SAN FRANCISCO, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Powerset, the natural language search company, today formally announced it has added world-renowned natural language expert Ron Kaplan to its executive team. Kaplan, luminary in the linguistic community, will serve as the company's Chief Technology and Science Officer, effective immediately. Kaplan joins Powerset from Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (PARC), a leading center of innovation, where he created and led the Natural Language Theory and Technology research group. Under Kaplan's leadership, Powerset will further develop and commercialize leading-edge consumer search solutions based on natural human language.

"We're extremely pleased to have Ron on board with Powerset," said Barney Pell, Founder and CEO of Powerset. "Ron's computational linguistic expertise is widely respected, and his decision to join our team gives us a clear competitive advantage over today's keyword-based search offerings. In addition, our ongoing exclusive right to the technology that Ron and his former team at PARC are developing comprises a core part of our aggressive business strategy."

"I have followed and supported Ron Kaplan's work at PARC since the 1970s, when his insight into the long-term potential of natural language and conversational interfaces began to appear," commented Dr. John Seely Brown, former director of PARC and a world-renowned technologist. "Dr. Kaplan joining Powerset and bringing this technology to market marks the culmination of thirty years of elegant and path breaking research."

As Chief Technology and Science Officer with Powerset, Kaplan's multiple roles will include serving as company representative to the technology and science communities (particularly those related to computational linguistic technology); investigating new technologies in the marketplace for potential use by Powerset; directing internal scientific strategy and direction; and acting as liaison with the PARC natural language research team.

"Like others in the field, I agree that today's keyword search can be a useful tool," noted Ron Kaplan. "That usefulness, however, only comes once you've learned to contort your searches into computer-friendly jargon. What Powerset is doing with natural language search represents a new approach to which today's search incumbents simply haven't devoted the appropriate resources. I'm happy to be on board with a company that is focused and well- positioned to make bold new moves in the search space."

Prior to joining Powerset, Kaplan was a Research Fellow at PARC and made contributions to computational linguistics and linguistic theory that are recognized worldwide. He is a past president of the Association for Computational Linguistics and continues as a Consulting Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University. He has served on advisory boards for university departments and other research institutions and holds over 30 patents for inventions in natural language processing.

"I've worked closely with Ron for decades and his knowledge and expertise have led to fundamental insights in the field," said former colleague Martin Kay, Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University and permanent chairman of the International Committee on Computational Linguistics. "Our joint work on key concepts of natural language processing has moved the field significantly forward. Now, his position at Powerset lets him continue his focus on innovation while developing commercial applications for the technology."

Kaplan received a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Harvard University, where as a graduate student he investigated how explicit computational models of grammar could be embedded in models of human language performance.

About Powerset, Inc.

Powerset is a San Francisco company building a transformative consumer search engine. Powerset's unique innovations in search are rooted in breakthrough technologies that take advantage of the structure and nuances of natural language. Using these advanced techniques, Powerset is building a large-scale search engine that breaks the confines of keyword search, enabling people to express their intent powerfully and naturally in ordinary language. By making search more effective and intuitive, Powerset is fundamentally changing how we search the web. Visit us at http://www.powerset.com/.

NOTE: Powerset is a registered trademark of Powerset Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Media Contact: Powerset, Inc. Ryan Ferrier 415-848-7000 ryan.ferrier@powerset.com

CONTACT: Ryan Ferrier of Powerset, Inc., +1-415-848-7000, or
ryan.ferrier@powerset.com

Web site: http://www.powerset.com/