Datameer Explains Its Services
April 20, 2012
SmartData Collective’s Bob Gourley gives his take on a fairly young company in “Datameer Provides End-User Focused BI Solutions for Big Data Analytics.” The company, founded in 2009, supplies a business intelligence platform that runs on top of the open source Hadoop engine from Apache. Gourley writes:
“Datameer provides a big data solution that focuses on perhaps the most important niche in this growing domain, the end-user. . . . I’ve met with the CEO (Stefan Groschupf) and other Datameer executives. I’ve also interacted with them in events like our Government Big Data Forum. Through these events plus demonstrations by some of their greatest engineers has led me to a few conclusions about Datameer. In general, I believe enterprise technologists should take note of this firm for several reasons.”
Those reasons include: familiar and easy-to-use interfaces; the availability of free trials; scalability; software wizards that guide non-techies through accessing and integrating data; the ability to deploy either on premises or in the cloud; and the ease with which capabilities can be expanded through plug-ins and open APIs.
These are all good features, it is true. But we still have one important question: what differentiates this outfit from such fast movers as Ikanow, Quid, and Digital Reasoning?
Cynthia Murrell, April 20, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
A Discussion on Private versus Public Cloud in SharePoint
April 20, 2012
In “Private SharePoint Cloud Beats Other Cloud Hosting Options for Enterprises on Price, Practicability,” Jay Atkinson, CEO of AIS Network, discusses public versus private in the Cloud hosting environment. Atkinson suggests that Private SharePoint Cloud “is in.”
He explains,
A private SharePoint cloud is simply more economical and easier to manage for a large organization with security and compliance concerns, Atkinson said. An enterprise SharePoint Server 2010 platform implemented wholly in a private cloud, including the online storage components, exceeds core compliance requirements and surpasses the benefits of a public cloud or hybrid cloud.
With SharePoint 2010 deployed entirely in a private cloud, Atkinson said the customer gets:
- a hosted environment that is exclusively internal to the organization,
- complete control of its servers, security, permissions, policies and customization,
- seamless federation between line-of-business systems and various data sources,
- quick scalability for system resources, and
- the ability to move other core applications and platforms to the same private cloud.
Atkinson is quick to point out, though, that public cloud services are okay and often economical for small to mid-size businesses. Atkinson’s comments may be worth a look to keep in the loop on Cloud trends. But the article is just an introduction and you may want to do a little more research before choosing a Cloud service.
While SharePoint is a powerful and complex system, we know there are limitations when the Cloud is introduced, especially when it comes to search and security. For a Cloud solution in your SharePoint environment, check out Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Here you can read about the power of information pairing:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise and the Cloud fit perfectly together. The Cloud makes you and your business mobile – Mindbreeze makes itself at home in the Cloud. The intelligent search is available as a Cloud service. This means that you, if you so desire, Mindbreeze can run without any installation whatsoever – we operate the search machine for you. All the data that you manage in the Cloud are made searchable by Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise is therefore also your center of excellence for your knowledge in the Cloud.
Add in certified security with regular audits for security standards compliance, and Mindbreeze connects users to their needed information without compromising information security. Check out the full suite of solutions at Mindbreeze to see what works for you.
More on AIS Network: AIS Network takes businesses to the cloud. Hosting pioneer AISN is a leader in cloud-based hosting for Microsoft SharePoint, SharePoint FIS, SaaS and other mission-critical applications for organizations with demanding security and compliance requirements.
Philip West, April 20, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
IBM and Its Analytics Roll Up
April 20, 2012
IBM created WebFountain. In 2004, Searchblog posted a lengthy discussion of a system which would make sense out of the World Wide Web. “WebFountain, the Long Version” was a result of information provided by IBM’s engineers at its Almaden research facility. In 2004, WebFountain was one consequence of “ten years of work at Almaden on the problem of search.” The system was able to perform a number of sophisticated processes in order to allow IBM customers to make sense of large volumes of data. Wikipedia has a brief write up in which WebFountain is described as an “Internet analytical engine implemented by IBM for the study of unstructured data.”
In “IBM Betting Big Bucks on Data Analytics Software” I learned that IBM acquired Varicent Software. Varicent is an analytics and sales performance management company, which is a vertical solution with analytics as a foundation block. The key point in that article is that IBM’s “make sense out of data” revenue is expected to hit $16 billion by 2015. With analytics emerging as a hot sector for start ups, IBM seems to be a giant.
However, IBM’s analytics shadow has not been built on IBM innovations. The company has pursued an acquisition path with milestones such as Cognos (a $4.9 billion purchase in 2007) and SPSS (a $1.2 billion purchase in 2009), and the recent Varicent deal for an undisclosed amount. In addition, IBM acquired Algorithmics, Clarity Systems, i2, and OpenPages. “IBM and Varicent: Another Piece of the Analytics Puzzle” noted “IBM’s 4Q11 acquisition of DemandTec enables companies in the retail and distribution industries to make insightful decisions around pricing, while the fourth quarter acquisition of Emptoris focuses on improving and facilitating supply chain management decisions.”
