Accenture Adds a New Accent with Agilex Technologies
March 11, 2015
Technology companies are always purchasing new startups as well as established businesses to bolster their product line and add improved technologies to their holdings. It is once more time to see who has bought who and the Big News Network tells us that “Accenture Unit To Acquire Agilex Technologies.”
The acquisition is focused on bringing better solutions to government clients as Agilex Technologies already provides digital solutions to the federal government. Accenture hopes to use Agilex’s technology to improve their analytics, cloud, and mobility and increase rapid delivery.
” ‘Acquiring Agilex will help AFS further solidify our position as an innovative leader in the federal market. Combining our digital capabilities and agile methods will accelerate our ability to help clients harness the power of emerging digital technologies and rapid, predictable systems deployment for the federal government’s most complex challenges,’ said David Moskovitz, Accenture Federal Services chief executive.”
Agilex specializes in technology solutions for federal agencies and has a client list in the at defense, intelligence, public safety, civilian and military health organizations. Agilex was formed to help the government harness technology and fulfill its mission of serving the American people.
Accenture and Agilex will be able to combine their resources and help government organizations make a complete cross over into a digital work environment that provides better services and outcomes.
This is a good move for Accenture as the government is in desperate need of upgrading its technology sphere. Unlike other organizations, the government is a bit slow on the uptake due to money and the usual red tape that hinders development.
Whitney Grace, March 11, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
HP Autonomy Blog: Everything but Autonomy Technology
March 10, 2015
I have been checking out the search and content processing vendors who have gone quiet. In my lingo, “quiet” means the company outputs little or no news in the form of blog posts, news releases, slide decks on Slideshare, etc.
One of the most aggressive and effective marketing outfits in search and content processing was Autonomy. since the HP deal, the majority of the Autonomy related news concerns the litigation between HP and Autonomy about HP’s purchase of Autonomy.
I checked links to the Autonomy blog on www.autonomy.com and clicked on the link at the top of this page:
The link is dead if this message is correct:
I then navigated to the GOOG and ran the query “Autonomy blog.” The first link pointed me to this page:
The only hurdle I encountered in my fly over was that the information is not “about” Autonomy, IDOL, or the Digital Reasoning Engine.
Perhaps I am overlooking HP’s brilliant marketing, but it seems to me that HP is not making much of an effort to take a page from Autonomy’s marketing plan book. That might be a mistake in some niches.
When a company goes quiet, I interpret the behavior as a signal about management resolve, financial resources, or having something substantive to communicate. Call me old fashioned, but I like a stream of information about sales, enhancements, bug fixes, and other artifacts of a growing company.
Stephen E Arnold, March 10, 2015
Vurb is an Action Search Engine
March 10, 2015
With the new Yosemite OSX, Apple upgraded the spotlight search feature to search everything on a Mac. This includes the Web history, file names, and the actual content in documents. It saves hours of time and makes people more productive….if you use a laptop or desktop. If you use an Apple smartphone or tablet you are SOL. What is more annoying than having to switch between lists and apps to complete a simple task?
While there have been attempts to streamline information and app utilization before, none of them have quite made it to the mainstream. The Next Web brings to our attention another mobile search engine trying to improve mobile search, “Vurb Is Mobile Search For Finding Things And People.”
The name “Vurb” is a play on the word verb. Verbs are action words that mean people do something. Vurb searches for any type of information and presents it in “cards” that can easily be shared with others. Rather than having to copy and paste links and jump between apps, Vurb’s cards has everything in one place.
“Vurb wants to stop you jumping between multiple apps and the mobile Web to get things done. Each card in Vurb is a combination of information from different sources. The company partners with others like Yelp, Foursquare and Metacritic so it can be shown in a single place. If you want a deeper dive into the results, a quick tap on the info or the company’s logo will reveal more details inside that provider’s app.”
Vurb is not trying to replace apps, instead it is helping these apps by bringing the information to the surface. The technology exists to link apps and their information together, but most apps decide to remain in the singular silos. Why? Perhaps fear of competition and possible compliancy issues, but if you think about it apps like Vurb offer a lot of marketing options. App developers can pay to put their apps at the top of search results and even make suggestions for how particular apps are helpful. It is not another reason to be fearful, but embrace the potential.
Whitney Grace, March 10, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
What Is New in Elasticsearch
March 10, 2015
A slide deck providing a round up of the new features of Elasticsearch as of June 2014 is available as of March 9, 2015 via Speakerdeck. Snag the deck. Some Elasticsearch presentations disappear themselves quickly.
Stephen E Arnold, March 9, 2015
SharePoint Problems Chocked Up to Management
March 10, 2015
A large percentage of SharePoint installations are reported to have stalled or not lived up to expectations. Despite those numbers, approximately 75% of organizations report that they will stay with SharePoint, regardless. They are committed to making it work and looking for solutions. CMS Wire gives more details in their article, “Blame the C-Suite for Your Failed SharePoint Project.”
The article begins:
“About two out of three organizations complain their SharePoint projects have stalled (26 percent) or failed to live up to their expectations (37 percent). And it gets worse, according to new AIIM research. A majority of respondents blame those SharePoint failures on lack of support from senior management.”
