THE DATABASE
innerCircle® is the largest private database in the world, with key information on 280 million Americans and 130 million citizens of other countries. innerCircle® resides on our proprietary Massively Parallel Computer Array Network (MPCAN®), the most powerful commercial computer system ever assembled.
innerCircle® presently holds more than 500 petabytes of information-that equals trillions of pages of data-and we anticipate that soon the system will grow to an exabyte of data, an amount so vast that it would take only five exabytes to store the transcript of every word spoken by every human being in history!
We have troves of personal and public information: telephone numbers, addresses, vehicle registration, licensing information, buying histories and preferences, travel profiles, government records and vital statistics, credit and income histories and much, much more. We get these data into your hands at the speed of light, in a form that’s easily accessible and instantly usable, uniquely tailored to your specific needs.
innerCircle® grows at the rate of hundreds of thousands of entries a day.
THE TOOLS
· Watchtower DBM®, the most comprehensive database management system in the world. Your partner in strategic planning, Watchtower® helps you target your goals, extracts the most meaningful data from innerCircle® and delivers a winning strategy directly to your desk, 24/7, via our lightning-fast and super-secure servers. Watchtower® meets and exceeds the standards that SQL set years ago.
· Xpectation® predictive behavior software, based on the latest artificial intelligence and modeling technology. Manufacturers, service providers, wholesalers and retailers…want to know where your market is going and what your customers will want in the future? Then this is the product for you. And, law enforcers, take note: With Xpectation® you can predict where and when crimes will occur, and most important, who is likely to commit them.
· FORT® (Finding Obscure Relationships Tool), a unique and revolutionary product which analyzes millions of seemingly unrelated facts to determine connections human beings couldn’t possibly discover on their own. Whether you’re a commercial company wishing to know more about the marketplace (or about your competitors) or a law enforcement organization faced with a difficult criminal case, FORT® will give you the edge!
· ConsumerChoice® monitoring software and equipment allows you to determine consumers’ accurate responses to advertising, marketing programs and new or proposed products. Forget subjective focus group opinions. Now, through biometric monitoring, you can gather and analyze individuals’ true feelings about your potential plans-often without their awareness that they’re being observed!
· Hub Overvue® information consolidation software. This easy-to-use product allows you to control every database within your organization-and, in appropriate circumstances, within other companies’ operations as well.
· SafeGard®, security and identity verification software and services. Whether your concerns are terrorist threats, corporate kidnapping, industrial espionage or employee or customer theft, SafeGard® assures that your facilities will remain secure, letting you concentrate on your core business. This division includes the world’s leading background verification, security and substance-screening companies, used by corporate and government clients throughout the world. The SafeGard® Division of SSD is also home to the industry leader in biometric hardware and software, Bio-Chek®.
· NanoCure® medical research software and services. Welcome to the world of microbiologic intelligent systems for the diagnosis and treatment of illness. Working with M.D.’s, our nanotechnologists are crafting solutions to the common health problems facing today’s populace. From monitoring genetic issues to developing injectible tags to help in detecting and curing persistent, deadly illnesses, our NanoCure® Division is working to create a healthy society.
· On-Trial® civil litigation support systems and services. From products liability to anti-trust cases, On-Trial® streamlines document handling and deposition and evidence control.
· PublicSure® law enforcement support software. This is THE system for the consolidation and management of criminal and allied public records stored in international, federal, state and local databases. Through PublicSure® search results can be downloaded to offices, patrol car computers, PDA’s or cell phones within seconds of the request, helping investigators bring cases to speedy conclusions and enhancing the preparedness and security of officers in the field.
· EduServe®, scholastic support software and services. Managing what children learn is vital in a successful society. EduServe® helps school boards and teachers in facilities from K to 12 most efficiently utilize their resources and offer services that guarantee the best education per tax dollar spent.
Rhyme laughed in disbelief. “If Five Twenty-Two can get his hands on all this information…well, he’s the man who knows everything.”
Mel Cooper said, “Okay, listen to this. I was looking at the companies that SSD owns. Guess one of them.”
Rhyme replied, “I’ll go with whatever the hell their initials were-DMS. The maker of that RFID tag in the book, right?”
“Yep. You got it.”
No one said anything for some moments. Rhyme noticed everyone in the room was looking at the glowing window logo of SSD on the computer screen.
“So,” Sellitto muttered, eyes on the chart. “Where do we go from here?”
“Surveillance?” suggested Pulaski.
“That makes sense,” Sellitto said. “I’ll give S and S a call, set up some teams.”
Rhyme gave a cynical glance. “Surveillance at a company with, what? A thousand employees?” He shook his head, then asked, “You know Occam’s razor, Lon?”
“Who the fuck is Occam? A barber?”
“A philosopher. The razor’s a metaphor-cutting away unnecessary explanations for a phenomenon. His theory was that when you have multiple possibilities the simplest is almost always the correct one.”
“So what’s your simple theory, Rhyme?”
Staring at the brochure, the criminalist answered Sachs, “I think you and Pulaski should go pay a visit to SSD tomorrow morning.”
“And do what?”
He gave a shrug. “Ask if anybody who works there is the killer.”