Vivisimo Clusters with Politics
December 5, 2011
Vivisimo was founded in 2000 as a search engine company. However, over the last decade, it has evolved into a leader in enterprise search by creating products that businesses and governments can use to manage their internal information.
Vivisimo has made it’s mark on the enterprise search industry by clustering search results, allowing users to intuitively narrow their search results to a particular category or browse through related fields of information.
According to the Vivisimo website, the company has released it’s latest version of Velocity, called Velocity 8.1-2, an enterprise search platform that unifies access to secure business repositories. Velocity’s social search features help foster collaboration by allowing users to contribute to organizational content by tagging, voting, annotating and sharing search results.
Vivisimo CEO John Kealy recently shared his thoughts on the current economic climate and the role of IT companies, in the Washington Exec article: Vivisimo CEO John Kealy 2012 Outlook: “U.S Does Not Control All Variables”
Kealy said:
The US does not control all the variables that will influence government spending.The continued unrest in the Middle East, troubled economic condition in Europe and our need to stay competitive with the emerging markets, especially China, will drive a need to spend even with our fiscal problems. As a supplier to the US government our strategy is stay cautious, be prepared to address unforeseen opportunities to help and make certain our value proposition not only helps achieve the mission, but does it in the most cost effective manner.
Can a service provider nation control “all” variables? By definition, a service provider responds to what others want; therefore, the service provider is not in control of “all” of anything. Vivisimo hedges and Beyond Search wonders why.
Jasmine Ashton, December 5, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Vivisimo: Repetition Is Good but…
November 9, 2011
Remember Ground Hog Day? The movie showed a protagonist repeating actions again and again. A Jean Paul Sartre mixed with Samuel Beckett moment. Yikes.
In the early 2000s several competitors went head to head in an effort to win the love and devotion of search users the world around. Smart companies realized quickly that Google was in the lead and dropped out of the race with their dignity intact. Vivisimo was one such competitor and as the Pittsburgh Tribune writes in the article, Vivisimo Matures, Shifts Focus from Web to Internal Searches, remarketed itself as enterprise search.
The original buddies who started Vivisimo are still in leadership positions and President, Kevin Calderwood, claims Vivisimo was ready to fill in the gaps Google missed – secured data from internal sources within businesses and government entities. Of their technique of search, the article explains,
The original “clustering” search technology Pesenti, Palmer and Valdes-Perez pioneered is still at the heart of Vivisimo’s evolving products. Earlier this year, Vivisimo was awarded a patent for “remix clustering,” a technology that groups together search results into clusters of information and allows searchers to remix the cluster categories that are offered to mine results more deeply.
While true that an interesting business methods patent was awarded to the company, it does not change that they are basically doing what they have always done–search. We will give them a round of applause for reading the writing on the wall and veering away from the Google giant before things got embarrassing for Clusty, a metasearch engine. Now I want more than the fuzzy “information optimization.” Vivisimo was one of six companies profiled in Stephen E Arnold’s The New Landscape of Enterprise Search. Now I want the earth tilled and a new crop of functions.
Catherine Lamsfuss, November 9, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Vivisimo and Its High Score Search Plays
September 27, 2011
Vivisimo, the leader in information optimization, announced this week that Forrester Research, an independent research firm, gave them high scores in their report titled “Market Overview: Enterprise Search.” According to a PR Newswire article Vivisimo Earns Excellent Scores in All But Two Categories In Evaluation by Independent Research Firm Focused on Enterprise Search Market:
Vivisimo’s Velocity 8.0 platform was evaluated among 11 other competing vendor products with testing focusing on 10 distinct criteria, including: mobile support; federation model; indexing and connectivity; social and collaborative features; management and analysis; security; semantics/text analytics; interface flexibility; relevance model; and platform readiness. Scores for each criterion ranged from top to bottom: excellent; very good; good; fair; and poor. Following the conclusion of the evaluations Vivisimo was the only vendor to receive excellent scores in all but two judging criteria.
I’m glad to hear that Vivisimo delivers a high quality product. However, it would have been nice if the article stated what the two weaknesses were so that I could be aware of what they still need to improve upon. Our publisher’s new study—The New Landscape of Enterprise Search—identifies some “considerations” one may want to know about when selecting and enterprise search system. Also, don’t confuse The New Landscape with the azure chip consulting firm’s study which helpfully and quite originally uses the word “landscape” as well. Imitation is a form of flattery. Unimaginative, yes. Sincerest, no. Give everyone an “A” for effort.
