere Global Name Management, Version 5.0

Version 5.0 - features and enhancements

IBM InfoSphere Global Name Management Version 5.0 includes significant new product capabilities and enhancements to existing functions.

Table 1. Product features and enhancements for Version 5.0
Version 5.0 enhancement	Description
Enterprise Name Search	Enterprise Name Search is an expansive new set of components and product enhancements that provide an infrastructure for distributing high volume, large-scale, enterprise name searches across very large name lists. This separately installed version 5.0 feature leverages IBM NameWorks for efficient name search function, name list management, and to configure, manage and monitor the name search process. ENS provides added options for horizontal scaling based on performance needs, deployment with high availability and failover, and Web service-based interfaces for client integration with third-party software and existing legacy systems. For details, see Introducing Enterprise Name Search.
Chinese transliteration	The NameHunter Chinese transliteration function matches Chinese Hanzi personal names in their exact and equivalent Hanzi forms and matches Hanzi and transliterated Roman name equivalents to each other. The NameTranslitorator component transliterates personal Hanzi names before they are passed to other components such as NameHunter. NameHunter accepts both Roman name equivalents and Hanzi name data. NameHunter matches personal names in Roman form and then eliminates false positives (which can be created by many-to-one Hanzi-to-Roman mappings) by performing Chinese scoring. Capabilities include: Recognizing given name and surname elements in Hanzi and processes these elements appropriately. Matching Hanzi personal names based on the Hanzi variant character table. Matching Hanzi and Roman personal name equivalents. For details, see Chinese transliteration overview.
Name Parser logic improvements	NameParser is an API toolkit that parses personal names into their constituent parts, such as given name, surname, titles, and qualifiers. In version 5.0, NameParser has been enhanced to better handle some of the unique naming factors associated with some cultures. No coding changes are required, but improved results that reflect cultural factors should be expected.
Custom cultures for search	IBM InfoSphere Global Name Management currently provides a set of seventeen supported culture categories with related rules, logic, and tuning. There was no accommodation for creating new culture categories beyond the current seventeen. For example, you might want to add a culture category for Aboriginal, Irish, or Swahili. This custom cultures for search capability enables your organization to: Restore culture categories that have been overridden as a work-around for adding a new culture. Create new culture categories by claiming an allocated custom culture slot. These new custom cultures will be accepted just as standard cultures are. Tune any of the current set of standard cultures, such as Anglo, French, or Thai, to better match behavior specific to your environment by allowing you to explicitly state if a name is or is not attributable to a specific culture category. It is recommended that you contact IBM Services for assistance with creating new culture categories and customizing the current ones. For additional information about this process, see http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/Overview/Software/Information_Management/InfoSphere_Global_Name_Recognition.
Name analyzer enhancements	The Name Analyzer tool has been enhanced and extended to include three additional encyclopedic sections for cultures: Anglo, French, German. Corresponding reference information is added. The Name Analyzer tool now includes an "STC Conversion" tool that converts a simplified Chinese Unicode character or Standard Telegraphic Code (STC) four digit code and view the results provided by various Romanized transliteration systems.

For a complete list of fixes and minor changes and improvements including new and modified APIs, see the release notes file on the product installation media or on the IBM® InfoSphere® Global Name Management product support portal.

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