The Cloud Stops Here
March 15, 2013
In the last few years cloud technology has taken off. It seems that many of the world’s biggest companies all have their head in the cloud but there are still some people out there that aren’t sold on the technology. The Tech Eye article “Forget the Cloud, Get a Mainframe” talks about a large retailer that has stayed away from the cloud. Tasmanian retailer Coggans is not relying on cloud technology but instead has decided to upgrade its Unisys mainframe system. It will be used for their mission-critical applications as well as its online infrastructure. This move is newsworthy for several reasons. The most obvious is that with the popularity of cloud technology why pass on it. Secondly, Australia is not big in the mainframe game and only about 6 organizations within Australia actually use the Unisys’ mainframe system. However, Coogans continues to forge ahead with its mainframe system and has its reasons for staying away from the cloud. According to the IT manager Peter Jandera
“if there was a disastrous crash of the company production machine, the outfit could switch to a disaster recovery environment. Both systems are separate and there is also an offline backup of the entire environment. No one guarantees the last mile and there were real dangers because the cloud means that you do not necessarily know where the data is going. All it would take is a person with a space to cut through a cable and the company is stuffed.”
It seemed that everyone was moving to the cloud so it’s always nice to see that some people are “bucking the system” and choosing other viable types of technology. Perhaps this busts the field wide open for OpenText BRS search engine and Stairs III and could highlight a shift in the industry. Even if it doesn’t it’s always good to see a bit of old mixed in with the new.
April Holmes, March 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
SEO Industry Clear and Ethical for the New Year
March 15, 2013
Whenever the SEO starts talking business tactics this usually stirs up controversy and critics quickly bring up Google and their business motives. However, the Search Engine Journal article “Let’s Make the SEO Industry Crystal Clear and Ethical in the Year Ahead!” points out that SEO firms are actually misunderstood and that regardless of Google’s motives that the actual ethics and transparency of the industry has nothing to do with Google but more with reputation and ultimately survival as a business.
The article goes onto describe some key tactics or skills that can be used to tackle SEO ethically. One of the simplest rules is to remember that the client is part of the strategy. Which means that instead of trying to be the expert and keep information from your client engage them and make sure they are involved because just like you know your job your clients knows their proprietary data. Bad ethics equals bad reputation which ultimately means bad for business. Transparency is key. You need to be able to be comfortable talking to your client and vice versa. Each needs to be able to call on the other and talk if necessary. The author makes an important correlation in the conclusion.
“SEO has become an online branding effort with an emphasis on search, requiring many of the general marketing skills that other online marketers take advantage of. Unlike, say, PPC, we don’t have the option of specializing on a small and specific set of skills. Link building, social media, keyword research, branding, conversions, content production, relationship building, viral marketing, and rich snippets: it’s all a part of SEO. This is the year to let our clients know that we are comprehensive internet marketing experts with the skills to bring them long term success and opportunities!”
Though it won’t happen overnight hopefully this year SEO firms can show they can be trusted and they are the key to growth in the future but as with any new friendship it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
April Holmes, March 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Is Search a Thing of the Past
March 15, 2013
It seems that search companies are no longer the big man on campus. Instead tech, social media and other industries are now the leaders in the pack. The CB Insights blog article “2012 Tech M&A Activity Report-Private Company Acquisitions” talks about the private tech companies that were acquired in 2012. According to the article
“2012 saw 2277 private technology companies acquired globally. Acquirers paid $46.8B for targets (in deals with disclosed valuations) with 30% of deals accounting for 80% of the value.”
It really doesn’t come as a big surprise but two of the biggest active acquirers were Google and Facebook. The two tech companies did 12 private tech company acquisitions in 2012. Out of all of those acquisitions none of them were for search companies. The MIT Technology Review article “50 Disruptive Companies 2013” lists 50 companies to pay attention to in 2013. Companies such as Google, Apple, Samsung and Amazon come as no surprise as they are some of the biggest names in the business world. However what is interesting is that not one search company made the list. A car company and even a chemical company made the list but there is no sign of search. To some this may not seem like a big deal and most people probably wouldn’t even notice but for the search community this is a big deal. In a world where people are scrambling to keep up with the latest technology has search lost its place? Are the days of big search deals gone? Maybe, maybe not but one thing is clear, right now search is not where the action is.
April Holmes, March 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Beyond Search Twitter Hijacked
March 14, 2013
Those clever teens. The Beyond Search Twitter account was hijacked on March 14, 2013. Our user name is intact but the other details have been changed. We are waiting Twitter’s assistance. In the meantime, we suggest you ignore or stop following the Beyond Search Twitter stream. Lots of pirate info, smut, and the mind bending stuff young folks enjoy. Exciting.
