Up and Down for IBM
March 26, 2014
There is good news and there is bad news for IBM. First up, a real journalist asks difficult questions about their high-profile project in “What’s Up with Watson?” at Gigaom. Writer Barb Darrow begins by noting that IBM likes to hold up its Jeopardy winner as an example of the company’s prowess. However, she explains, the much-lauded project seems to be floundering. There is the fact that its former leader left for newer pastures just four months after touting Watson‘s business potential. Darrow also reports:
“One problem I’ve been hearing about for a while is that while Watson is impressive technology, it is not really a product that’s easy to sell. IBM’s decision to open up APIs, to offer Watson’s smarts as a service, is one response to that. You make Watson available in more affordable portions, maybe it’ll gain traction….
“Sources close to IBM have said privately for some time that Watson has not hit internal targets for new business — no doubt one impetus for the new business unit. One said IBM wanted 100 new ‘logos’— big-name corporate wins in IBM parlance for Watson last year and was only able to close a handful.”
That’s the bad news. Meanwhile, though, the company has launched a contest that both spreads their name and inspires students worldwide (that’s the good news.) We learn that IBM is expanding their Master the Mainframe Contest, begun in 2006, in eWeek‘s “IBM Launches Master the Mainframe World Championship.” Reporter Darryl K. Taft tells us:
“The world championship competition is designed to assemble the best university students from around the globe, who have demonstrated superior technical skills through participation in their regional IBM Master the Mainframe contests….
“Of the 20,000 students who have engaged in country-level Master the Mainframe Contests over the last three years, the top 44 students from 22 countries have been invited to participate in the inaugural IBM Master the Mainframe World Championship.”
The contest is viewed as a way to get millennials excited about enterprise computing. For my part, I hope these young people will breathe some fresh air into the enterprise mainframe. See the article for details, or head over to the official Championship website.
Cynthia Murrell, March 26, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Ami Enterprise Intelligence Software
March 25, 2014
In a routine update process, one of the goslings came across Ami, a company that offered Ami Enterprise Intelligence 6.0. A quick review of the company’s Web site at www.amisw.com suggested that the company’s last update took place in 2013.
The flagship product in at Version 6.0. The company says:
Enterprise intelligence 6 is a platform for economic intelligence. Designed by AMI, [the system] includes separate modules for the acquisition, analysis and dissemination of information from external sources or internal company content. AMI Enterprise Intelligence is recognized by the community of business intelligence professionals as one of the platforms that ensures the most comprehensive and most innovative business intelligence.
In April 2013, just about one year ago, the company suggests that it participated in the International II SDV Conference. However, the link to the news item returns a 404 error.
Links to the company’s technology on its Web site are working as of March 25, 2014. The company lists four US patents for its core technology. The AMI patent portfolio consists of:
- GMIL (Grammatical Markers Independent of Language) (# B-3851)
- Enhancing online support (# B-3561)
- Language Interface Natural (# B-3563)
- Language interface for E-Commerce (# B-3562)
The list on the Ami Web site does not contain hyperlinks, however. The Crunchbase profile for the company and products has not been completed. See, for example, http://bit.ly/1jB16dC.
The company appears to be participating in Documation, March 26 in Paris at CNIT Paris la Défense. See http://bit.ly/1lj1eCV. The company appears to be participating in Documation, March 26 in Paris at CNIT Paris la Défense. See http://bit.ly/1lj1eCV. The company asserts that it has more than 150 customers.
The company, like Lextek, maintains a low profile, although it reports that it has offices in the United Kingdom and Paris.
Stephen E Arnold, March 25, 2014
Another Week, Another Enterprise Search System
March 21, 2014
Cloud? Check.
Azure chip consultant reference? Check.
Social angle? Check.
Support for distributed information? Check.
Consumerized interface? Check.
Reference to value? Check.
Automatic alerts? Check.
Customer reference? Check.
Big company pedigree? Check.
Open sourciness? Check.
Exotic technology? Check.
There you have the recipe for a new enterprise search system, at least according to eWeek’s “Highspot Brings Machine Learning to Enterprise Search.” Highpoint’s Web site describes itself this way:
Built for the cloud era, Highspot uses advanced machine learning to help organizations capture, share, and cultivate their most valuable working knowledge.
