Semantico CEO Interviewed
January 19, 2009
Richard Padley is an engaging information, content and search wizard. I visited with his technical team at the Semantico exhibit at the Online London show. Unlike the US search conferences, the team working on the London show for Incisive does a much better job of attracting interesting speakers and exhibitors. Semantico works with organizations producing content. Mr. Padley helps these organizations make better use of staff time and prepare content so that it can be quickly and economically repurposed. I followed up with him in early January 2009 and managed to convince him to participate in a Search Wizards Speak interview. You can find the full text of that interview here.
One of the intriguing comments, Mr. Padley made was:
Because of the sort of company we are, it’s less about technology invention for us than about adaptation and selection. Open source is very important to us, for instance, and we’re strong believers in using the best tool for the job. In the past 18 months we’ve started using the Mark Logic database to build the publishing platforms we deliver – which is a very innovative platform. It allows us to put different kinds of content together and query them in ways that allow publishers to build new kinds of products, while still respecting the different sizes and shapes that content comes in. ‘Content in context’ is a phase I hate, but it does provide a way of getting a handle on this for the layman: it’s about providing small snippets of contextualized information within the workflow. Say you’re a vet – we can build a platform that can integrate reference information about veterinary medicine with available drugs and your own patient records, and so on.
What’s interesting is that MarkLogic has carved out an interesting niche providing a flexible, robust data management system. Now an ecosystem is beginning to form around that MarkLogic platform. Search, while a key function in Semantico’s arsenal, is secondary to solving information problems. As companies like Microsoft chase the search dream with questionable technologies that are getting long in the tooth, Semantico is helping create a new approach to content processing. Note: you can read the interview with Mark Logic’s top executive here.
You can get more information about Semantico here.
Stephen Arnold, January 19, 2009
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