IBM NameWorks

IBM NameWorks combines the individual IBM® InfoSphere® Global Name Management components into a single, unified, easy-to-use application programming interface (API), and also extends this functionality to Java applications and as a web service.

IBM NameWorks comprises two, distinct API classes:

Analytics class

Includes the functions that are necessary for evaluating a single name, including name parsing, culture classification, genderization, categorization, variant generation and country of association information. You can use these linguistic processes individually or together. For example, the analyze() method performs all linguistic operations and produces a single, combined result that contains all analysis information for a name.

Scoring class

Includes the functions that are necessary to compare two names or to search for a name in one or more data lists, along with ancillary tasks such as date comparison and name categorization that might be used to refine search results. Preparation for searching (parsing and culture classification) can be performed separately or included in a search operation.

You can access IBM NameWorks in three ways, either through the C++ functions, Java functions or through web services. The C++ and Java interfaces can be used directly on any of the supported platforms and the web service interface can be used either locally or remotely in SOA environments. Any programming environment that can utilize Web services can take advantage of the name analysis and comparison tools provided by IBM NameWorks. Similarly, the Java interface can be used to build custom SOA applications.