The pricing information, omitted from the eWeek story just as azure chip consultants omit enterprise search fees, begins at free and comes out of the gate at $20 per user per month or $240 per user per year. For an organization with 400 users, the annual fee works out to about $96,000 for an open source, machine-learning system, a bargain compared to the Google Search Appliance but more expensive than downloading Solr, Searchdaimon, or Elasticsearch and having one staff get search up and running. A less expensive option that works reasonably well is dtSearch, but you need to love the color blue for this search system. If you want an appliance, check out Maxxcat’s systems. These are far less expensive than other appliances, and the new systems are easy to set up and deploy. For cloud action, take a look at Blossom Software’s solution. Chances are your state, country, or municipal government is using the Blossom system built by a former Bell Labs’ whiz kid.
Net net: The enterprise search market is flooded with options. With big, waddling outfits like HP and IBM getting increasingly desperate to make their billion dollar bets pay off, you have high end options as well as free downloadable systems from organizations in Denmark, Norway, Russia, and elsewhere.
Will the pricing hold if a business licensee points the system at 50 million documents? My hunch is that there will be some fine print. Google charges about $900,000 for its appliance capable of processing tens of millions of documents with three years of support. You can check the latest US government discount prices at www.gsaadvantage.gov. Just search for “Google Search Appliance” and peruse the government’s price. A commercial price may vary.
The key is that the engines of many systems are open source. The “solution” is software wrappers and checklists that hit the marketing hot buttons. Keep up with Highspot via the company’s blog at http://blog.highspot.com/.
Stephen E Arnold, March 21, 2014
Lasting Truths about Enterprise Solutions
January 7, 2014
Since their inception, there have been many changes in the world of enterprise software. Yet, there are consistent truths that can guide users in the selection of enterprise solutions, depending on the individual context. Tony Byrne attempts a list of these truths in his article for Information Week, “6 More Enduring Truths About Selecting Enterprise Software.”
After discussions involving open source as well as large versus small vendors, Byrne turns his attention to the biggest option on the market, SharePoint:
“Long-suffering platforms like Lotus have continued to endure because of the strong community around them. For the same reason, SharePoint will probably endure long past the time people think fondly of it. In other words, your technology can become undead but remain viable due to external support and enhancements. Surely, that’s better than having a vendor or technology kick the bucket on you before you’re ready to migrate.”
Stephen E. Arnold of ArnoldIT.com is a longtime leader in search, including enterprise. He has found this same truth in his SharePoint coverage – SharePoint is staying on top of the market, but often because it is enhanced and propped up by a great variety of externals supports and enhancements.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 7, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Xenky Vendor Profile: Dieselpoint
November 6, 2013
If you need a search system and love Java, you will want to read the most recent Xenky Vendor Profile. Dieselpoint is based in Chicago, Illinois. Compared to some search vendors, Dieselpoint keeps a low profile. The profile is available without charge at Xenky’s Vendor Profile page. Be sure to read the caveats for these free profiles. If you want to make a comment or explain a point I missed by a mile, use the comments section of Beyond Search. The profiles are drafts and will not be updated.
Stephen E Arnold, November 6, 2013
Enterprise Partnership Announced
August 2, 2013
The shift to unified information access is occurring throughout the enterprise search market. In order to make that shift more seamless and effective Attivio has partnered with Capax Global. Read all about the partnership in the article, “Capax Global and Attivio Announce Strategic Reseller Partnership.”
The article begins:
“Attivio, creator of the award-winning Active Intelligence Engine (AIE), has formed a strategic reseller partnership with Capax Global, a recognised leader in enterprise search and critical business technology consulting. The partnership addresses the changing needs of Capax Global’s customers as they deal with the widespread shift from traditional enterprise search to unified information access (UIA).”
Unified information access addresses both Big Data and unstructured data. Users are looking for a way to intuitively interact with their data in a way that produces meaning but does not disregard the user experience. LucidWorks, and other value-added open source enterprise providers, seek these same objectives through the use of open source infrastructure. LucidWorks relies on the power of Apache Lucene Solr to keep its customers satisfied at a low cost of both time and money.
Emily Rae Aldridge, August 2, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Redesigning Enterprise Architecture at Gartner Catalyst Conference
August 1, 2013
The announcement has been made that Chris Haddad will deliver a presentation at the Gartner Catalyst Conference which concludes today in San Diego, California. Read more in the press release on PR Web, “WSO2 Vice President of Technology Evangelism to Speak on Redesigning Enterprise Architecture at Gartner Catalyst Conference 2013.”
The release begins:
“WSO2 today announced that WSO2 Vice President of Technology Evangelism Chris Haddad will deliver a presentation at the Gartner Catalyst Conference 2013, ‘Driving Enterprise Architecture Redesign: Cloud-Native Platforms, APIs, and DevOps.’ WSO2 is a platinum sponsor of the Gartner Catalyst Conference, which will run July 29 – August 1, 2013 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, CA.”