Stephen E Arnold, March 14, 2013, 10 36 pm Eastern
Rubin Pichai Shuffle: Fragmentation, Chrome, and Samsung
March 14, 2013
You know that Google has shuffled the deck one more time. Andy Rubin is off to do amazing things. Sundar Pichai will step in the role of techno-healer. A good place to start is the “Update from the CEO” in which we learn directly from Larry Page:
Sergey and I first heard about Android back in 2004, when Andy Rubin came to visit us at Google. He believed that aligning standards around an open-source operating system would drive innovation across the mobile industry. Most people thought he was nuts.
Obviously Messrs. Page and Brin did not find Mr. Rubin nuts. Then I read:
Going forward, Sundar Pichai will lead Android, in addition to his existing work with Chrome and Apps. Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use—and he loves a big bet.
The notion of Mr. Pichai is interesting to me. Now Google wants to bring some order to its controlled chaos approach to multiple operating systems, products, services, and partner relationships. Mr. Page acknowledges that the world has changed since Backrub in 1996:
Today we’re living in a new computing environment. People are really excited about technology and spending a lot of money on devices. This is driving faster adoption than we have ever seen before. The Nexus program—developed in conjunction with our partners Asus, HTC, LG and Samsung—has become a beacon of innovation for the industry, and services such as Google Now have the potential to really improve your life. We’re getting closer to a world where technology takes care of the hard work—discovery, organization, communication—so that you can get on with what makes you happiest… living and loving. It’s an exciting time to be at Google.
Several observations.
First, fragmentation. I understood that Google did not have a problem with fragmentation in the Android community.
Second, partners. I understood that Google got along famously with the various partners involved in Android. Samsung has been a great supporter and has demonstrated its ability to manufacture and ship mobiles devices people purchase. The Google Motorola tie up was, I assume, one of the controlled chaos decisions unrelated to manufacturing mobile devices, making money, and displaying Google’s management acumen.
Third, Chrome. The history of Chrome is changing. I thought I knew who cooked up the browser in Denmark. But I guess that information was incorrect. Chrome is much, much more. I am not exactly sure whether Chrome is a platform, a browser, an operating system, or a hybrid.
Now it is time to see what the shuffle will deliver. We know that females are not in top spots at Google. We know that Google faces a number of challenges on multiple fronts including partner relationships. We know that the shift to mobile from desktops is shifting the revenue flows. We know that Google type companies are getting ever closer to the good old days of Cornelius Vanderbilt and his peers. Search seems like it deserves a supporting role in the Google drama.
Exciting times not to be at Google.
Stephen E Arnold, March 14, 2013
Open Source Continues Dive into Enterprise
March 14, 2013
Open source continues to gain a larger and larger market share, particularly in enterprise solutions. People are taking note and enterprises are interested in capitalizing on the trend. LinuxInsider addresses this very issue in its recent article, “Open Source’s Deep Dive Into the Enterprise.”
The article begins:
“Server provisioning and configuration management and automation are the latest examples of where the tech industry is being driven, largely by open source software. The leading open source server and IT infrastructure automation frameworks, Opscode Chef and Puppet Labs’ Puppet, sit on the leading edge of significant trends under way in enterprise IT — particularly disruption from cloud computing and devops, where application development and IT operations come together for faster, smoother delivery of software and services.”
Open source is also making a big difference in enterprise search and its newest frontier, Big Data. Leaders like LucidWorks are anticipating the new frontier of unstructured data needs and offering solutions that boast the flexibility and affordability of open source. For an example of the best of open source enterprise, check out LucidWorks Search or LucidWorks Big Data.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Looks like Another One
March 14, 2013
Scribd considers itself the world’s largest online library for reading, publishing, and sharing documents and written works and according to the Y Combinator news page piece “Scribd (SF, top 100 site) is hiring PM #1 to build the World’s Online Library” they are currently looking for a project manager/owner. From the information on the listing it sounds like the company, though small is definitely making a name for itself.
“Scribd’s vision is to build the library of the twenty-first century. We are a small-ish but dedicated team of 35 people in San Francisco working towards this vision.
So far, we’re most proud of having:
- Built one of the world’s largest websites with over 100M monthly uniques
- Built a profitable company with a sustainable business model
- Created a rich, fun culture and attracted an amazing team”
The listing goes on to state the qualifications that they are looking for as well as the type of person they think would be a good fit. Scribd and the services it hopes to offer sound very familiar to a few larger names that are already doing the same thing. One would assume that Google, is definitely bigger and more well-known then this company and it arguably has one of the largest digital libraries due to its diverse search capabilities. In addition companies such as Ebsco offer a searchable library full of documents, e-documents, journals etc. from schools, libraries, governments and just about anywhere else you would need and they serve a variety of different types of businesses including libraries. With so many big name and heavy hitters already in the game Scribd definitely has its work cut out for them. Only time will tell if their service will become a thing of the future or simply a footnote of the past.
