Autonomy: Big Cloud Announcement
February 1, 2011
Check out “Autonomy Unveils Cloud-Based Information Management Platform for Legal Market” at PR Newswire. This offering marks an important advance in the world of cloud-based information. The article explains:
“Autonomy’s cloud-based Information Management platform leverages Autonomy’s private cloud, the world’s largest private cloud with more than 17 petabytes of data. . . . The platform allows inside counsel and outside counsel, as well as service providers to collaborate on a single set of data in the cloud, eliminating the need to proliferate multiple copies of content and information handoffs across disparate networks. This unique legal chaining capability enables rapid deployment, enhanced collaboration, on-demand scalability, tighter security, and lower total cost of ownership for all parties involved.”
See the article for specifics on the platform’s modules: Work Site, Records Manager, Universal Search, Process Automation, and Conflicts Manager.
Visit here to find out more about Autonomy. The scale and integration of this SaaS product is a huge. Not only should it become a vital tool for the legal field, but it might presage similar offerings for other industries. We expect other announcements from the legal technology square dance this week in Manhattan, roost of the legal eagles.
Cynthia Murrell February 1, 2011
E-Disclosure Rules
January 25, 2011
I was recently pointed towards The e-Disclosure Information Project (EDIP), an organization sponsored by several relevant companies like Legal Inc and Symantec, whose aim seems to be to investigate this growing entity in hopes of developing rules and practical technology solutions. Originating in the UK, the scope of this project widened as other countries including the US quickly jumped on the bandwagon.
e-Disclosure brings us as a global society to a new juncture. I must admit I find it slightly unsettling that this great age of internet services brings with it such a Big Brotheresque side effect. Consider that anything emailed, texted, IM’ed, etc in the last ten years is likely stored on a tape somewhere, waiting to be called into evidence should the circumstances arise. As an avid fan and user of these technologies, I guess I should have realized that eventually every click of a “send” button would be tantamount to etching in stone.
That being said, this is why the EDIP is an important endeavor. Realizing the power that can be harnessed from the digital mountains of amassed data, the EDIP seems to be attempting to cut the negatives off at the pass based on the earnest project purposes listed on the website, namely to report, influence and educate. Situations such as these beg for rules and constraints, ideally before thousands of electronic pages are entered into court evidence and emails with off-hand remarks condemn a plaintiff to an awful fate over a small dose of sarcasm or a particularly bad day. It is for this reason that even Big Brother needs a Big Brother, the EDIP, to keep things on the up and up.
Sarah Rogers, January 25, 2011
Freebie just like lawyers working on e-discovery… well, not exactly
Recommind Expands in the UK
January 22, 2011
Recommind doubles London presence and expands European operations by 30% paints an optimistic future for the producer of end-to-end eDiscovery, enterprise search and automated categorization software. With the help of some recent appointments of expert personnel in several areas of the business, Recommind plans to “increase its footprint in key European countries as well as pave the way for further penetration into both the information access and eDiscovery markets.”
Among the new hires is Karen Hogan, a former employee of both Vivisimo and PC Docs/Hummingbird who has learned a thing or two about information management. Ms. Hogan has been placed in the London office’s regional sales manager position, and is only the tip of the new-hire iceberg for the London team. There is also a new eDiscovery regional manager and accompanying Project Management staff, plus a slew of fresh staff for the sales engineering and technical support teams. Even the German sector is seeing expansion. Per Simon Price, Recommind’s European director, “As a leader in information management, we are not only attracting staff with a high level of expertise but also new customers that are looking for strong solutions to help manage what is quickly becoming their most important asset – digital information – across the entire organization.”
Recommind works to be considered one of the “leader[s] in predictive information management software”, having developed best practices in the arenas of eDiscovery, regulatory compliance, records management and data retention. Check out their website for more information.
Sarah Rogers, January 22, 2011
Freebie. An outfit with lawyers. No surprise,eh?
Clearwell to the Cloud, Microsoft Style?
January 17, 2011
The EWeek Storage Station blog warns us that “Clearwell Now Enabling E-Discovery in Microsoft Cloud.” Cloud storage is one of the latest trends going around, but if you have sensitive information stored on it (like where you hid Jimmy Hoffa’s body or the fable Amber Room stolen by German soldiers) you should take it off.
“Clearwell Systems, which specializes in finding necessary data for litigation and audit purposes, announced this week that the latest version of its e-discovery platform now allows customers to discover information in emails and SharePoint docs from Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite.”
Companies like Clearwell are using software to track and collect cloud data through ediscovery processes that can be easily gathered for legal purposes. Cloud computing is a growing marketplace, so there are millions of potential files that contain information to help in investigations. Clearwell is one of the first companies in this new market, so congratulations are in order for them.
Whitney Grace, January 17, 2011
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Linear Content Analysis: Big Problems, Big Costs
January 16, 2011
Another sacred cow is now headed toward the intellectual McDonald’s beef supplier. Most organizations producing content for commercial databases use a “relaxed linear method”. The idea is that certain steps work like Henry Ford’s assembly line and other processes are more in touch with the multi-modal, do-it-when-you-can approach.
There’s an interesting write up by Clearwell Systems about the utility of relaxed methods of document processing. Heck, forget relaxed. The information in the blog post suggests that the scrum and online game method may be the optimal way to make sense out of content.
The write up is “Reinventing Review in Electronic Discovery,” and it is tailored to the legal eagle and litigation support world. But the implications of the information may have considerable value to those working in other types of research. There are some references to the close-to-the-vest US government reports about content processing as well as some academic research.
