This Is The End … For Intel AIM

February 1, 2014 by Dave Haynes

Intel sent out a “Product Change Notification” Friday letting customers and the larger ecosystem know that no more development is being done on its face pattern detection system know as the AIM Suite, the product originally known as Cognovision.

Intel Retail Solutions Division (RSD) remains committed to enabling Retailers, Brands and Digital Agencies improve business performance and customer experience by determining viewer demographics, measuring audience behavior and optimizing content. Intel® AIM Suite version 2.3 is the latest release of the software that has been widely adopted by the Industry and ecosystem. While this Intel AIM Suite product in the market continues to be supported and sustained, going forward, Intel RSD is not committing to any additional features or enhancements beyond those existing in Intel AIM Suite 2.3 version.

With these changes in effect your opportunity to use Intel® AIM Suite Gold ‘Monthly’ 1GLD.1M and Intel ® AIM Suite Silver ‘Yearly’ 1SLV.1Y software is being discontinued.

If you would like to continue using these services, customers are requested to move to Intel® AIM Suite Gold ‘Yearly’ 1GLD.1Y, MM# 930382.

So … the product is not dead, but it would be useful to hold a mirror near its mouth to see if it is indeed still breathing. You can buy an annual license for the current version, but you won’t see a new version.

Intel AIM Suite Gold ‘Monthly’ and Intel AIM Suite Silver ‘Yearly’ customers are requested to move to Intel AIM Gold ‘Yearly’ 1GLD.1Y, MM# 930382, license on or before February 28, 2014. Your Intel AIM Suite Gold ‘Monthly’ and Intel AIM Suite Silver ‘Yearly’ license would be functional only until this date.

No surprise here. The writing was on the wall in 10-foot-high letters when the Toronto office – which housed all the AIM people – was shut down last year and all but one AIM person stuck with Intel and moved to Phoenix. No developers + no product managers = no new code.

I did some work for Intel in the past to try to better explain the product, and value proposition, but it was a mighty struggle to get out from under the weight of an engineering-driven culture that even stepped on marketing’s throat. And I never got why the company insisted serving ads by age range and gender was such a big deal. Getting a grip on how many people were looking and for how long was boring by comparison, but very arguably a lot more valuable.

There are lots of Plan Bs out there, from France’s Quividi to a bunch of start-ups with names I can’t remember. Some will be at DSE. Then there are the emerging Android options that have pattern detection built-in, free, via Google.

Too bad, but the folks I know, like founders Haroon and Faizal, are off doing other things and happy.