April Holmes, March 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
The Dirty Truth about Data Visualization
March 14, 2013
Data Visualization is becoming the new thing when it comes to presentation, portfolios and even proposals however there is more to this fade than meets the eye. The NetMag article “Seven Secrets of Data Visualisation” provides an informative yet comical view of data visualization and the challenges that developers face. The article gives readers seven dirty little secrets about the data visualization world.
- Real data is ugly.
- A bar chart is usually better.
- There’s no substitute for real data.
- The devil is in the details.
- Animate only when appropriate.
- Visualization is not analysis.
- Data visualization takes more than code.
These secrets may be surprising to some but to most people once they think about it they actually make sense. For instance data is what it is. Though users are always trying to find ways to “clean” their data up and make it presentable, it still takes a lot of work to make something out of nothing. Whether it comes down to formatting or using special online tools, users need help to take their data from a bunch of random numbers and figures to something presentable and more importantly understandable. When it comes to animation sometimes less is definitely more. It can be tempting to add lots of animation and special effects to your data but in the long run all it does is add to the chaos. The number six secret is probably one of the most important. Though data visualization in many cases can aid analysis it is not a substitute for data, meaning that it still takes analytical skills, effort and expertise to help bring any data to life. Visualization Developers definitely face challenges and this article definitely lays the little secrets out on the table but it’s hard to call them dirty. One might say just say they hold duplicitous roles when it comes to talking about what really goes on.
April Holmes, March 14,2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Indie Bookstore Fight Back against Amazon eBooks Monopoly
March 14, 2013
Amazon seems to be at the top of its game. From the latest electronics, clothing and even school supplies they seem to have their hand in everything and be doing very well. However, not everyone is a fan of the online giant. According to the Paid Content article “Indie Bookstore Sue Amazon, Nig-6 Publishers for Using DRM to Create Monopoly on eBooks” three independent bookstores are suing Amazon and the big-six partners based on their DRM (digital rights management). The three independent bookstores involved are Manhattan-based Posman Books, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza and Fiction Addiction of Greenville, South Carolina.
“The indies, represented by Los Angeles antitrust firm Blecher & Collins, say publisher contracts calling for the use of this DRM, which like most forms of DRM prohibits readers from copying eBooks or reading them on non-authorized devices, restrain eBook sales and that Amazon “has unlawfully monopolized or attempted to monopolize the market for eBooks in the United States.”
According to market estimates Amazon currently is the dominant leader in the eBook market with over 60 percent of uses using Amazon’s Kindle e-readers. Other well-known companies such as Barnes and Noble and even the mighty Apple are involved in the e-book market but represent only a small amount and don’t add up to much competition. The big-six publishers have contracts with Amazon that allow Amazon’s DRM eBooks but do not have any contracts or deals set up with independent bookstores. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction that prohibits Amazon and the big six from publishing or selling eBooks that are app specific DRMs and to allow independent brick and mortar bookstores to directly sell open source eBooks published by the big six. It’s easy to see that though the big six are mentioned that the plaintiffs are clearly taking the fight straight to the front door of Amazon. Looks like digital content is alive and the battle lines have been drawn.
April Holmes, March 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Autonomy in the Spotlight
March 13, 2013
Keep in mind that I don’t have a dog in the fight or a horse in the race. I am struck by the flurry of interest in the Hewlett Packard dust up.
The most recent excitement concerns the Serious Fraud Office’s looking into the sale by Autonomy to Hewlett Packard. HP precipitated the situation because it bought Autonomy. The Board of Directors kicked tires and wrote a check with some help from their bankers for $8 to $11 billion. The number keeps changing.
The most recent twist is that the Guardian newspaper in London reported on March 12, 2013, that the UK’s Serious Fraud Office may have a conflict of interest. Ah, only in merrie old Englande. You will want to read the story “Conflict of Interest May Prevent SFO Investigating Autonomy.”
The UK’s corruption agency, dubbed the “Seriously Flawed Office” after being forced to abandon its high-profile case against financier Robert Tchenguiz, announced on Tuesday morning that it may have a conflict of interest preventing it from pursuing Autonomy directors for alleged accounting irregularities. The SFO has a £4m contract, with annual payments of £664,098, to use Autonomy’s software.
But if the software doesn’t work what then? Perhaps an IT person from SFO could be called to provide some information. The HP money was for the UK’s leading software company. How eager will those in the UK be to discuss the intricacies of enterprise software in a forum which is not exactly information technology savvy.
I assume that a government entity in the UK not using Autonomy’s software will pick up the investigation. Given the broad market penetration of Autonomy, candidates for the investigation may be asked to volunteer their services. Norway has an experienced team in place with some experience in search related probes as well.
Last time I was in Slough, I thought I saw a city office which had an investigative team.
Stephen E Arnold, March 13, 2013
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