Each is an analytics vendor.
The approach was described by Zacks.com as “accretive acquisitions.” “IBM to Buy Varicent Software” said:
Since 2005, the company has invested $14.0 billion in acquiring 25 companies. The company has engaged more than 10,000 technical professionals and 7,500 consultants in its analytics operations. IBM has 8 analytics solutions centers across the world and has more than 100 analytics-based research assets.
At a recent conference, analytics vendors talked about the demand for their services. None of the firms making presentation—for example, mentioned the IBM analytics empire or it possible dominance of the industry.
Several observations about IBM’s impact on the analytics sector.
First, there is now considerable blurring of structured data and unstructured data. The term “big data” implies that there are sufficient volumes of data to require highly sophisticated “roll up” systems to make sense of available information. IBM’s portfolio of analytics companies seems to have a solution to almost any business problem. At this time, IBM’s analytics products and services are not tightly integrated. Some assembly required applies to most analytics solutions. Will IBM be able to offer the “snap in,” fast start, and point-and-click approach some organizations desire?
Second, IBM’s broad portfolio of analytics tools, vertical solutions, and components is extremely broad and deep. IBM’s Web page “Take the Lead with business Analytics” covers only a fraction of what the company offers. How will IBM solution engineers keep track of what’s available and how certain products best solve certain customer problems?
Third, IBM seems to be collecting technologies, revenues, and customers. Some of the companies IBM has acquired such as i2 Group require specialized skills and expertise. In the case of i2, the typical analytics professional would require additional vetting and training to work with the firm’s particular tools. How many other of IBM’s analytics acquisitions “look” on the surface to be general purpose but on closer inspection are actually quite narrow and deep in their application?
My view is that IBM’s investments in analytics have created a demand for analytics. How can Big Blue be wrong? On the other hand, IBM may find that buying analytics companies does not deliver the payoff IBM management and IBM customers expect. The time, cost, and actual “real world” deliverables may be different from the expectations.
IBM will have to demonstrate that it can create a portfolio of solutions which can compete with the lower cost, cloud centric approaches that are proliferating. IBM has an anchor in open source search for unstructured data and a number of specialized luxury yachts for structured data. From a distance the fleet looks formidable. Up close, the same vulnerability teenagers in a skiff exploit in commercial shipping traffic may exist.
What’s clear is that IBM’s reputation for innovation has given way to innovation via acquisition. My hypothesis is that analytics is a very fragmented and niche business. IBM may have to buy more and more analytics vendors just to have a solution for the quite individualized problems many organizations face.
Stephen E Arnold, April 20, 2012
Sponsored by OpenSearchNews.com
A Book Review of Managing Records in SharePoint 2010
April 19, 2012
Mimi Dionne, a records and information management project manager and Consultant/Owner of Mimi Dionne Consulting, reviews a recent Bruce Miller publication in, “Managing Records in SharePoint 2010: An ARMA Report Review.” Bruce Miller’s 93 page book, “Managing Records in SharePoint 2010,” examines the capabilities and limitations of recordkeeping with out-of-the-box SharePoint 2010.
Miller’s report is divided into sections, starting with the use case, assessing record keeping requirements, and key underlying record keeping principles for SharePoint. Then the report shifts to implementing a file plan, folder structure and management, declaration and classification, classification accuracy, disposition, and concludes with recommended best practices and project implementation. Dionne’s review takes a look at all of these sections.
Dionne shares her overall summary:
This is a deeply-considered report that has useful, practical gems of advice scattered throughout. For example, if you’ve never fully considered metadata (beyond Dublin Core), you will find some listed in Appendix B quite valuable. However, blink and you miss them. I wish he had highlighted them better. Investing in Mr. Miller’s report is a wise move by ARMA International. The reader does get very useful advice — his hints on records management in MySites are worth the price of the publication alone — but if you seek a cookbook to teach you how to assemble a SharePoint 2010 Records Center, this is not it.
If you’ve been considering purchasing Bruce Miller’s book, Dionne’s comprehensive review may be worth a look. If you’re looking to save time and resources spent on training materials, consider a third party solution, like Fabasoft Mindbreeze, to round out your SharePoint system.
Mindbreeze can also help you connect the dots in your SharePoint adoption. The Fabasoft Folio Connector integrates all your business information from the intranet, Cloud, internet, and knowledge portals in the corporate-wide search, while maintaining your strict access rights by integrating all information objects, including metadata. The Microsoft SharePoint Connector connects the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server to Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise and enables the search for documents stored in that application. With Mindbreeze, users can easily search and reuse information from documents, contacts, projects, Wiki articles, conference agendas, and more.
