SAS tackles crime analytics with Memex buy

SAS has aquired Memex for an undisclosed sum

Business analytics firm SAS has acquired UK software company Memex in a deal which could expand its global presence in the law enforcement and homeland security markets.

Glasgow-based Memex specialises in mission-critical enterprise search, data integration and analysis and visualisation products, and has customers in the law enforcement space including the British Transport Police, the Los Angeles and Philadelphia police departments and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

"The Memex acquisition is a key element of our global initiative to enhance our law enforcement, criminal justice, homeland security and intelligence offerings," said SAS chief executive Jim Goodnight.

"I want SAS to be the first company that public security organisations call to help them apply analytics to solve crime and protect citizens."

SAS said that it intends to grow the business globally under the existing executive management team, but with current SAS UK managing director Ian Manocha serving as Memex chairman.

"In many countries, the law enforcement, justice, homeland security and defence intelligence markets have been separate, each maintaining its own data, " explained Manocha.

"SAS is expanding its ability to share and use data more efficiently and effectively across local, national and global levels with an aim towards predicting and preventing crime."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.