IBM Content Analytics and Search V2.2 Exam
March 26, 2013
I am not sure how, but two links found their way to me today. The subject of the exam is IBM’s Content Analytics and Search V2.2.
Information about the IBM test is at http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/certs/27003701.shtml. Information about the April 2011 version of the system which is the current one is at this IBM link. The current version is going on three years old, which does not suggest continuous, aggressive updating to me.
The first link points to Blog Pass 4 Test. The site presents some sample questions for the examination, which is part of the IBM certification process.
You can pass the IBM 000-583 (IBM Content Analytics and Search V2.2 with an “examination guide.”
The examination is available from Blog.pass4test.net. Here are three sample questions to whet your appetite:
Which documents from the collection are used to create the clustering proposal?
A. All of the documents in the index are used.
B. A random sample of the number that you specify
C. The first 1000 documents that were added to the index.
D. A round-robin alphabetically ordered sampling from each different crawler
Answer: BWhich languages listed are supported for text analytics collections?
A. French, Arabic, Hindi, Malay
B. German, English, Polish, Greek
C. Hebrew, Italian, English, Russian
D. English, Spanish, Arabic, German
Answer: DWhich is NOT a supported operating system.?
A. AIX 5.3 (32-bit)
B. AIX 6.1 (64-bit)
C. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server (32-bit)
D. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise (32-bit)
Answer: A
Pretty thin gruel for the cold winter mornings required to get complex proprietary and open source systems to work in an optimal manner.
The second link is to Exam 2 Home. The idea is that for $49, a person can buy a PDF with questions and answers. You can find this exam guide at http://www.exam2home.com/000-583.htm. The site asserts:
Many IBM Content Analytics and Search V2.2 test questions or brain dump providers in the market focus solely on passing the exam while skipping the real-world exam preparation. This approach only gives short-term solution while giving the candidates real setbacks in the job market. The main focus of Exam2Home’s IBM 000-583 questions is to teach you the techniques to prepare your exam in the right sense covering all aspects of the exam. We have truly a 1-2 knockout solution for your IBM 000-583 exam.
Two observations. I must be on a list of folks trying to master IBM Content Analytics and Search V2.2. Interesting idea, just not accurate. Second, these two pitches seem quite similar. Is this another of the learn quick, get a raise training schemes. I ran across a similar program for Quicken. Interesting but suspicious to me.
Stephen E Arnold, March 26, 2013
LucidWorks Sees Multiple Solutions for Enterprise Search Future
March 12, 2013
Mark Bennett of LucidWorks recently granted an exclusive interview to Steven E. Arnold, of the influential Beyond Search blog. The focus is on meeting the coming challenges in the trajectory of search in 2013. LucidWorks has always been a major player, and the informative interview is summarized in the Virtual Strategy article, “LucidWorks Addresses Multiple Solutions for the Future of Enterprise Search.”
After discussing the content of the interview, Arnold makes a strong recommendation for LucidWorks amidst its open source competitors:
“Stephen E. Arnold, Managing Director of Arnold Information Technology and publisher of the influential search industry blog Beyond Search, said, ‘In my analysis of open source search, I rated LucidWorks as one of the leading vendors in enterprise search. Other firms with open source components have not yet achieved the technical critical mass of LucidWorks. Proprietary search vendors are integrating open source search technology into their systems in an effort to reduce their technology costs. At this time, LucidWorks is one of the leading vendors of enterprise and Web-centric search.’”
For someone with such experience in the search field, an endorsement from Arnold is a strong one. LucidWorks continues to receive positive press for its cutting edge technology and professional team. For organizations in the market for a value-added open source solution, LucidWorks should get the first look.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 12, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Leadership Changes at LucidWorks
March 11, 2013
A big announcement in enterprise search hit the news ticker today. LucidWorks, a longtime leader in open source enterprise, is expanding its leadership to meet demand. PR Newswire picks up the headline in its press release, “LucidWorks Promotes Grant Ingersoll to CTO; Appoints Stephen Tsuchiyama as SVP of Worldwide Sales and Services.”
