The Evolving Lingo for Enterprise Search
February 24, 2011
We live in an era where acronyms have supplanted sentences, where grammar is abused more than drugs, alcohol and this nation’s history combined. Is it so surprising that our software struggles with the nuances of language?
One particular strain of tech that has been wrestling with the written symbols so often taken for granted is what is known as enterprise search, or by the arguably preferential moniker, behind-the-firewall search (BTFS). In an article appearing on DZ.com, thirty year knowledge management veteran Lynda Moulton shares her views on the subject of both its relevancy now and in years to come.
She begins by calling attention to the fact that within the gaggle, the prevailing attitude toward BTFS is one of dismissal despite its remaining on the table. Taking a contrarian stance, Ms. Moulton points out that the necessity of accessing and sorting data in order to accomplish tasks for personal as well as monetary gain remains a constant. She sees a field in which developers have awakened to the numerous applications of BTFS and the potential for profit. They are aware of the need for an expansion in range as well as adaptability based on an understanding of existing search platforms. The push to problem solve appears evident, most notably in the use of algorithms designed specifically to parse content.
Ms. Moulton declares that meaningful search technologies could not exist without “rich linguistically-based technologies”. In closing she remarks:
“Language complexities are challenging and even vexing. Enterprises will be finding solutions to leverage what they know only when they put human resources into play to work with the lingo of their most valuable domains”.
We are still not sure exactly what is meant when some talk about enterprise search. The confusion may be a consequence of vendors trying to turn older technology into a system for the Facebook Age.
Sarah Rogers, February 24, 2011
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i2 and Palantir: Resolved Quietly
February 24, 2011
“Palantir’s Third Black Eye: i2 Lawsuit Settled” reported that the legal dispute between two high profile firms, i2 Ltd and Palantir, in the next generation content processing sector will not go to court. Wise move. Both firms have a public face, but much of each firm’s work is done for government entities that operate out of the spot light.
The story focused on the problems that Palantir has faced in recent weeks. These are interesting, but I found the following passage the one with the payload:
i2’s original complaint, however, makes claims that are embarrassing to both companies. The short version: According to i2, Palantir employee Shyam Sankar obtained i2 software representing himself as a principal of SRS Enterprises, a company registered under the names of his parents in Florida. Sankar then allegedly proceeded to analyze i2’s software and use the results to develop tools to import data from i2’s software for use in Palantir’s analytical tools. (For its part, Palantir responded by alleging that i2 had “unclean hands” because it purportedly used information about Palantir’s products obtained through a company i2 acquired.)
For me the issue is the notion of keeping the ball in bounds. Certain types of clients require vendors to operate according to some very specific rules of conduct. When a company gets out of bounds, the other players grouse. When a company goes out of bounds multiple times, the other players continue to grouse, but the major impact is that the company breaking the rules may be kicked out of the game.
There’s not much information about the terms of the settlement. Hopefully the companies playing in the high stakes game of next generation information processing will observe the rules, avoid legal hassles, and make headlines with innovations. My advice? Give Digital Reasoning a close look. Great technology, visualizations, analytics, and rule following.
Stephen E Arnold, February 24, 2011
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Protected: Proofpoint and Clearwell Blend Their Clouds
February 24, 2011
Google and Oracle Dust Up: A Googley Patent Move
February 23, 2011
After several months with nary a shot fired, Google is finally resigned to march to Oracle’s battlefield. Florian Meuller of the FOSS Patents blog recently updated his ongoing coverage on the lawsuit twixt the search titans. The latest development is Google’s request for reexamination of at least five of seven Oracle asserted patents; in addition, Google ‘would like’ the charges of copyright violations removed from the case.
Google has yet to initiate any legal retaliation, a show that in the time passed since the initial announcement of grievances, the company likely has not found any patents of its own to leverage against Oracle. Couple this with what appears to be a strategy to tackle the copyright issue quickly. Meuller explains that “The patent part of the lawsuit is clearly the largest part of Google’s problem. I guess what really has Google concerned about the copyright part of the case is that Google wouldn’t want to be in a situation where it’s found to infringe patents as well as copyrights and the question of damages for willful patent infringement comes up. In that context, the copyright part would really hurt the credibility of Google’s claims that it never intended to infringe the patents-in-suit.”
What the facts suggest is that Google is breaking a sweat and thus developing a strategy to protect its Android revenues. The two search industry giants certainly have no shortages of lawyers or resources, indicating there may be a long road lined with several melees ahead. Considering the contenders are long time market rivals, it will be interesting to watch the courtroom clash unfold regardless of the eventual victor due to the impact this ruling will wield (is this Oracle vs. Google or Oracle vs. open source?). I think it prudent at this juncture to recall the wise and relevant words of Bertrand Russell: “War does not determine who is right — only who is left”.
The only problem with this tactic is that the judge disallowed it.
