Facebook Search: How Disruptive?

January 16, 2013

Lots of punditry today. Facebook rolled out graph search. A registered user can run queries answered by content within the Facebook “database.” How will it work? Public content becomes the corpus. Navigate to the BBC write up “Facebook Unveils Social Search Tools for Users.”

A comment by Facebook’s founder which caught my attention was:

“We look at Facebook as a big social database,” said Mr Zuckerberg, adding that social search was Facebook’s “third pillar” and stood beside the news feed and timeline as the foundational elements of the social network.

The former Googler allegedly responsible for Facebook’s search allegedly observed:

On graph search, you can only see content that people have shared with you,” developer Lars Rasmussen, who was previously the co-founder of Google Maps, told reporters.

So no reprise of the various privacy missteps the GOOG made. Facebook wants to avoid some of its fast dancing over privacy too.

How disruptive will Facebook search be?

First, the Facebook users will give search a whirl. The initial queries will be tire kicking stuff. Once some patterns emerge, the Facebook bean counters will slip the switch on ads. That, not search, may cause Google some moments of concern. Google, like Microsoft, has to protect its one trick revenue pony. Facebook won’t stampede the cattle, but those doggies will wander. If the pasture is juicy, Facebook will let those cows roam. Green pastures can be fragile ecosystems.

Second, search sucks. Facebook could answer certain types of questions better than the brute force Web indexing services. If users discover the useful functions of Facebook, traffic for the weak sisters like Blekko and Yahoo could head south. The Google won’t be hurt right away, but the potential for Facebook to index only urls cited by registered users could be a more threatening step. Surgical search, not brute force, may slice some revenues from the Google.

Third, Facebook could learn, as Google did, that search is a darned good thing. Armed with the social info and the Facebook users’ curated urls, Facebook could cook up a next generation search solution that could snow on Googzilla’s parade. Google Plus is interesting but Facebook may be just the outfit to pop search up a level. Google is not an innovator, so Facebook may be triggering a new search arms race.

Thank goodness.

Stephen E Arnold, January 16, 2013

Open Source Continues to Drive National Standards

January 14, 2013

Cloudant offers a managed database service in order to enhance search options on top of content management. Last fall Cloudant announced integrated text indexing and search based on Apache Lucene, which means the power of the leader open source search architecture. Building on its success, Cloudant has now joined the Open Geospatial Consortium in an effort to accelerate innovation and development of location aware apps and dynamic geo queries. Read the Directions Magazine article, “Cloudant Joins the OGC to Promote Geospatial Standards and Location-Based Applications,” for all of the details.

The article gets to the heart of the announcement:

“Cloudant today announced that it has joined the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), an international consortium that serves as a forum for collaboration on the development of geospatial interoperability standards. By joining the OGC, Cloudant aims to integrate geospatial standards into the Cloudant NoSQL database as a service (DBaaS) so Web, mobile and proprietary app developers can more easily introduce new geospatial features and analytics into their applications.”

Cloudant is doing well, but the greater issue is the continuing importance of open source technology on the national stage. Open source is contributing to standards and informing progress in all facets of technology. Another powerful software solution based on Apache Lucene is LucidWorks. They offer LucidWorks Search to satisfy enterprise search needs and LucidWorks Big Data to answer that emerging problem.

Emily Rae Aldridge, January 14, 2013

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Latest Desktop Version from dtSearch Available

January 14, 2013

We spotted dtSearch’s latest desktop version, v7.72.8085-Lz0, for sale at Release BB. Will this new release be a splash or a flash?

The product description reads:

“The dtSearch product line can instantly search terabytes of text across a desktop, network, Internet or Intranet site. dtSearch products also serve as tools for publishing, with instant text searching, large document collections to Web sites or portable media. Developers can embed dtSearch’s instant searching and file format support into their own applications.”

A few of the product’s features include a variety of helpful search options, data exports in several formats, and specialized forensic indexing and searching tools. See the company’s official Desktop product page for more details.

Incorporated in 1991, dtSearch began its R&D in 1988. They have since become a major provider of information management software, supplying award-winning solutions to firms in several fields and to numerous government agencies in the areas of defense, law enforcement, and space exploration. The company also makes its products available for incorporation into other commercial applications. dtSearch has distributors worldwide, and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.