The passage that I noted was:
Of course, fundamentally changing linear review with specific technologies that radically changes the review workflow is an approach worth considering. While offering such aids, it must be remembered that human judgment is still needed and the process must incorporate both increasing their knowledge as well as their ability to apply judgment.
My take is that multi-path work methods, technology, and regular humans are needed to make sense out of certain types of content. Humans alone can’t do the job particularly well or economically. Lawyers like the billable work too.
Stephen E Arnold, January 16, 2011
Freebie unlike law firms and eDiscovery system vendors
kCura Relativity 6.9
January 12, 2011
kCura has been gaining traction in the eDiscovery market over the last 12 months. When we last updated our eDiscovery content processing report, Kcura was showing some moxie. We learned this week that kCura is providing a pre-release version of Relativity 6.9, the company’s core product. The new version of Relativity adds some important enhancements, including:
- Better optical character recognition integration
- An updated deployment system
- Speed ups in hit highlighting
- Modifications to the workflow engine.
These features complement the analytics, clustering, and batch processing features. If you are not familiar with the eDiscovery space and this company, here’s how kCura explains its positioning:
kCura are the developers of the e-discovery software Relativity. Relativity is a web-based application servicing the analysis, review and production stages of the EDRM. kCura helps corporations and law firms with e-discovery challenges by installing Relativity on-premises, as well as providing hosted on-demand solutions through a global network of partners in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.
You can get some basic information from the firm’s Web site, www.kcura.com. The company, like other legal-oreinted vendors, maintains a low profile. The company is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Stephen E Arnold, January 12, 2011
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Some Entertaining 2011 eDiscovery Predictions
January 11, 2011
Falling in line with similar sites and their crystal balls, the legal web entity JD Supra has posted up 10.5 punchy e-Discovery predictions for 2011. Though not stated explicitly, the crux of nearly every point revolves around who can steal what or dupe who, while wringing out an extra cent during the process. Take numbers 4 and 7 for example:
4. Not to be outdone by Recommind’s “Predictive Coding” and FTI Consulting’s “Suggestive Coding”, vendors clamor to provide “Inferred Coding” and “Looks-Related” coding.
7. Sensing a (monetization) opportunity, Facebook launches “They Said It, We Got It” which allows legal enforcement officers, attorneys, ex-spouses, potential employers, etc. to buy anything ever said by anybody on Facebook. Facebook amends its privacy policy to read “None”.
Regardless, with a number of companies racing to the top of the e-Discovery empire, we believe they could not have picked a better time. The lousy economy seems to spike a demand for legal tools. We felt it odd that the financial gain element was a bit glossed over considering the involvement of lawyers, but nonetheless an interesting list worth checking out.
Sarah Rogers, January 11, 2011
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Update about the Very Droll Kroll
December 28, 2010
Business Wire has released “Year in Review: Kroll Ontrack 2010 Discovery Trend Data Reveals Organizations Struggle with Preservation, Production and General Discovery Protocols.” Kroll is a unit of Altegrity and leading provider of data recovery, legal technology products and services, and information management. As Kroll analyzed itself, they have found five discovery themes prevalent in the past year.
“Among the dominant topics reoccurring in the 2010 judicial opinions were the pervasive struggle companies and practitioners continue to have with proper preservation techniques, the continued growth in intolerance by the judiciary for discovery failures and the renewed call for cooperation amongst counsel.”
Kroll also summarized their e-discovery opinions and found 84 cases that represent trends found across the country. Nearly every case about preservation and spoliation contained information about sanctions. As in the prior two years, sanctions are a dominant pain point for courts and counsel. Kroll states that businesses need to be aware about discovery protocols and information management can be used as a proactive tool to create clear policies to prevent future legal action.
Stephen E Arnold, December 28, 2010
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Autonomy Closes Deal with Big Dutch Law Firm
December 17, 2010
The infrastructure software company Autonomy recently garnered worldwide attention thanks to its Intelligent Data Operating Layer technology. According to the News Blaze article “Leading Dutch Law Firm Selects Autonomy iManage Workflow Manager,” Houthoff Buruma who is currently one of the largest law firms in the Netherlands has chosen the Autonomy system to lead its brand new client intake system.
Current laws drafted to fight money laundering as well as terrorism requires the firm to perform background checks on all new clients. The programs visual tools as well as real time monitoring information will offer great assistance during Houthoff Buruma’s screening process. The Autonomy iManage Workflow is a great choice because it helps to “routes documents and raises alerts, delivering improved governance and greater efficiency through time and cost saving. “
This is a reasonable win for the Autonomy brand considering Zylab is generally considered the go to guy for on site business search and litigation tools. To add spice to the sale, this win is right under the awning of the ZyLAB team too.
April Holmes, December 17, 2010
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Radicati and Its eDiscovery Quadrant 2010
November 28, 2010
Rating systems are used to determine a product’s quality. When it comes to the eDiscovery market, Fresh News points to a new rating system. The Radicati Group, a technology market research firm based in the UK, recently released their latest publication “eDiscovery-Market Quadrant 2010.” This report focuses on eDiscovery vendors and rates them according to their own self-devised system. “Radicati Market Quadrants rank vendors based on a four quadrant system, which includes “Mature Players,” “Specialists,” “Trail Blazers,” and “Top Players” quadrants. Leading players in each market segment are ranked based on the features and functionality of their solution and their market share in that segment.”The names of the four quadrants leave a lot of room for interpretation. They do not offer any insight into the Radicati Group’s analytic method and what they will be measuring against. A ranking system called the Gartner Magic Quadrant has been in use by the US for several years now. Is it possible the Radicati Group was inspired to create a British counterpart or are they attempting to cash in on a new market? My opinion is that these quadrants are more marketing than meat.
Whitney Grace, November 28, 2010
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