Philip West, April 19, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Algorithms Can Deliver Skewed Results
April 18, 2012
After two days of lectures about the power of social media analytics, Stephen E Arnold raised doubts about the reliability of certain analytics outputs. He opined: “Faith in analytics may be misplaced.”
Arnold’s lecture focused on four gaps in social media analytics. He pointed out that many users were unaware of the trade offs in algorithm selection made by vendors’ programmers. Speaking at the Social Media Analytics Summit, he said:
Many companies purchase social media analytics reports without understanding that the questions answered by algorithms may not answer the customer’s actual question.
He continued:
The talk about big data leaves the impression that every item is analyzed and processed. The reality is that sampling methods, like the selection of numerical recipes can have a significant impact on what results become available.
The third gap, he added, “is that smart algorithms display persistence. With smart software, some methods predict a behavior and then look for that behavior because the brute force approach is computationally expensive and adds latency to a system.” He said:
Users assume results are near real time and comprehensive. The reality is that results are unlikely to be real time and built around mathematical methods which value efficiency and cleverness at the expense of more robust analytic methods. The characteristic is more pronounced in user friendly, click here type of systems than those which require to specify a method using SAS or SPSS syntax.”
The final gap is the distortion that affects outputs from “near term, throw forward biases.” Arnold said:
Modern systems are overly sensitive to certain short term content events. This bias is most pronounced when looking for emerging trend data. In these types of outputs the “now” data respond to spikes and users act on identified trends often without appropriate context.
The implication of these gaps is that outputs from some quite sophisticated systems can be misleading or present information as fact when that information has been shaped to a marketer’s purpose.
The Social Media Analytics conference was held in San Francisco, April 17 and 18, 2012. More information about the implications of these gaps may be found at the Augmentext.com Web site.
Donald C Anderson, April 18, 2012,
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Thinking of End Users when Implementing Enterprise Search Solutions
April 18, 2012
We recently wrote about selling search internally to your boss. Karen Lynn looks at the flip-side of that discussion in, “Selling Search Internally – Part 2 – How to Get Buy In from the Staff.” Lynn points out that enterprise search investments can be an expensive endeavor, so be sure to include all stakeholders, especially end users, in the planning process to be sure you’re spending the resources on a solution that will be adopted. If your end users do not like the solution, don’t expect it to be used.
Lynn explains,
If they have input to its overall features and design, they will be more invested in using it. Involving users manufactures all kinds of good-will collateral that can help develop better morale and a positive workplace. Doing this early in the process also introduces change more slowly to users–and people rarely react well to lots of radical change. Making them a part of the process and doing it early with lots of prepping for change can affect overall satisfaction rates with the search implementation after it’s complete.
The author also stresses the importance of a training program. Implementation is by no means the last step in the deployment process. Lynn makes some valuable points and we agree that end users hold a valuable seat at the enterprise search round table. Training end users is a good opportunity to share how the search solution can help in day to day tasks, which is helpful for encouraging the adoption of new technologies.
One way to make the process easier is by deploying an easy to install solution that is end user friendly and offers comprehensive training and support. We like the feedback we’ve seen from customers of Fabasoft Mindbreeze. The Salzburg City Council of Austria had this to say about implementing Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise for their 900 users to better manage the 10,500 new documents that come in daily:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise makes our everyday work easier. Obtaining relevant information fast is something we now take for granted and it has become a key feature of our work and our approach to it. Above all our citizens benefit from it. They receive their information much faster.
Read more about Fabasoft Mindbreeze benefits for end users, including mobility and Cloud searching, at http://www.mindbreeze.com/.
Philip West, April 18, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Big Data: The Next Bubble
April 18, 2012
A colleague in Europe sent me information about a new study sponsored by SAS. To tow the line, I have done work for SAS in the past and we use SAS technology for certain types of analytic work. Nevertheless, the SAS report surprised me with its robust estimate of the uptake of big data, which is now the buzzword and trend poster child for 2012. The report was generated by CEBR, which is an azure chip outfit performing various analyses for government entities and enterprisers.
First, you will need to snag a copy of the report “Data Equity: Unlocking the Value of Big Data.” SAS did not “know” me, so I had to register again and you may have to jump through hoops as well. I don’t know if SAS will call to sell me something, but you may get a ringy dingy. Don’t blame me.
The main point of the study is that every industrial sector will be forced to deal with big data. Okay, as news flashes go, this is not one which lit up the Beyond Search editorial team. We did notice a number of interesting charts. The one reproduced below shows how much uptake in big data occurs by industrial sector today and in 2017. The key point is that the numbers and bars show big data becoming a “big” deal.
Source © 2012 Centre for Economics and business Research Ltd.