Cynthia Murrell, January 14, 2013

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

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

Big Data Build Up Reaffirms the Need for Reliable Enterprise Search Solutions

December 19, 2012

Since 2005 Coveo has been researching ways to improve enterprise search and now they are ready to make a move. The Wall Street Journal’sCoveo Raises $18 Million for Enterprise Search from Tandem Expansion Fund” talks about the search and indexing technology that they feel will set them apart from other providers during the next enterprise search evolution.

Coveo is banking on big data buildup and improvements in the economy insuring that companies are prepared to investigate the next big step in enterprise search:

“Many companies delayed investments in search during the recession and now find they’ve got hundreds of internal sources of information, including many new ones. They’re saying, ‘our employees can’t find anything and we’re at risk because if we get sued, we don’t know what we have in our files that could financially or otherwise embarrass us. Costs have to be kept down and search becomes a necessary ingredient.”

Coveo has a philosophy and business model for continual improvement even if they may appear slow in actual development. Continual improvement to a system based upon open source technology and a strong academic foundation with frequent product enhancements may be a preferred choice for some enterprises who want excellence sooner rather than later.  Intrafind has been a stable resource for enterprise search solutions since early 2000, offering customers a high performing, user friendly interface that provides relevant results and user support throughout companywide operations.

Jennifer Shockley, December 19, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

SharePoint Users Will Discover Built-in Search Is More Than Icing On Cake

December 13, 2012

After Microsoft’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference, which took place over the summer in Toronto, more information has been released in regards to SharePoint 2013. In fact, Search Technologies has published an article on “Search For SharePoint” that includes the major bullet points of SharePoint 2013’s search functions and capabilities. The article follows the flow of documents, providing an idea of the process from crawling all the way to search functionality provided to users.

The driving force behind this latest version of SharePoint is the FAST search technology that Microsoft acquired back in 2008. Additions from Bing and other search companies have been added into the software in order to offer clients a comprehensive solution; that also means customization is available for companies with specific needs.

As for the process, once crawling – or capturing metadata – occurs, the content processing known as the indexing pipeline takes place:

“In SharePoint 2012, this resembles the FAST pipeline and looks to have retained important features. The content processing component also writes information to a “link database”. This information can be subsequently used by the analysis processing component to calculate link popularity statistics and provide relevancy weighting possibilities. Anchor text within links can also contribute to page content for ranking purposes.”

The analytics processing that happens next in the sequence of events allows for additional context to be woven into the indexing process. The final step after indexing lies in an often overlooked aspect of enterprise search: query processing. This component improves search with attention to precision, recall and relevancy.

Now that SharePoint 2013 includes a top-tier enterprise search infrastructure, competitors do not have as much room in the conversation on search. Companies are lining up to implement SharePoint everyday, and with that software in the bag they also get to discover the magic of FAST technologies. Search is not just the cherry on top for SharePoint, it encapsulates the entire sundae.

Megan Feil, December 13, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

HP Moves Printing Into Next Generation

December 13, 2012

Who does not like to hear that offices can increase productivity, decrease costs and improve efficiency? HP is making all three even easier with new technologies discussed in their news release, “HP Unveils New Printing Innovations That Digitize the Office; Help Reduce Costs.” For the enterprise, the most exciting aspect is that data access will be simplified.

Take the HP flow MFPs, for example. This can be integrated with content management solutions from software vendor Autonomy, an HP Company. It could be done either on-site or through the cloud.

We also learned about another notable new innovation:

“The HP Flow CM Professional brings enterprise-class content management to growing businesses, with security features that also support leading banks, legal firms and stock exchanges. The cloud-based offering increases collaboration and productivity by easily capturing, indexing, storing, searching and retrieving documents through a unique user-friendly interface designed with the customer in mind.”

New printers also be added in to their arsenal of offerings geared to shake up productivity. We just wonder if we’ve hit the time where snapping in IDOL will become a job like changing a toner cartridge. Only time will tell.

Megan Feil, December 13, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

NASA Seeks Friends In All Spheres

December 4, 2012

MEI Company shared good news for their team through a news release, “Nasa Selects Millennium for Safety Support Contract at Wallops Flight Facility.” They will be providing the flight, ground and institutional safety support for NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

NASA’s sounding rockets program office, balloon program office, and aircraft office are all located within Wallops.

