Expert System: Inspired by Endeca
April 23, 2016
Years ago I listened to Endeca (now owned by Oracle) extol the virtues of its various tools. The idea was that the tools made it somewhat easier to get Endeca up and running. The original patents for Endeca reveal the computational blender which the Endeca method required. Endeca shifted from licensing software to bundling consulting with a software license. Setting up Endeca required MBAs, patience, and money. Endeca rose to generate more than $120 million in revenues before its sale to Oracle. Today Endeca is still available, and the Endeca patents—particularly 7035864—reveal how Endeca pulled off its facets. Today Endeca has lost a bit of its spit and polish, a process that began when Autonomy blasted past the firm in the early 2000s.
Endeca rolled out its “studio” a decade ago. I recall that Business Objects had a “studio.” The idea behind a studio was to make the complex task of creating something an end user could use without much training. But the studio was not aimed at an end user. The studio was a product for a developer, who found the tortuous, proprietary methods complex and difficult to learn. A studio would unleash the developers and, of course, propel the vendors with studios to new revenue heights.
Studio is back. This time, if the information in “Expert System Releases Cogito Studio for Combining the Advantages of Semantic Technology with Deep Learning,” is accurate. The spin is that semantic technology and deep learning—two buzzwords near and dear to the heart of those in search of the next big thing—will be a boon. Who is the intended user? Well, developers. These folks are learning that the marketing talk is a heck of a lot easier than designing, coding, debugging, stabilizing, and then generating useful outputs is quite difficult work.
According to the Expert System announcement:
The new release of Cogito Studio is the result of the hard work and dedication of our labs, which are focused on developing products that are both powerful and easy to use,” said Marco Varone, President and CTO, Expert System. “We believe that we can make significant contributions to the field of artificial intelligence. In our vision of AI, typical deep learning algorithms for automatic learning and knowledge extraction can be made more effective when combined with algorithms based on a comprehension of text and on knowledge structured in a manner similar to that of humans.”
Does this strike you as vague?
Expert System is an Italian, high tech outfit, which was founded in 1989. That’s almost a decade before the Endeca system poked its moist nose into the world of search. Fellow travelers from this era include Fulcrum Technologies and ISYS Search Software. Both of these companies’ technology are still available today.
Thus, it makes sense that the idea of a “studio” becomes a way to chop away at the complexity of Expert System-type systems.
According to Google Finance, Expert System’s stock is trending upwards.
That’s a good sign. My hunch is that announcements about “studios” wrapped in lingo like semantics and Big Data are a good thing.
Stephen E Arnold, April 23, 2016
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
