ManageEngine Accommodates the IT Professional
April 28, 2013
Is this a fresh angle in the enterprise search game? Gigaom announces, “ManageEngine Hones Enterprise Search for IT Admins.” The key lies in taming the wealth of information IT pros must now deal with every day. Writer Bob Darrow explains:
“Anyone who’s been an IT administrator for a decade or more will tell you of the good old days when there was far too little information about the underlying IT configuration of a given enterprise. Now, the problem is too much information — which can be just as useless unless put into the right context. That’s the issue that ManageEngine said it’s addressing with a new Enterprise Search function for its IT360 IT management software.
“‘There are too many IT consoles, too many vendors — one for network management, one for help desk, one for application performance,’ said Raj Sabhlok, president of ManageEngine’s parent company Zoho. Pity the poor admins who have to piece all that information together to figure out what’s going on, or worse, what went wrong.”
A “Google-like” interface simplifies these challenges, allowing ManageEngine users to search by device name, server type, and so on, and quickly view every relevant instance and associated data. (See the article for a screenshot.) Though this functionality is part of ManageEngine’s overall IT360 on-premises management product, it acts across all relational database backends. It even works, insists Darrow, on competitive management products like SolarWinds. The company is considering offering its Enterprise Search as a standalone package down the road.
Previously known as AdventNet, ManageEngine was founded in 1996. A part of Zoho Corporation, the company is splits its headquarters between Pleasanton, California and Chennai, India. The company’s global roster includes prominent clients like Disney, Sony, and the U.S. Federal Reserve System.
Cynthia Murrell, April 28, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
So Long Enterprise Traditional Sales
April 25, 2013
Things are changing for everything with the broach of technology and that goes the same for old selling methods. Read Write has some disappointing news for old time sales associates in, “Why The Traditional Sales Methods Can’t Sell Enterprise Software.” The old sales methods rely on the manufacturing process that has made the US a booming economic giant. The classical sales method relies on territories, quotas, and commissions, but enterprise software does not fit into this tidy little model. Why?
Buyers are informed and they want solutions more than a sales pitch and then enterprise software is specifically tailored to fit the client’s needs. No one is buying a generic product anymore, expecting a universal solution. The buying teams cross different company departments and all have to figure out a solution instead of one sole person. Another big factor is that with the Internet, buyers are spread all over the world. Sellers do not know where their next customer will come from. Good-bye, traveling salesman.
“In the new normal, enterprise software buyers increasingly seek solution white-boarding sessions – not sales pitches. Traditional sales models simply can’t cope with the changes, but effective replacements have yet to appear. Until a solution is developed, enterprise software vendors – and buyers – will find themselves under increasing pressure.”
Does this spell more trouble for enterprise search and content processing vendors? Maybe, but since enterprise software is the basis for most companies, adaptation may be hard for the sales team but it will happen.
Whitney Grace, April 25, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Tougher Times for Cash Hungry Content Processing Vendors?
April 18, 2013
I read the troubling write up “Q1 Venture Capital Spending And Number Of Deals Down, M&A Activity Drops 44 Percent And Pre-Money Valuations Plummet”. Try as I might, I could not see much good news in the data presented.
The main point of the write up was in my opinion:
Deals in Information Technology (IT), Healthcare, Energy and Utilities, and Industrial Goods all declined, and deals in Business and Financial Services, Consumer Goods, and Consumer Services investment increased from the previous quarter.
For companies in the search, content processing, and analytics sector with a consumer angle, the good news is that money may continue to flow and may, in some cases, spike.
For other types of outfits, money may become more difficult to get. If a funding source is available, my hunch is that investors may be taking increasingly critical looks at the companies ingesting money. How does one age a Type A 35 year old senior manager? My thought is, “Ask for actions that deliver revenue, not marketing puffery.” I am probably off base, but the Techcrunch story suggests that a downward trend may be upon us.