The talk should give some insight into the three fundamental drivers that power current enterprise architecture: cloud platforms, APIs, and DevOps. Many open source enterprise solutions providers, like LucidWorks, seek to incorporate these technologies into their software, ensuring flexibility and intuitiveness. LucidWorks Big Data and LucidWorks Search are both built on a solid base of Apache Lucene Solr, and incorporate a variety of leading technologies like Hadoop.
Emily Rae Aldridge, August 1, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Business Efficiency to Increase with Semantic Search
July 23, 2013
Looking for an alternative to Google and other big-name web search platforms? Teach Amazing recommends “Hakia—Semantic Search Portal.” Writer Mark Brumley explains that the semantic web search portal presents multiple types of content in the same results page. The various sections encompass the gamut and this type of aggregated search displayed on a single point of access seems to be the wave of the future.
Brumley shares his user experience:
I love how search results are displayed. Various sections are populated on a single page. Sections include web, news, blogs, Twitter, images and videos. The Twitter feed is a real plus for me and gives an indication of the current pulse of a particular topic. Give Hakia a try the next time you are doing some research. Make sure you try it in the classroom as well. Students need to know that Google is not the only search provider on the planet.
Brumley is not alone in recognizing the advantages of parsing data with context and meaning that semantic search provides. The enterprise also functions more efficiently when using tools that take a semantic approach to data. For example, Expert System offers solutions that empowers users to work at new heights of discovery and collaboration.
Megan Feil, July 23, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search.
Google and Its Enterprise Push: Changes Ahead?
July 23, 2013
I read “Google Will Invest More in Enterprise Business.” The story reported, “More than half of Fortune 500 companies are paying for Google enterprise products, and 5 million companies are using Google Apps for Business.” The story added:
Google’s deepening ties with HP could also help it crack into more enterprise accounts. HP is selling a Chromebook and is using Android for two of its tablets. Google and HP are also partnering on SMB IT In a Box, which bundles Google Apps with HP PCs and printers.
One important factoid in the write up was the assertion that Google’s cloud business and its applications business was generating about $200 million in the most recent quarter. Assuming that the figure is accurate, Google is on track to generate about $1 billion from its enterprise services. If the company ends the current fiscal year in the $60 billion in revenue range, the enterprise unit will make up one minute of 60 minutes of Google revenue.
Google may be using its own predictive system to help guide its decision to push into the enterprise. The UK Telegraph reported some interesting information about online ads and user behavior. “Study: Users Don’t Click on Online Ads” said:
An academic study concluded that brand adverts in internet searches have “no short-term bene?ts”, and added that “returns from all other keywords are a fraction of conventional estimates.” Byron Sharp, Professor of Marketing Science at the University of South Australia tweeted, “Google won’t like this”….With much of the web funded by advertising, and more advertising needed to make mobile pay, it seems that web business is becoming even more difficult.
Google has been working in the enterprise sector for a decade, maybe longer. There have been a number of initiatives, managers, and products. Perhaps now that Microsoft seems to be in the midst of some management change, Google thinks the time is right to ramp up its enterprise business? If ad revenue is no longer the sure thing it was, Google and other online advertising firms will have to step up their monetization efforts and probably take other actions users may not enjoy; for example, raising prices. Will Google boost prices for the Google Search Appliance, Google Apps, or Cloud Services?
Stephen E Arnold, July 23, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky
Acquisition of Gigablast by Yippy Leaves Some Questions Unanswered
July 19, 2013
An article on Yahoo titled Yippy, Inc. (YIPI) to Acquire Gigablast, Inc. And Web Research Properties, LLC to Expand Consumer Search, Enterprise, and eDiscovery Products reported on the important acquisition by the young company. Yippy, Inc. is a search clustering tech company based in Florida with some innovative eDiscovery resources. Matt Wells, the founder of Gigablast states in the article,
“Gigablast and its related properties can provide advanced technologies for consumer, eDiscovery, and enterprise big data customers. Gigabits, a related program, is the first operational enterprise class clustering program which I put into service in 2004. Yippy’s Velocity platform was essentially based off of my original work which will allow Yippy to sell behind the firewall installations for all types of search based applications for enterprise and eDiscovery customers.”
Yippy’s Chief Executive Rich Granville claims that the acquisition will not only benefit customers through technological innovation but by low costs. He directed interested parties to a demo that might illustrate the massive potential in the merger of these companies. The demo shows that the combined indexing of billions of pages of data has already begun, although not when it will be complete. What is less clear is who is indexing what in this tie-up?
Chelsea Kerwin, July 19, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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