Serving the needs of knowledge management professionals for over 30 years.

The company was founded by Merv Richter in 1975 after an 8-year career of management and software development with IBM. Under the name Easy Data Inc, the business developed, sold and supported several software packages for the emerging minicomputer market, which included applications for hotel management, oilrig cost accounting, general accounting and library management. International recognition was soon achieved with the integrated library system when it became the product of choice for the large research libraries of Exxon, Chevron, Tenneco and other major multinational corporations.

The Easy Data business was sold to the publicly owned Sydney Development Corporation in the early 1980's. Mr. Richter remained as President of the subsidiary and was also a director of Sydney for two years after the sale. He then re-activated his other private company, Eloquent Systems Inc., and pioneered the development of PC-based applications for libraries and other related applications.

Starting with a two-diskette (big floppy) drive IBM PC and a Pick-licensed multi-valued database development tool, he started replicating software previously seen only on larger mini-computers. This resulted in the company’s flagship DOS-based GENCAT (for generic catalog) multi-dimensional database. It became the platform for library, museum, archives and records management applications. The Eloquent Librarian evolved into an out-of-the-box application for stand-alone PCs as well as LANs.

Several independent Knowledge Management consultants were trained as installers for the GENCAT product. They learned to use the GENCAT Toolkit to build new applications and clone others for further custom tailoring. Mr. Richter became reliant on two consultants in particular, who built their consulting businesses around the Eloquent products and support services. One specialized in the records management and library accounts in Ontario while the others focused on the archives market across North America and the Caribbean.

The business grew with the DOS product line to over 1000 customers, many with licenses for large LAN configurations. They were all supported by the hotline team in the Eloquent head office, while 3^rd party consultants provided most of the on-site services. Customers ranged from Hong Kong to the Middle East. Many of the original customers have remained loyal and now enjoy the latest Web-based technology.

With much of the customer base serviced by 3^rd party consultants, Mr. Richter was free to focus on the technology. He was a pioneer in providing public Internet access into the DOS-based library and archives databases. He also applied a Windows user interface for the application. However, while most of the industry was still upgrading from DOS to Windows, Richter invested R&D into a Web-based product line. In addition to capitalizing on all the Web/Internet technology he re-designed the popular GENCAT database portion, releasing the restraints of DOS technology.

In 2000 the new WebGENCAT was announced as a replacement for GENCAT and a few customers were selected for migration to it. In 2001 Eloquent announced that support for the DOS and Windows product lines would be discontinued by the end of 2003. Unfortunately, many customers managed by 3^rd party consultants were discouraged from migrating to the Web-based product line. They didn’t recognize the trend in the industry and in some cases they were still striving for a Windows solution that could support all the features in the old Eloquent DOS system. The consultants preferred Windows solutions which required more of their consulting support.

Eloquent Systems continues to invest more than half of its engineering resources to R&D to keep abreast of the rapidly advancing Web/Internet technology and to expand the features in the applications. The product line has been simplified to a single WebSuite product that can be used as a single traditional application – library, archives, museum, or records management – or combined for an Enterprise Knowledge Management (EKM) suite. All technical aspects of installation, migrating legacy data and ongoing support are easily managed from the head office location for customers anywhere in the world.

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