Jasmine Ashton, September 27, 2011
Vivisimo Granted Patent for Clustering
August 1, 2011
Great news for Vivisimo! A news release titled “Vivisimo Receives U.S. Patent for Clustering System and Method” reproted:
“Before remix clustering, Vivisimo was the first tech firm to introduce on-the-fly clustering, which allowed users to see their search query results arranged in topic folders. This unique feature gave users the ability to review a list of similar results associated with their search. The invention of remix clustering took enterprise search to a whole new experience, allowing both consumers and employees to see what other subtler topics are connected to their search.”
If you haven’t had the pleasure of receiving neatly, categorized search results courtesy of remix clustering, check out Yippy (formerly Clusty).
Rattling off a client list including Cisco Systems, NASA, the German Intelligence body, the Institute of Physics, the National Library of Medicine, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, et al lends some serious credibility for Vivisimo; needless to say these aren’t your everyday Google users or trend surfers. If remix clustering is preferred by those in the business of information, that’s as good an endorsement as any.
So well done and congratulations, Vivisimo. I look for the clearing of this hurdle to spawn more innovation in the future or litigation, which seems to be important to many organizations.
Never hurts the ol’ pockets, either.
Sarah Rogers, August 1, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Vivisimo Assumes Leadership Position in Twitter Chat
July 15, 2011
I noted the write up “Customer Service Industry Luminaries Participate in Vivisimo’s Unique Twitter Chat Experience Vivisimo Twitter Chat #CXO is Named one of "The 12 Most Stimulating Twitter Chats". The CXO is a business publication. My recollection is that I wrote something for the company years ago. I lost track of the outfit after I shifted to the Enterprise Technology Management publication. (If you click the link today, you may see the addled goose himself. I wrote about Google, not Twitter Chat. I did not know what a Twitter Chat was.
The write up informed me that I was wrong about CXO, which means customer Experience Optimization and not the publication CXO. I also learned that Twitter Chat has been an ongoing activity since April 2011.
Here’s the passage I noted:
"We’ve grown to over 100 participants in just over 10 weeks and have had A-list participants join us because Vivisimo has established residency as the leader in customer experience," said Tracey Mustacchio, Vice President of Marketing at Vivisimo. "The #CXO Twitter chats are an interactive, convenient, and highly effective medium to collaborate and learn from peers how to improve their customer experience initiatives. Also, being named one of the 12 Most Stimulating Twitter Chats was an honor and will help to set us apart from our competitors." Previous session topics included: What is Customer Experience Optimization? Another Officer in the C-Suite: Chief Customer Officer [CCO] The Intersection Between Innovation and the Customer Experience Customer Experience for the Gen Y, Digital Native Trust in the Customer Experience "Who Comes First in Shaping #CustExp – Customers or Employees?" Social Media and the Customer Experience What’s the best way to make customer experience metrics actionable? Going Mobile with Customer Experience? Customer Data: from Overload to Insight Supply Chain or Customer Value Chain To join in on future Vivisimo #CXO Twitter chats, visit the following link every Monday at 12:00 pm ET: http://tweetchat.com/room/cxo. If you use an application like Tweetdeck or Seesmic Desktop, create a search column for the term "#CXO" and follow the Vivisimo chat.
If you want more information, visit the Vivisimo Web site at www.vivisimo.com. Interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, July 15, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publisher of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Vivisimo Federal Day 2011
June 22, 2011
On June 1, 2011, Vivisimo held its annual Federal Day at National Park Conference Center. According to the Information Optimized article “Clean Sweep for Vivisimo’s Federal Day 201l” was a success. The topic of this year’s event was achieving return on investment.
Vivisimo wanted guests to see “that government agencies can and should measure return on investment (ROI), and that ROI on information sharing in government can be demonstrated by methods similar to those used in the commercial world.”
Susan Keen Dyer, a civilian executive in the department of the Navy, was the keynote speaker and discussed how to develop strategies to not only successfully deliver large-scale government IT projects but to also obtain the intended results.
Vivisimo’s Federal General Manager, Bob Carter, emphasized the financial perks of effective information-sharing. Lastly, Vivisimo’s Senior Federal Sales Engineer Gary highlighted the technological capabilities of Vivisimo’s products and how they help get the job done.