Hailing the contract as a symbol of NASA’s commitment to safety, the article quotes MEI CEO T. Trase Travers. He mentions the critical nature of the missions Wallops supports.

The article delves into the specifics:

“As part of the Wallops Safety Office Contract, Millennium [MEI] will perform flight safety analysis, provide ground and pad safety support, and ensure institutional safety through compliance with NASA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.  This work includes wind weighting, range safety analysis, cryogenic safety, explosives safety, electronic emissions safety, fire protection, industrial hygiene, pressure systems, lifting devices, emergency preparedness and other related safety support.”

Another indexing outfit has been tapped by NASA. By our tally, NASA is licensing its heart out with Concept Searching and now MEI. An interesting turn of events to say the least.

Megan Feil,December 04, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

SearchHub is More than a Forum

December 3, 2012

SearchHub.org is the latest open source community resource offered by LucidWorks in support of Lucene and Solr developers specifically. More than a blog or a forum, SearchHub is an interactive community to exchange ideas. One new item of interest is a session video, “Solr 4: The SolrCloud Architecture.” Read this description to see if this video might be helpful for you or your organization:

“In this talk, Lucene/Solr committer Mark Miller will discuss the low level architecture and design decisions around SolrCloud and distributedLucene Revolution 2012 Download Presentation indexing. Come learn about the latest work on Solr’s new scaling and fault tolerance solution – how it works and how we built it.”

In addition to this session video, there are screencasts, other conference videos, and many how-to instructional pieces. Also, there is a wonderful compilation of resources on the Reference Materials page. Documentation, comparisons, white papers, and tutorials are all included.

SearchHub.org is another way for LucidWorks to give back to the open source community, supporting Apache Lucene and Solr. However, some users may benefit even more from the utilization of LucidWorks products including LucidWorks Search and LucidWorks Big Data. These products are ready to go out-of-the-box and are supported by the industry-vetted power of LucidWorks.

Emily Rae Aldridge, December 03, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Enterprise Search: Is a Golden Age Coming?

December 2, 2012

Let’s recap the enterprise search market. I am 68, so I remember the glory days of SDC Orbit, RECON, and SMART. If you are with me chronologically, think mainframes, batch processing, and the lousy bandwidth which was available within the computer room.

By 1982 even traditional publishers were trying to figure out what to do with digital information. Remember the original New York Times’ search system? Remember the original Dow Jones online system and its desktop search interface? Dow Jones used BRS Search, now part of the OpenText quiver of separate information retrieval arrows. IBM pushed STAIRS.

By the mid 1990s, there were university computing graduates who were on the search bandwagon, even though it was built on a Citroen Deux Chevaux. Think Personal Library Software and Backrub, the precursor of our beloved Google search appliance.

image

Most of today’s enterprise search systems are as modern as this Citroen Deux Chevaux. A happy quack to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Deux-chevaux-rose-pink-2CV-citroen.JPG for this image.

In the late 1990s, the enterprise search market was pulling together threads of different ideas which sort of worked. The first wave of “brand” name vendors date from the 1996 to 2000 period and include Autonomy, Convera, Endeca, Fast Search & Transfer, and Verity. Most of these companies survive either as units of larger firms or as genetic strands woven into various search consulting firms like Comperio and Search Technologies. Google, I want to point out, is using technology which dates from the mid 1990s. So much for the difference between PR and enhanced CLEVER-ness.

When we hit the mid 2000s, the landscape has become barren. There are plenty of innovations and there are entrepreneurs who have embraced the magic of search sub-disciplines like latent semantic indexing, natural language processing, goosed Bayesian, and mish-mashes of every possible indexing and retrieval method. The notable shift in search since 2005 has been the emergence of Lucene, Solr, and Xapian, among other open source information retrieval options.

Have we reached the end of the line?

Nope. The Golden Age is coming.

In 2013, Beyond Search will add coverage of next generation vendors poised to rework search. On Tuesday, December 5, you will be able to read an interview with the chief technology officer of a little known search and content processing vendor named Cybertap. You can dip into the archives of my Search Wizards Speak’s series and get more insight about where search is headed by reading the interviews with such experts as:

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