One cannot forget that the investors’ expectation is a return. For companies in the old “search” space, revenues are going to be needed to avoid one of those legendary investor actions: Top management replacement, fire sale, forced merger, intellectual property auction, shut down, or some similar step.
Going forward, search, content processing, and analytics vendors are going to have to generate more revenue. In short, the squeezable days of the last three years may be going away.
Can the search, content processing, and analytics vendors which have taken sums ranging from a few million (BA Insight, Digital Reasoning) to tens of millions (Attivio, Coveo) to hundreds of millions (Palantir) deliver significant top line growth and demonstrate a here-and-now value proposition? One or more of these companies will definitely perform. The ones which do not? Well, that’s what makes search and content processing so darned interesting.
One of my financial clients has asked me to poke around with some numbers and market appetite. No results in hand yet. The project is interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, April 18, 2013
Sponsored by HighGainBlog
Taming Unstructured Information
March 25, 2013
Right now, as you read this, your company’s data are piling up. Scarier yet, most don’t have a way to structure all that precious information, so it goes to waste. Thankfully, clarity is on the way as we found in a recent Paradigma Labs story, “Unstructured Information Extraction: A Sample Case with a Unitex-Manager.”
The article lays out the problem:
There is a lot of information in today’s companies flowing from one computer to another like e-mails, documents, many kinds of files and, of course, the webs the employees surf through. These electronic documents probably contain part of the core knowledge of the company or, at least, very useful information which besides of being easily readable by humans is unstructured and impossible to be processes automatically using computers. The amount of unstructured information in enterprises is around 80% [1] to 85% [2] nowadays, and such a situation is a disadvantage…
This has been an elephant in the room for many preparing to start squeezing help from their data. Unstructured data can derail good intentions by making it impossible to sort out. Thankfully, there are companies with experience in structuring the unstructured and then forming useful analytic insights from this info. One of our favorites is the international firm, Sinequa who boast an incredible two-plus decades in the business.
Patrick Roland, March 25, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search.
Frost and Sullivan Set the Standard In Enterprise Market
March 18, 2013
Frost and Sullivan have been shining a light on the most brilliant tech companies around for as long as we can remember. So when the company decided to shine that light on its favorite company of 2013, we paid close attention. We got the exciting news from a recent Reuters release, “Frost & Sullivan Lauds OpenText for Consistently Staying Ahead of Product Development Curve in the Enterprise Digital Media Market.”
The story went into great detail, beginning with:
“OpenText’s recent rebranding of its enterprise content management (ECM) solution, including all of its peripheral and best-of-breed complementary business lines, into a single Enterprise Information Management (EIM) platform represents a significant realignment of its solutions. OpenText is the first to market with a broad platform geared toward the specific needs and performance demands of users from across the organization.”
This is a big deal for a growing company like OpenText. The wave of the magic wand from Frost has been a harbinger of good things to come. Chief among these harbingers has been their partnership program. Regardless of how a rising company is associated with Frost, it is a good sign. It means one of the biggest names in search has a lot of faith in that company and, by extension, so do we.
Patrick Roland, March 18, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Open Source Continues Dive into Enterprise
March 14, 2013
Open source continues to gain a larger and larger market share, particularly in enterprise solutions. People are taking note and enterprises are interested in capitalizing on the trend. LinuxInsider addresses this very issue in its recent article, “Open Source’s Deep Dive Into the Enterprise.”
The article begins:
“Server provisioning and configuration management and automation are the latest examples of where the tech industry is being driven, largely by open source software. The leading open source server and IT infrastructure automation frameworks, Opscode Chef and Puppet Labs’ Puppet, sit on the leading edge of significant trends under way in enterprise IT — particularly disruption from cloud computing and devops, where application development and IT operations come together for faster, smoother delivery of software and services.”