The announcement begins:
“LucidWorks, the company transforming the way people access information, today announced the promotion of search and machine learning expert Grant Ingersoll from Chief Scientist to Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and the appointment of Stephen Tsuchiyama as senior vice president of worldwide sales and services. These changes follow a series of management team additions over the past year that reinforce the company’s commitment to deliver the most advanced platform for developing search-enabled applications.”
Stephen Tsuchiyama comes from Niyte Software as VP and General Manager. His sales experience will provide a powerful compliment to Paul Doscher’s continuing leadership as CEO and Ingersoll’s defining creativity. It is exciting to see a leading company get a boost in manpower, but enterprise search followers should also note the expansion as an indication of the rapid growth of the open source enterprise search market.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 11, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Twittering High Praise For Funnelback
March 3, 2013
We have discussed Funnelback, the Australian enterprise and Web search software, before and noted it as a company making great strides in search. It looks like we are not the only ones noticing Funnelback’s quality products, because Ramsay Healthcare recently implemented it. If you visit @funnelback you will find this tweet:
“Check out @ramsayhealth new #search #engine. Type in “knees” in the search box to see #funnelback‘s awesome search. http://bit.ly/prNn0c “
Ramsay Health Care is a well known medical system in the UK and Australia. They added Funnelback to power its Web site search. Simply visiting the Web site and typing in ”knees” rich search results. Not only are you given search suggestions, but you are also offered Web pages and articles. Think of it as a Google search before it went paid link crazy or the less Wikipedia filled DuckDuckGo.
With the advent of EMRs, healthcare professionals are trying to make all types of information readily available for their clients. A Web site that acts a resource tool as well as an organization information source doubles its usefulness. Search becomes all the more important, because in order to be useful one needs to find information. Other Web sites in any field could benefit from a powerful search tool.
Whitney Grace, March 03, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Elasticsearch Secures More Funding
February 27, 2013
Elasticsearch is an enterprise search option that wants a slice of the Big Data pie. It has been making headlines for its seeming fast growth. The latest news is relayed by Enterprise Apps Today in their story, “Open Source Elasticsearch Firm Raises $24M.”
The article explains Elasticsearch’s latest announcement:
“Amsterdam-based Big Data search startup Elasticsearch announced it just closed on a Series B round of funding valued at $24 million. Index Ventures headed the round, which was backed by Benchmark Capital, an existing investor, and newcomer SV Angel. The funds, which follow a $10 million capital injection in November, will be used to help transform the company from a software provider to a full-fledged services and support organization. Elasticsearch also revealed that its open source real-time search and analytics software just crossed the 2 million download mark.”
The seeming explosive growth mentioned above may be cause for alarm. There is no way to know if the growth is sustainable, especially since the only committer on the project is the founder. The two million downloads number is also cause for suspicion. Elasticsearch requires and registers a new complete download for every upgrade release. So the count is not new registrations or even the total number of users. Elasticsearch may be making some headlines, but many users will choose to stay with a stable and trustworthy solution like LucidWorks.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 27, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
A New Enterprise Search For Social eCommerce
February 5, 2013
Enterprise search is one of the key forces behind any enterprise deployment plan. Why? The reason is, if you cannot find your content, how can you do your job? PR Newswire reports that “Hakia Enterprise Semantic Search (HESS) To Drive The Social eCommerce Provider, Flow.” Flow, Inc. is a Canadian corporation that recently licensed hakia Enterprise Semantic Search (HESS). The HESS is a modular, extensible, and adaptable toolset for enterprise, government, education and research applications that enables developers to use the meaning of language for various search applications in addition to simple text string matching.
Flow has already added the alpha version of Hess to its mobile commerce platform. The company hopes to gather data relating to user intent and contextual meaning of terms as they are searched on Flow’s dataspace.
The higher-ups of each company had this to say:
“William Cockburn , Executive Director of Flow said ‘We believe that semantic search will facilitate the next evolution in data delivery, namely, a powerful engine to deliver relevance, context, interpretive cultural lexicon and imagery targeted by a user’s request.” Cockburn further stated that “we believe this is a fundamental practical requirement for people to find answers in a global marketplace… the who, what, where, why and when from their search.’