My view is that the study is interesting. Omitted is obvious weightings which consider:
- Economic downturns in the broad economy
- Facts which suggest even laggard sectors like manufacturing will embrace the big data shift
- Exogenous factors such as war in the Middle East or in the volatile areas bordering on China.
So big estimates go with big data. Big dreams are useful. Reality? Well, that is often different.
Stephen E Arnold, April 17, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Suggestions for Talking Search Solutions with your Boss
April 17, 2012
Karen Lynn presents a frustrating and all-too-familiar information overload story that staff and management often experience – tirelessly searching for emails, invoices, reports, product numbers, and more with little or no avail. You can read Lynn’s comments in, “Selling Search Internally – Part 1 – How to Get Buy-In from Your Boss.”
Lynn says that a powerful search overcomes this roadblock in the work process. Faster services to customers, less staff frustration, and higher productivity can all be results of an efficient search system. But maybe you know the needed solution as a staff member; however, your boss is not yet on board.
Lynn has this to say:
But how do you convince the boss that your company would benefit in an investment in search technology? This is the tricky part for many managers inside organizations. Search is hard, and often expensive. Here are the main points you should make with your boss.
- Search isn’t a box, it’s an engine
- Search makes money / saves money = bottom line results
- Sharing information promotes better decision making, faster response time
- Search will give your organization a competitive edge in a cutthroat marketplace
We know the value of a powerful search engine in the enterprise. But Lynn takes a refreshing and pragmatic approach to implementing the first part of the solution – getting your co-workers and bosses interested in enterprise search investments.
Lynn also suggests that if you bring the search problem to your boss, also bring a solution. One we like is Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise. Mindbreeze Enterprise Search lets you . . .
. . . be well informed – quickly and accurately. The data often lies distributed across numerous sources. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise gains each employee two weeks per through focused finding of data (IDC Studie). An invaluable competitive advantage in business as well as providing employee satisfaction.
When discussing the problem and solution with your boss, Lynn advises giving real examples to back up your suggestions for improvement. To go with your real work examples of the problem, add boundless data search and clearly structured search results as just two of the solution’s benefits worth mentioning to coworkers and management. Read more at http://www.mindbreeze.com/.
Philip West, April 17, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Inteltrax: Top Stories, April 9 to April 13
April 16, 2012
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, specifically, the ways in which money is dealt with in analytic terms.
Saving money is the focus of “Knowing Needs and Wants Save Tons with Big Data” which aims to help buyers decide what they want in an analytic package before buying.
Making the right investment for you is covered in “Speed is the Analytic Key” which says, above all other factors, spend extra money on speed because that’s the quickest to get outdated.
Finally, “Series-B Investments Expand Analytic Growth” shows how smaller firms and startups depend on private investors to compete with the big names in a big data.
Money makes the world go around and the big data planet is no different. But the ways in which it is saved and spent and acquired could fill a book. We are writing a new chapter every day and hope you’ll join us.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting www.inteltrax.com
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax.
April 16, 2012
Branding a SharePoint 2010 Infrastructure
April 16, 2012
Frequent SharePoint author, Yaroslav Pentsarskyy has authored a new book, SharePoint 2010 Branding in Practice: A Guide for Web Developers. Pentsarskyy contends there are few guides or best practices for how to implement branding in SharePoint 2010, and yet branding is an important marketing priority for any organization. PR News gives more details in the story, “New Guide Helps Developers Implement Branding Concepts.”
“‘My book explores how to brand collaboration sites as well as publishing sites,’ says Pentsarskyy. ‘It also demonstrates how you can brand sites that are hosted not only on a dedicated server but on a shared infrastructure in a cloud.’ Written for web developers or user interface developers who already know CSS, JavaScript and HTML, the book discusses publishing masterpage structure, applying common design artifacts and settings on existing specialized sites, publishing page layout structure, applying branding to SharePoint list views and much more.”
Pentsarskyy is right, branding and presentation is important for both your internal structure and your external appearance. However, there may be an easier solution than struggling through a SharePoint customization process. Fabasoft Mindbreeze is a smart third-party solution with a number of integrating components to improve an enterprise infrastructure.
Consider Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite. Requiring no installation, configuration, or maintenance, an organization can improve the efficiency and appearance of their external websites.
“An attractive website serves as an effective digital business card. Surprise your website visitors with an intuitive search.”
To satisfy employees and internal users, Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise is service-oriented and cost-effective. End users are pleased with the intuitive interface.
“Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise finds every scrap of information within a very short time, whether document, contract, note, e-mail or calendar entry, in intranet or internet, person- or text-related. The software solution finds all required information, regardless of source, for its users. Get a comprehensive overview of corporate knowledge in seconds without redundancy or loss of data.”
Pentsarskyy’s book is no doubt informative, and readers will learn a great deal about how SharePoint branding can be achieved through customization. However, for users who need less investment and more return, Fabasoft Mindbreeze might be just the solution to consider.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 16, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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