Content Tagging Costs
December 27, 2010
We read an interesting blog post called “The Search for Machine-Aided Indexing: Why a Rule-Based System is the Cost-Effective Choice.” Information about the costs of indexing content using different methods is often difficult to locate.
The article provides some useful information; however, I always verify any dollar estimates. Vendors often do custom price quotations, which makes it difficult to compare certain products and services.
Here’s the passage that caught my attention:
The database company manager could not give an exact figure for what their final actual costs were for purchasing Nstein; however, she did state that it was “not cheap.” She admitted that it was more expensive than all of the other MAI software products that they considered. (A press release from Nstein reported that the deal was worth approximately $CAN 450,000). When asked about staffing requirements, the manager estimated that it took the time of five full-time indexers and two indexing managers about a “month or so” at first. She added that there is a need for “constant” (she then rephrased that to “annual”) training. The investment company manager preferred not to discuss the actual implementation costs of Nstein, as there was a good deal of negotiation with non-cash assets involved. (A press release from Nstein of March 14th, 2002 reported that the deal was a five-year deal valued at over $CAN 650,000).
I downloaded this write up and tucked it in my Search 2011 pricing file. One never knows when these types of estimates will come in handy. I noticed on a LinkedIn threat relating to enterprise search that a person posted prices for the Google Search Appliance. I did a bit of clicking around and tracked down the original source of the data: SearchBlox Software. The data on the chart reported prices for the Google Mini. When one explores the US government’s price list for Google appliances that can handle 20 million documents which is a count encountered in some search applications, the cost estimates were off by quite a bit. Think in terms of $250,000, not $3,000.
I use whatever pricing data is available via open source research, and I know that hard data are often difficult to locate. The “appliance” approach is one way to control some costs. The “appliance” is designed to limit, like an iPad, what the user can do. Custom installations, by definition, are more expensive. When rules have to be created for any content processing system, the costs can become interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, December 27, 2010
Freebie, although Access Innovations has bought me one keema nan several weeks ago.
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