dotlink360 is a visual analytic tool that provides capabilities to gain systemic insight into the complex structure and evolving dynamics of interfirm innovation activities in converging business ecosystems. Its end users are executives, business analysts and venture capitalist, etc.

dotlink360 is primarily driven by a database of interfirm relations (e.g. alliances, partnerships, agreements, etc.) in the industry of interest. The dataset is drawn from Thomson Reuters' SDC Platinum Database and the user can choose to complement this data through real-time query of market research documents and corporate annual reports through Northern Light's SinglePoint portal. dotlink360 is a coordinated multiple-view system designed for single monitor use. The system presents the user with three main directions to explore the industry: Ecosystem, Market Segment, and Company. Within each path, the user can choose between different visualizations to gain insights on different perspective of the data. Some of the views dotlink360 currently supports are: the Explorer View which lists all market segments and companies in the dataset at once and show their connections, the Periscope View which shows the competitive position of each company based on the market segments where it operates, the Periphery View which illustrates the interfirm relations of a company beyond its immediate connections, and the Network View which maps out the interfirm network of the industry and makes it clear who the core players are. Our InfoVis2010 poster provides a more detailed introduction to the project.

dotlink360 is a work in progress. We appreciate discussions and feedback and we hope to be able to provide potential users with a demo version of the system soon. If you are interested in talking to us, feel free to contact any of the authors.

This research is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under awards IIS-0915788 and CCF-0808863 and funding by the Tennenbaum Institute, IPaT, and the GVU Center at Georgia Tech.