Exclusive Interview: Hadley Reynolds, IDC
August 18, 2010
One of the big guns in search and content processing consulting is IDC, a firm to which many senior managers turn when trying to figure out the fast-changing world of digital information. IDC describes itself as:
the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries worldwide. For more than 46 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company.
I go along with the description because every once in a while I do a project for IDC, and I do like to get paid for my research.
Hadley Reynolds is a featured speaker at the Lucene Revolution Conference, Boston, Mass., October 7 and 8, 2010. Information about the conference is available at http://www.lucenerevolution.com.
Mr. Reynolds focuses on understanding business transformation opportunities through the application of search technologies to traditional business models and the role search innovation is playing in creating new business opportunities. Prior to joining IDC, he guided the Center for Search Innovation at Microsoft Fast. A former Delphi Group consultant, he brings business and technical expertise to bear on his work in search.
I tracked down Hadley Reynolds, one of IDC’s senior consultants in the search practice. We conversed in Framingham, Massachusetts. We talked at the Starbuck’s in Framingham. I have transcribed our talk in the dialogue below:
Hadley, thanks for taking the time to talk with me?
Glad to. I read your blog and I must say that I don’t agree with some of your points.
No problem. The blog is designed to spark discussion, not compete with the work you and your colleagues do at IDC.
We do not consider your comments on the world of search competitive in any way. Go for it.
Okay, let me get right to the point. I noticed that you are on the program for the Lucene Revolution Conference. Why the interest in open source software?
Anyone who has been watching the enterprise search market in recent years has to be impressed with the growth record of the Lucene: in technical enhancements, community participation, and acceptance in the commercial market.
Enterprise search is usually a proprietary solution. Open source relies on a community. Is the community angle real or a myth?
When the Lucene project was in its early days, I was highly skeptical about the likelihood of a community of sufficient horsepower coalescing around it and carrying forward Doug Cutting’s foundational work. However, with IBM and other smaller commercial players like Attivio, Palantir, i2, Lucid Imagination, and others both using and contributing to the codebase, plus continuing contributions from search “independents”, I think the skepticism about critical mass and future support can be laid to rest.
I see some companies playing what I call the “open source card”. A couple of examples are IBM and Oracle. IBM uses Lucene/Solr in OmniFind 9.1, and Oracle bought Sun Microsystems and then MySQL. Won’t that confuse enterprise customers?
The trend in IT is toward more open source software, not less. First it was accepted that common resources like the Linux operating system and the Apache Web Server and the Mozilla browser were fine alternatives for the enterprise. Then we saw open source databases like MySQL and others, and multiple content management systems like Alfresco, Drupal and many more. So it’s not surprising that we now have successful open source search in Lucene/Solr and that commercial companies who utilize search as a component, and even those that sell search-based applications, would want to take advantage of the strength of these products both for themselves and for their customers.
I am interested in Lucene/Solr but I also track Drupal, Hadoop, and other open source projects. What are benefits you see in open source software?
The benefits of using Lucene/Solr are not hard to enumerate: rapid time-to-market, high-level functionality, flexibility and customization, low entry level cost, positive future outlook for technology evolving with the state of the art.
I agree. But the reason there is proprietary software is to deliver a solution with “one throat to choke.” What are the drawbacks of open source software where no one may be responsible for a code fix, a new function, or a code widget?
The drawbacks include: enhancements on a community timetable only, potentially expensive customization, requirement for advanced skills in-house or near-at-hand, delivered functionality will trail the truly cutting edge search software specialist firms, and system life costs can become significant.
When I think of IDC I think of commercial software. With this open source “revolution” on display in the promotion for the Lucene Revolution Conference and the stepped up marketing of the conference sponsor, Lucid Imagination, something is happening and it may not be the traditional enterprise play. When someone asks you why you don’t use a commercial search solution, what do you tell them?
I believe that for many search problems in the enterprise, the smart approach is to select the tool that gets the job done with the least delay and at the most reasonable investment level. More and more frequently, open source search software is becoming the tool of choice.
Wow it looks like your phone is going to jump off the table.
Right, I need to get back.
How do people contact you?
Your readers can get me by sending an email to hreynolds at idc dot com.
Stephen E Arnold, August 18, 2010
Sponsored post. Okay?
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