For those organizations and users who feel stuck in an ineffective or stalled installation, outside resources are invaluable. Stephen E. Arnold offers a helpful collection of resources on his Web site ArnoldIT.com. His dedicated SharePoint feed features the latest tips, tricks, and news regarding Office 365 and SharePoint specifically.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 10, 2015
Exorbyte: Going or Gone Quiet?
March 9, 2015
Exorbyte had someone posting almost every day via Twitter. I know. Go figure. One of the goslings noticed that Exobyte’s Twitter postings ground to a halt on January 15, 2015. Worth monitoring.
Stephen E Arnold, March 10, 2015
MySpace: Hindsight Can Be Blurry
March 9, 2015
I remember MySpace. I never used the service, but I sat through a pitch that explained how MySpace was the next big thing. For a time, it was. Now MySpace is the focus on one of those post mortems that some MBAs and failed middle school teachers enjoy so much.
Navigate to “MySpace – What Went Wrong: ‘The Site Was a Massive Spaghetti-Ball Mess”. The write up explains in the form of an recycling of a former executive’s recollections MySpace.
Several points struck me as interesting:
- MySpace was “didn’t exist as a company.”
- MySpace was an influencer marketing outfit.
- News Corp. is “a monster organization.”
- News Corp. corporate policies influenced MySpace.
- MySpace had bloat.
- MySpace lost money in “almost every market.”
- MySpace was a technical “spaghetti-ball mess.”
- MySpace lost the social war.
My ageing mind reeled at these statements. Most of the Internet centric companies are spaghetti ball messes. The reason is that the systems are not engineered to become hits quickly. As start ups add staff, corporate policies influence decisions. The fact that an executive of MySpace was on watch as these factoids surfaces tells me quite a bit about the decision making at MySpace.
Shifting gears: Isn’t MySpace following in the footsteps of Geocities? Won’t other hot Internet outfits trudge along this Santa Fe Trail? Did MySpace search work?
Fascinating mea culpa but without any medieval granny casting an evil eye on the affair. No public humiliation; just a lesson likely to be ignored. The annoying implication is that MySpace is a tech outfit similar to Apple and Google. And, to the former MySpace exec, not skilled at social. That’s exclusive company into which the former MySpace executive has inserted MySpace. Amazing or indicative of the management thinking at MySpace?
Stephen E Arnold, March 9, 2015
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
Worrying about Losing Obsolete Information
March 9, 2015
Ready to hear another side to the endangered library argument that has been tossed around since the 1990s? Hopes and Fears revives people’s worries about losing data from obsolete mediums and how libraries are evolving rather than disappearing in “The Near And Far Future Of Libraries.” The article points out the same old fears that some obsolete mediums have not been transitioned to a digital archive yet and they might be forgotten. It also mentions that libraries are transforming their spaces into gathering places for people to study, read, and meet (like that is new).
Mixed in with the fear of disappearing libraries, new ways that artificial intelligence is helping to preserve knowledge and help people learn how to harness their information is discussed. Some new insights about how libraries are changing are made, but the bulk of the article is very disorganized and is hard to tie together.
Some valid ideas made include that centralizing too much information on Web sites like Wikipedia, social media networks, and even the Internet Archive are dangerous, because one Web site is easier to block than hundreds. Another important advantage is that more interactive technology tools are actually helping people better use their information. Robots like Vincent and Nancy from Westport Library are an example of how people can better physically interact with information and use it to their advantage.
What is the most interesting archival idea presented is the Rosetta Disk, a thin nickel disk three inches in diameter that holds over 14,000 pages of information. While it is meant to preserve knowledge for ready access in the future it is also is good backup:
“We aren’t creating the Rosetta Disk specifically with an apocalypse in mind, or for a society that’s undergoing major upheaval, but over the span of millennia, I think you have to expect that to happen occasionally. In that case, the Rosetta Disk is a good long-term backup. You might think of it as a “secret decoder ring” for information we leave for the future in human language form.”
Libraries and information are changing. We do have to preserve obsolete knowledge before it degrades and we have to upgrade libraries for them to remain relevant. It is very similar to old historical sites with low visitor attendance. They are changing the way they interact with people and presenting their historical information to draw people to them. Do not be fearful, embrace the change.
Whitney Grace, March 09, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Google Takes to the Air
March 9, 2015
There are numerous Web sites that specialize in tracking down the best price for flights an even applications that aggregate information from these multiple sites. Do we really need another one? Google certainly thinks so, because Slashgear reports “Google Officially Launches Flights,Their Search-Friendly Travel Tool.” Google wants to increase their Web traffic and profit in the travel sector. With its new Flights search tool, users can search the best flight prices without even needing to know where you’re going.
One of Google’s main goals with Flights to help people with their travel plans. The idea is based of the scenario that when a person wants to travel, cost is usually the biggest factor in deciding where they go. Flights helps users track down a great deal on a flight and offers search filters to narrow the field: price range, limiting the layovers, and destinations.
There are still a few bugs, as to be expected in a new tool:
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work with any airline just yet, so if you’ve got loyalty points your squirreling away — you might not be able to earn more with Flights. Still, for the quick getaway or open-ended vacation, Flights is at least another tool to have handy.”
Whitney Grace, March 09, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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