MaxxCAT Claws into the Search Appliance Market
September 19, 2011
A news item, “Strengthen Your Enterprise Search with a Highly Optimized Search Appliance from MaxxCAT,” focuses on MaxxCAT, a competitor to Google Search and Thunderstone Search appliances. we learned:
No matter what size or style of business that you have, MaxxCAT can offer a solution for your enterprise search that is easily scalable as your data storage and recovery needs grow. In most cases, upgrading is as simple as adding another appliance to your rack mount.
According to the MaxxCAT website, the Pittsburgh based company was founded in 2007, a relative newcomer to the world of enterprise search. They claim to provide the highest performing search solutions at the lowest price points in the industry. The story asserts:
MaxxCAT’s product line has grown from a single high performance machine, the original SB-250, to a comprehensive line of high availability, high performance, low cost solutions that address some of the leading edge requirements of today’s search industry.
The prices are certainly competitive, and the line-up of offered products is diverse. While not yet the top player in the market, MaxxCAT could certainly move up the ranks as efficient but affordable search solutions are sought in the current sobering economic climate. Beyond Search has a soft spot in its heart for Pittsburgh-based firms. Our founder, Stephen E Arnold, attended Duquesne University while indexing Latin sermons and then he and his partners sold The Point (Top 5% of the Internet) to Lycos more than 15 years ago. Hilly place, however.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 19, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Google Innovation Continues Despite Google Labs Closure
September 19, 2011
Google made its name in online search and continues to lead the pack. But even those who don’t prefer Google for search have to admire the company’s devotion to innovation. Google Labs has been Google’s innovation showroom, but is sadly slated to be closed as featured in, “5 Other Google Labs That Will Help To Keep You Informed About Google Developments.”
Google recently announced that it is putting the padlock on Google Labs, the experimental section from where many groundbreaking ideas (yup, even Gmail and Google Reader) spewed forth. The recent announcement did not shed light on the specific closure date or the fate of each product that’s still gestating there. So, until the last proverbial nail is hit on the coffin, you can still traipse around signs that say – Shh! Men at work.
If you visit Google Labs today, you will see notices next to many of the features stating that they will either be phased out within a certain time frame, or graduated out of labs and folded into other Google features. Take some time to read the article and catch up on some of Google Labs latest features. And before it’s too late, visit Google Labs and admire some of the innovative features offered there. But cost cutting is cost cutting, innovative or not.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 19, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Protected: SharePoint People Picker
September 19, 2011
New Semantic Features Raise Search Engine Bar
September 19, 2011
Just as Google is dropping juicy hints of what is next to increase the search engine’s usefulness, a new search technology has been released by Wellington company, SYL Enterprise Search.
The article, Wellington Developer Refines Word Search Tool, on Computer World, explains how the new search engine is different from the rest out in the market. With more and more data on the web, rather online or in a company’s files, the article reports that those searching for information spend 25% of their time sifting through the tons of information at their fingertips. With so much money being lost to non-productivity, companies are constantly looking for a new and improved search engine to manage massive amounts of data.
Previously, some great search models have come out, but either allow too much access to sensitive information (major security risk!) or rely on user specificity when searching. SYL Enterprise Search has proposed an answer to both these problems in the form of their new search engine. The article explains the new product as,
The patented technology allows content to be processed as language, not just words occurring in documents. The engine, known as SYLSemantics, automatically understands synonyms and relationships, allowing it to consider a much broader portion of content when evaluating a search request.
While this technology is aimed at businesses and institutions, not the average Googler at home, it does raise the bar in search engine usefulness. As advances in technology continue search engines like Google must be at the top of their game to continue captivating audiences. Whether Google will, indeed, create a new generation of search is yet to be seen, but what is known is that the industry leader must produce something more productive that what currently is available if they want to continue to lead the search engine Olympics.
Catherine Lamsfuss, September 19, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Google Bing Search Share Factoid
September 18, 2011
I read “With Bartz Gone – Wither Bing?” and noted this factoid:
According to Web analytics tracker Net Applications, Microsoft’s Bing search engine share of 1.18 percent globally combined with Yahoo’s share (running Bing infrastructure) of 5.63 percent share still only comes in at a meager 6.81 percent total compared to Google’s 92.04 percent.
Interesting number particularly in light of the European Commission’s interest in Google. Is the Google share of the search market in Europe similar to the US data? Is Google’s share of European community nation search higher?
Stephen E Arnold, September 18, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Roll Out In App Search
September 18, 2011
Customized search engines are a luxury that most businesses cannot afford. With the InApp software, developers, integrators, providers, and manufacturers can benefit from Fabasoft Mindbreeze technology with very little integration effort. Details are given in, “Using InApp to Search-enable your Applications.”
Fabasoft Mindbreeze InApp provides a platform that runs under both Linux and Windows. It can be integrated in applications using whatever language, but providing samples for one of the following programming languages out of the box: Java, C# or C++. Open interfaces and multiple configuration options leave room for adapting to individual requirements.