Open source is also making a big difference in enterprise search and its newest frontier, Big Data. Leaders like LucidWorks are anticipating the new frontier of unstructured data needs and offering solutions that boast the flexibility and affordability of open source. For an example of the best of open source enterprise, check out LucidWorks Search or LucidWorks Big Data.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 14, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Shasta Ventures Adds Staff to Meet Demand
March 13, 2013
Demand for enterprise solutions is soaring and the companies that provide them are expanding. Shasta Ventures is the latest to make an announcement about expansion in response to increased demand. Read more about their new staff additions in the TechCrunch article, “Shasta Ventures Doubles Down On Enterprise Software Experience With New Hires.”
The article begins:
“Shasta Ventures is doubling down on enterprise software experience with the additions of Zenprise CEO Jayaram Bhat as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) and Issac Roth as Venture Advisor at the early-stage venture firm. As the company tells us, this is a move to grow Shasta’s enterprise software, cloud and SaaS practice.”
Shasta Ventures is just another enterprise software solution company to add staff in response to demand. LucidWorks is another that recently upped and expanded its expert staff. LucidWorks is not an up-and-comer, but a trusted, industry-vetted standard. Even more, LucidWorks uses Lucene and Solr as their open source infrastructure. Enterprise is hot and so is open source, and the combination of the two has moved beyond a trend to become a necessity.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 13, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Sinequa Making an Impact In Enterprise Information Access
March 8, 2013
Our team at Beyond Search has maintained a continued interest in Sinequa, an enterprise information access firm based in Paris, for many years. This innovative company has made an impact in the information retrieval realm with the primary mission of empowering users. According to ArnoldIT’s newest Search Wizards Speak interview, “Sinequa: An Interview with Luc Manigot” by Beyond Search’s Stephen Arnold, Sinequa is doing this with real-time, intuitive, business-focused access to information.
The company stands out in this competitive field by tackling information in a range of file types, sources, and systems in what the company calls “unified information access.” In the interview, Sinequa Chief Operating Officer Luc Manigot expands on the benefits of the company:
“Today we do think that our solution offers a real advantage over others, and customers stand to gain by replacing other solutions by ours. We have a growing business in replacing legacy search systems from other companies. Siemens, for example, has found that Sinequa provides its employees with information access, not headaches.”
The company serves hundreds of thousands of people in more than 250 organizations with unique search-based applications. We find Sinequa’s problem-solving approach refreshing and strongly encourage you to learn more about the system at http://www.sinequa.com.
Andrea Hayden, March 08, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Arnold Lecture Cebit 2013
March 5, 2013
An abbreviated version of Stephen E Arnold’s lecture about enterprise search challenges at the 2013 Cebit Conference is now available. To listen to the eight minute talk, navigate to the audio archive. You can find additional information on the ArnoldIT portal page at www.xenky.com.
Stuart Schram, March 1, 2013
Liferay Marketplace Approves New Offering
March 1, 2013
Liferay Marketplace is becoming a go-to resource for enterprise open source solutions. One of the latest additions is the XTIVIA Carousel Portlet. The full release is available through Sys-Con in their article, “XTIVIA Carousel Portlet Now Available on Liferay Marketplace.”
The press release says:
“XTIVIA, Inc. a Liferay Platinum Partner, and the 2012 Liferay North America Partner of the Year announced today that the XTIVIA Carousel Portlet has been approved by Liferay and is now freely available for download on the Liferay Marketplace. The Carousel Portlet is an easy to use solution that provides a continuous, circular navigation of a collection of images or divs. The Carousel Portlet configuration allows for the sizing pixels to match image sizes and allows for pause intervals between images.”
XTIVIA has been working with Liferay since 2006 and has been in the enterprise market since 1992. A trusted name means a lot in enterprise search. LucidWorks is another company that has a meaningful reputation, particularly in search. Their open source solutions are built on Lucene and Solr and tackle enterprise search as well as Big Data.
Emily Rae Aldridge, March 1, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