Dr. Riza C. Berkan , CEO of hakia, said ‘We are excited that Flow has chosen to integrate HESS into its social commerce platform. We expect many other technology innovators to move in this direction.” Dr. Berkan added that,” HESS provides the technological and ontological resources that enable a new dimension to search and content analysis applications in the current marketplace’.”
The mobile market is where many companies are focusing their new business plans. It is still relatively untapped and ready for innovation.
Whitney Grace, February 05, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Expert System Partners with Solr
January 31, 2013
Expert System is a semantic software company that has recently announced integrating Apache Solr into their Cognito Semantic platform. Their goal is to increase both precision and recall over traditional systems. The full press release can be read via MarketWire in their write-up, “Expert System Announces Integration With Apache Solr for Enterprise Search.”
The article begins:
“Expert System, the semantic software company, today announced the full integration of its Cogito® semantic platform with the Apache Solr™ open source enterprise search platform. Through the integration with Cogito, organizations using Solr will be able to enhance their technology investment by delivering faster, more precise access to big data and enterprise content. Cogito exceeds the limits of traditional search and provides a deep understanding of words by fully understanding their meaning in context.”
Expert System may have a good product, but it is new. There are other more seasoned options when it comes to Solr integration. For instance, check out LucidWorks Search. A trusted enterprise solution, LucidWorks (formerly Lucid Imagination) has been a go-to in the industry for years. Their newest offering, LucidWorks Big Data, tackles the newest challenge in content management and search, Big Data.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 31, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Exclusive Interview: Miles Kehoe, LucidWorks
January 30, 2013
Miles Kehoe, formerly a senior manager at Verity and then the founder of New Idea Engineering, joined LucidWorks in late 2012. I worked with Miles on a project and found him a top notch resource for search and the tough technical area which was our concern.
I was able to interview Miles Kehoe on January 25, 2013. He was forthcoming and offered me insights which I found fresh and practical. For example, he told me:
You know I come from a ‘platform neutral’ background, and I know many of the folks involved with ElasticSearch. Their product addresses many of the shortcomings in Solr 3.x, and a year or two ago that would have been a coup. But now, Solr 4 completely addresses those shortcomings, and then some, with SolrCloud and Zoo Keeper. ES says it doesn’t require a pesky ‘schema’ to define fields; and when you’re playing with a product for the first time, that is kind of nice. On the other hand, folks I know who have attempted production projects with ES tell me there’s no way you want to go into production without a schema. Apache Lucene and Solr enjoy a much larger community of developers. If you check the Wikipedia page, you’ll see that Lucene and Solr both list the Apache Software Foundation as the developer; Elastic Search lists a single developer, who it turns out, has made the vast majority of updates to date. While it is based on Apache Lucene, Elastic Search is not an Apache project. Both products support RESTful API usage, but Elastic requires all transactions to use JSON. Solr supports JSON as well, but goes beyond to support transactions in many formats including XML, Java, PHP, CSV and Python. This lets you write applications to interact with Solr in any language and with any protocol you want to use. But the most noticeable difference is that Solr has an awesome Web Based Admin UI, ES doesn’t. If you’re only writing code, you might not care, but the second a project is handed over to an Admin group they’re bound to notice! It makes me smile every time somebody says ES and “ease of use” in the same sentence – you remember the MS DOS prompt back in 1990? Although early adopters enjoyed that “simplicity”, business people preferred mouse-based systems like the Mac and Windows. We’re seeing this play out all over again – busy IT people want an admin UI – they don’t want to spend all day at what amounts to a “web command line”, stitching together URLs and JSON commands.
I found this comment prescient. I learned about a possible issue triggered by ElasticSearch in “Github Search Exposes Passwords Then Crashes.”
