Attivio Does the Hadoop the Loop
March 9, 2015
What happens when a company founded by former Fast Search & Transfer executives do? Attivio took a reasonable path:
- Present the company’s mash up of open source and proprietary code as a report generator that answered questions
- Put search in a subordinate role to the report output
- Bang the drum about the upside of the approach in order to attract millions in venture funding
- Replace the Fast founders with hardier stock
- Unveil the new Attivio as a Big Data and Discovery platform.
The transformation took from 2007 until I read the official announcement in this write up “Attivio Previews Big Data Profiling & Discovery Platform at Strata + Hadoop World 2015.”
The question is, “Will the Fast DNA go gently into the good night?” My hunch is that Attivio’s founders realized that search was not the killer app. Fast Search during its spectacular implosion learned that talking about a “platform” was different from delivering a functioning platform.
Attivio tried to avoid that error. According to the write up:
Attivio, Inc., the software company reinventing enterprise search and Big Data discovery, today announced that it will showcase its new Big Data Profiling and Discovery Platform at Strata + Hadoop World 2015. Demonstrations of the Big Data Profiling and Discovery Platform will take place at booth #1136 in the main exhibit hall.
After eight years in business, some stakeholders may be looking for a solid payback. With the discovery and Big Data market choked with companies offering knock out services, Attivio may face some challenges.
One of these is the fact that Hortonworks, one of the cheerleaders for Big Data systems based loosely on Google’s approach from 2002 and 2003, missed its revenue target. If “Hortonworks Q4 Misses on Revenue” is accurate, the Big Data market could be one of those fanciful confections that enthrall pundits, mid tier consulting firms, and former enterprise search wizards.
Hadoop is morphing into other types of software. For me, this looks like a reprise of the Fast Search strategy: Start with something familiar and then add software widgets until people start to buy. Once a deal is closed, assemble the solution. Rinse and repeat.
What could go wrong?
Stephen E Arnold, March 9, 2014
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