Teragram, a provider of multilingual natural language processing technologies, has announced Direct Answers. Direct Answers technology seeks and delivers short, specific answers to information-gathering queries, versus the traditional Web site links provided by common keyword searches. Teragram Direct Answers is available both as a hosted service and as software that is installed on the servers of Internet portals or large enterprises. The technology can be tailored to extract information specific to each customers' needs, including information found on Web pages, in documents, and databases. Teragram can specify which reference libraries and other resources Direct Answers searches based on the specific business needs of the portal or enterprise.

Quick Answers deliver instant answers to questions entered in the search box, drawing from sources across the Web including the CIA Fact Book, Merriam-Webster, Worldbook Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, US Census, and more. Direct Answers utilizes Teragram's linguistics technology to retrieve answers from unstructured, semi-structured, and structured data. When an end-user types a query into a search bar, it is initially parsed to compute the query's true meaning by analyzing it syntactically and semantically in a process that takes milliseconds. If the query is information-seeking, it is routed to Teragram Direct Answers and processed to provide answers.

As part of the Internet search version, Teragram Direct Answers comes with pre-built information sources, which include reference sources, including encyclopedias, the World Wide Web, medical research, calculators, time server, pop culture indexes, and more. Teragram's source list is continuously expanded. Teragram's Direct Answers is immediately available for portals and enterprises.

(www.teragram.com)