I pressed Mr. Kehoe for key points of differentiation in open source search. I pointed out that every vendor is rushing to embrace open source search. Some do it with lights flashing like IBM and others operate in a lower profile manner like Attivio. He told me:
Just as we have different products and services for our customers, we can customize our engagements to meet our customers’ needs. Some of our customers want to have deep product expertise in-house, and with training, best practice and advisory consulting, and operations/production consulting, we help them come up to speed. We also provide ongoing technical and production support for mission critical applications – just last month an eCommerce site ran into production problems on the Friday afternoon before Christmas. We were able to help them out and have them at full capacity before dinner. Not to dwell on it, but what sets LucidWorks apart is the people. We employ a large number of the team that created and enhances Lucene and Solr including Grant Ingersoll, Steve Rowe and Yonik Seeley. We also have significant expertise on the business side as well. At the top, Paul Doscher grew Exalead from an unknown firm into a major enterprise search player over just a few years; my former business partner Mark Bennett and I have built up deep understanding of search since our Verity days in the early 1990s.
Important information for those analyzing search systems I believe.
You can read the full text of the interview on the ArnoldIT Search Wizards Speak series at http://goo.gl/31682. Search Wizards Speak is the largest, no cost, freely available collection of interviews with experts in search and content processing. There are more than 60 interviews available. You can find the full series listing at http://www.arnoldit.com/search-wizards-speak/ and http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/wizards-index/.
Stephen E Arnold, January 30, 2013
Sponsored by Dumante.com
Search Technologies Success Lies in Corporate Retreats
January 23, 2013
While many companies may see corporate retreats as an obvious place to cut spending, co-founder and chief executive of Search Technologies believes retreats are some of the most valuable investments made by the company. In the Washington Post article “Value Added: This Herndon Search Company Found its Perfect Retreat in Costa Rica,” we learn about how Kamran Khan of Search Technologies believes corporate retreats are crucial to the success of his growing business. The most recent off-site cost $100,000 in company money and took place in highly-educated and tech-savvy Costa Rica.
The article explains the importance:
“Khan, who started Search Technologies in 2005, said it’s the only time when everyone in the company — including the management team — can be in one place. Khan uses the chance to address his 100-person staff, informing them of how the company is doing and outlining the goals for the next year. ‘I prefer to get people together and . . .clarify our strategy, which is very simple: We are going to be experts in the search space.’”
Khan and his team at Search Technologies may be onto something with this plan. Launched in 2005, the company was on track for $18 million in revenue for 2012, and the company’s net profit margin is about 5 percent. The IT services and search implementation software company services the Daily Mail newspaper’s Web site portfolio in Britain and helped Amazon.com launch its new cloud search product. Apparently the secret to success lies in Khan’s philosophy of hiring “good people” and taking beach trips. We have learned that Search Technologies is hiring in anticipation of further growth during 2013.
Andrea Hayden, January 23, 2013
Nexans Licenses PolySpot Search Engine
January 10, 2013
We learned that the Nexans Group, a global player in the infrastructure, industry, building, and local area network data markets, uses the PolySpot search engine to cross-reference its internal sources of information and all of its information portals.
According to information provided to Beyond Search:
The goal of the roll out was to streamline collaborative processes while ensuring the integrity of security regulations. The strong point of the solution lies in the simplification of access to information regardless of the source. Using the PolySpot engine, users, customers, partners, and employees of Nexans can now easily access the product catalog and at a level of information consistent with their right of access.
Nexans tested various competing solutions on the market. PolySpot told Beyond Search:
PolySpot stood out because of the performance and strength of its Microsoft SharePoint connector. The PolySpot connector for Microsoft SharePoint is characterized by a very large tolerance of isolated errors (corrupt data, crashes, micro network outages, etc).
PolySpot supports the indexing of an entire SharePoint farm and provides fine-grained filtering. The PolySpot approach limits the the maximum load on the application and network.
As a result, Nexans Group users have access to faceted navigation within the relevant Group directory. Information access is pivotal to Nexans Group’s business which offers an extensive range of cables and cabling systems to raise industrial productivity, improve business performance, enhance security, enrich the quality of life, and assure long-term network reliability.
For more information about PolySpot’s technology and services, visit www.polyspot.com.
Stephen E Arnold, January 10, 2013
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