The software development kit can be downloaded and tutorials are provided. Developers find that “Fabasoft Mindbreeze InApp provides a fast and reliable search experience for them and a number of dynamic and access-checked search facets based on the extracted and retrieved metadata, that help the user to refine their searches.”
This is an interesting idea, allowing developers to implement customized search into businesses where otherwise it would not be practical.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 18, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Flock of Articles Provides Search Summary
September 18, 2011
Chris Dale’s rundown of the latest tech news is quite useful. “A Flock of Articles on Computer-Assisted Document Review,” will quickly get you up to date on recent developments. Half a dozen articles are highlighted, with commentary provided for each.
Here’s Dale’s commentary:
Look next at an article in Legal Technology News by Farrah Pepper, of counsel at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher called Robot Review: Will predictive coding win the trust of the courts? Like Judge Peck in the speech reported in my article, Farrah Pepper reviews some of the cases and learned papers.
The issue comes to the surface as Recommind applied for a patent for its predictive coding technology. He asserts:
Predictive coding software providers claim they can automate much of the document review process, with human guidance. Documents can be prioritized into likely order of importance, typically based on a “learning set” of documents coded up front by a subject matter expert, they explain. That essentially creates a rebuttable presumption of relevance for other coding that can be tested via sampling and revised if necessary. Then, the argument goes, the attorneys leading the case can dig into the substance a whole lot faster.
Keep an eye on the matter as it continues to develop. The courts will have to decide on the issue one way or another, as technology will continue to push.
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 18, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Ami Nets Ofqual
September 17, 2011
Short honk: Ami, an enterprise intelligence software company, announced that it licensed its enterprise software to Ofqual. Ofqual, for my non UK readers, is the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. Ami, earlier this year, released version 6 of its system. The company has moved to new UK offices at St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge. The new offices accommodate a growing UK team and expanding UK customer base, asserts the firm. For more information about Ami, navigate to http://www.amisw.com/en/.
Stephen E Arnold, September 17, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Social Media: Is There a Scare Factor?
September 17, 2011
From the “Do You Need to Be Reminded” Desk: Social media mining is a growing field, one that deals with parsing meaning out of the big data generated by social networks. Valuable to advertisers, but potentially also to employers, law enforcement, and even criminals, this data can generate relevant information about individuals and groups. But how do we know if it’s accurate? Eric Naone explores in, “When Social Media Mining Gets it Wrong.”
…In Las Vegas, at the computer security conference Black Hat, Alessandro Acquisti, an associate professor of information technology and public policy at the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University, showed how a photograph of a person can be used to find his or her date of birth, social security number, and other information by using facial recognition technology to match the image to a profile on Facebook and other websites. Acquisti acknowledges the privacy implications of this work, but he warns that the biggest problem could be the inaccuracy of this and other data-mining techniques.
If the privacy aspect of social media mining doesn’t scare you, the inaccuracy of the technology should. Correlations made from individuals’ social “likes” and comments are weak at best. If companies try to implement usage of big data gleaned from social media, it will no doubt push the issue into political debate in order to prevent misuse and breaches of privacy. Now what about social search? Worth considering?
Emily Rae Aldridge, September 17, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
Vivsimo Embraces Webinars
September 17, 2011
As financial storms rip through the business environment, many search and content processing vendors are looking for more effective ways to generate sales leads and close deals. dtSearch, for example, uses various shareware distribution channels to makes its demonstration system available to potential buyers. We learned that Vivisimo is embracing Webinars; that is, online programs which allow a presenter to “talk to” a number of attendees.
As the workplace is changing to include more and more at-home employees, the sharing of information between companies is also changing. The webinar is being utilized more frequently as proved in two cases as reported in the article, “TMCnet Customer Experience Management Week in Review”, on TMC Net.
Teletech hosted a Webinar called, Creating a Better Customer Experience with At-Home Associates, that focused on the benefits of at-home employees and how companies can often increase customer relations while keeping costs down – a win-win for every company.
Pittsburgh enterprise search software company, Vivisimo also hosted a webinar called, Gaining Customer Insights from Unstructured Data. As Tracey Mustacchio, vice president of marketing at Vivisimo, explained about the webinar (as quoted in the article),
The growth of unstructured data sources forces companies to implement initiatives that leverage the data and empowers customer-facing professionals to hold intelligent conversations with customers. Organizations that are able to capture and utilize knowledge from all customer touch points across the enterprise win.
While there is no doubt that the Webinar is quickly replacing face-to-face physical seminars, it also is a great marketing tool for companies such as Vivisimo. Much like the message Teletech was preaching, any time a company can increase customer relations and keep costs down, everyone wins.
As Fly Conferencing, a leader in Webinar services, points out to companies interested in webinars as a marketing tool, “Webinars that provide free information of interest to your market segment are the most effective way to creating a solid bond of trust between you and your email list. This trust will make it easier to market your products to those individuals later.”
We will report on other cost effective alternatives to attending conferences, printing flashy brochures, and traditional advertising programs.
Catherine Lamsfuss, September 17, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
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