Audience members even got a sneak peak at Vivisimo’s new Customer Experience Optimization suite and what it brings to the table. With the success of Federal Day and the National’s big win the home teams definitely earned a “clean sweep.”
Stephen E Arnold, June 22, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search.
Vivisimo Rolls Out Cross-domain Search with Enhanced Security
May 12, 2011
Top Hosting Service Information reveals that “Vivisimo Showcases Secure, Cross-domain Intelligence Solutions” at this week’s DoDIIS Worldwide conference in Detroit. Since Vivisimo serves the federal government, including the defense community, this is a welcome development.
The defense and intelligence communities recognize the need to improve information sharing as a way to achieve true all-source analysis and deliver timely, objective, and actionable intelligence to our senior decision makers and war fighters,’ says Bob Carter, vice president and general manager, federal, of Vivisimo. ‘In an era where spending cuts are being made to improve efficiencies, Vivisimo helps streamline operations and ultimately costs by allowing analysts significantly better access, processing and sharing of critical data necessary to the defense of the U.S.
Assembling the myriad of data gathered from around the globe into useful information is one of today’s biggest challenges for the intelligence community. Though the government often travels behind the curve in tech fields, it seems to be stepping up in this area.
Cynthia Murrell May 12, 2011
Vivisimo Publishes a Customer List
January 26, 2011
I found the links and original news release titled “Information Optimization Trend Continues Widespread Adoption in Government and Commercial Sectors According to Vivisimo” quite interesting. The PR Newswire version of the story might be offline but the story is on the Vivisimo Web site. The write up explains that “informatoin optimization” is a major trend. I noted that a mid tier consulting firm called the Aberdeen Group agrees. I don’t have much to say on the subject. I don’t know what “information” is, so I am not able to comment about “optimizing” it.
What I can point out is that the news release contains what looks like a partial Vivisimo customer list. I noted the names of about three dozen organizations. Several of the outfits license other vendors solutions as well. My thought is that Vivisimo’s competitors know where to make exploratory contacts. Big organizations have a penchant for licensing multiple search systems and making unexpected left hand turns.
I will have to give some thought to that phrase “information optimization.” It is definitely not search, and it may have some advantages when running a query on Bing.com or Google.com. But for me, it seems a bit fuzzy, more like consultant speak than the fractured lingo we use in Harrod’s Creek.
Stephen E Arnold, January 26, 2011
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Vivisimo Generates Revenue from Recycler.com
November 2, 2010
Short honk: We learned that Vivisimo has been selected to provide search and content processing for Recycler.com. The service, owned by Target Media Partners, has created a single Recycler.com Web site for its three score print publications. Target Media wants to go after a market once dominated by newspapers and now mostly in the death grip of Craigslist. To differentiate itself from Craigslist, Target Media wants to follow Steve Jobs’s path and eliminate the nasty stuff from the firm’s new service. The Los Angeles Business Journal has a useful profile of Target Media in “Rival Reborn”.
The news item “Recycler.com Selects Vivisimo’s Velocity Platform” said [Data Monitor links can go dead so you may have to hunt around]:
Recycler.com chose Velocity for its handling of bins and facets, federated searches, and ability to customize ranking methodologies to ensure the relevant ads are displayed to users.
Our perception of Vivisimo was the company was providing federated search and integration services. The use of Velocity in an application that we associated with functions from Endeca, Exalead, Intelligenx, and other vendors surprised us. For more information about Vivisimo, navigate to www.vivisimo.com.
Stephen E Arnold, November 2, 2010
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Vivisimo Now at Version 8 of Velocity
October 11, 2010
The news release fooled me. The title was “Vivisimo Releases Velocity 8.0, New Version of Its Market Leading Information Optimization Platform.” (News release links can go dark. You may have to poke around for the source document.) I continue to think of Vivisimo as a company with an on-the-fly clustering function that makes results from metasearch results useful. No more. Velocity 8,0 is an “information optimization platform”, a phrase that means about as much to me as “taxonomy governance,” about which I commented on Linked In last week.
Terminology aside, the new release of Velocity includes:
- Hit boosting. The idea is that a certain piece of information can be placed at the top of a results list
- Support for Microsoft SharePoint
- Tweaks to scaling
- A query auto complete function.
There are other enhancements. You can find these described at www.vivisimo.com. Hmmm. “Information optimization platform.” Another platform, another interesting way to describe information retrieval. Whatever works is okay with me.
Stephen E Arnold, October 11, 2010
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