Rete was first used as the core engine of the OPS5 production system language which was used to build early systems including R1 for Digital Equipment Corporation. Rete has become the basis for many popular rule engines and expert system shells, including Tibco Business Events, Newgen OmniRules, CLIPS, Jess, Drools, IBM Operational Decision Management, OPSJ, Blaze Advisor, BizTalk Rules Engine, Soar, Clara and Sparkling Logic SMARTS. The word 'Rete' is Latin for 'net' or 'comb'. The same word is used in modern Italian to mean . Charles Forgy has reportedly stated that he adopted the term 'Rete' because of its use in anatomy to describe a network of blood vessels and nerve fibers.