Sarah Rogers, February 23, 2011
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dtSearch Dot Net
February 23, 2011
TechWhack posted a press release announcing, “Announcing New dtSearch® Product Line Release with Native .NET 4 / 64-Bit SDK.” dtSearch is a leading supplier of enterprise and developer text retrieval and file conversion software. They released version 7.66 of their product line, their star feature is the 64 bit .Net SDK for their search engine:
“The .NET 4 SDK covers the Spider API for indexing local and remote, static and dynamic web-based content, encompassing both public Internet and secure Intranet data. The .NET 4 release also has a sample application for the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. And the new SDK offers performance enhancements for faceted searching involving millions of document metadata tags or database records.”
Other features include are a terabyte indexer–products can index over a terabyte of text in a single index, cloud applications–.Net 4 code to be used with the Ms Azure cloud platform, Spider–an application that adds websites to a data collection and it can cross multiple integrated software, built-in proprietary file parsers/converters–covers a wide range of file types, and over twenty-five search options/foreign language–these include federated, special forensics features, full-text, and fielded data as well as Unicode for right-to-left languages.
Whitney Grace, February 23, 2011
Lucid Works with Solr/Lucene
February 23, 2011
Lucid Imagination unveiled its enterprise search solution LucidWorks Enterprise October of last year. This platform is designed to enhance the Apache Solr/Lucene search engine experience by improving upon its operability thru the added components most missed in the open source application.
It also simplifies the GUI to make the software more approachable to the novice. The pricing structure seems to be garnering good reception, including a free downloadable version for development, test integration, demo and instructional use. There are also a several subscription packages to choose from if you require more support.
Lucid Imagination says:
“With the combination of speed, flexibility, application development depth and compelling subscription prices, LucidWorks Enterprise gives you unprecedented control over search. Smart defaults for developers and admins, innovative query parsing, application deployment and integration interfaces, security policies, faceted search navigation, more-like-this, automated user-driven results optimization, local search, and more, all combine to give your customers and users fast, high-quality search.”
I was pointed to an introduction to LucidWorks here. If you are looking for something more than a bare bones rundown, I would suggest the Lucid Imagination product page as well.
Sarah Rogers, February 23, 2011
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X1 Management Change
February 23, 2011
We have noted a number of management changes in the search and content sector.
Now X1 Technologies has appointed a new leader for their eDiscovery division. X1 Technologies Appoints John Patzakis as President of eDiscovery, citing his extensive background in eDiscovery and corporate compliance as well as his knowledge of the law.
“I am pleased to welcome someone as accomplished as John to the X1 team,” said John Waller, CEO of X1 Technologies. “John’s background as a senior software executive coupled with his deep understanding of compliance and discovery law make him a perfect fit to lead our efforts in the eDiscovery market.”
X1’s eDiscovery Search Suite allows users to search data stored in over 500 different files types and applications. This allows for quick retrieval of electronically stored information (ESI) for early case assessment. X1’s support of social media applications will be released this quarter. In Patzakis, X1 has found a leader with the experience and skill to push them forward in the eDiscovery sector.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 243, 2011
Protected: Taming SharePoint
February 23, 2011
EasyAsk Puts Shopaholics in the Store Cart
February 22, 2011
Fueling shopping addictions just got better with EasyAsk eCommerce Edition Version 12. PR Newswire alerts us about the new development: “Shop-aholics Enabled by EasyAsk eCommerce Software; 72 Million Transactions Represent Billions in Sales as v12 Introduced.” EasyAsk is known for its natural language technology, lowest cost of total ownership, and the best-value for enterprise-class search and enterprising. These features plus new additions enhance the eCommerce shopping experience.
The new features in EasyAsk Version 12 are: search engine optimization, search auto-complete, NetSuite integration, product review attributes, and integration with product recommendations engines. We learned:
“The EasyAsk platform has tens of millions of dollars in R&D investment to-date and we have a strong commitment to our customers and the market in continuing our industry leadership position,” said Craig Bassin, CEO of EasyAsk. “EasyAsk eCommerce Edition Version 12 continues to make our software easier to use while providing new e-commerce search and merchandising techniques which customers can take advantage of.”
EasyAsk Version 12 are compatible with older incarnations and can easily be updated. The online marker continues to grow and this is where more businesses will head in the future. I question whether using Santa Claus as a professional reference is the best idea, though.
Whitney Grace, February 22, 2011
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Top Web Search Engines Analyzed
February 22, 2011
As the pool of internet search engines grows, so does the need to know which is best. “Best” can be based upon a number of factors: recall, precision, speed, etc. The people at AnalyzeThis.ru have developed a tool for comparing the top search engines.
They state,
“In order to independently assess the search quality, we developed a set of analyzers, one for each type of search queries . . . We measure the quality of navigational and informational search, the percentage of pornography among the pages found by a search engine, etc.”
Google is predictably the overall winner. Separate results are provided for each individual analyzer measured. This tells us that people are searching for a way to independently analyze the quality of search engines; however, the endeavor is subjective and objectivity is hard to produce. A Russian firm is behind the research and although the webpage is well translated, it would be useful to know in which language the research was conducted as it may have an impact on results.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 22, 2011
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