Apple and Hypothetical Text Book Killing
January 18, 2012
000Have you ever tried to search a text book? Doesn’t compute. The books are either not online, online but in a different edition from the one in my possession, or the content is partially represented so precision and recall are a joke.
I read “An Industry Insider Explains Why Apple Is Going To Have A Hard Time Revolutionizing The Textbook Business”, assuming that I was on board with the analysis from a digital textbook company guru.
Wrong.
The key point in the article in my opinion is expressed in this passage:
Historically, textbook companies dabble, before they jump in with both feet.
I generally agree with the notion that Apple does not support multiple formats and that the iPad is going to be the go-to device. Android, not so much.
My view is that there are three factors which are likely to conspire to create challenges for both Apple and text book publishers.
First, online courses are proliferating. The course material is a mess, but it is available to students. Professors and curriculum creators have to get in gear to fix up or migrate their existing online resources to Apple’s new tool. My view is that the baloney that is now available is going to remain pretty much as it is. Change is not the problem of publishers. Education from top to bottom resist change.
Second, one can talk about ease of use, but for a person without knowledge about text books and text material creation, no tool is going to be slam dunk easy. In order to dunk, one has to reach the rim, and I think that most content creators who wish to be text book publishers are going to shoot two handed set shots. Not the stuff of championship rings.
Third, the idea that a text book an be a multi media experience is an interesting one. The problem is that it is expensive to create a plain Jane text book. Toss in some nifty graphics for math or physics, dig up snappy illustrations for the course on the 19th Century English Novel, or just make geography come alive. Guess what happens to costs. Those costs make a plain Jane text book look like a real bargain.
I look forward to the Apple tools. A revolution is coming, but I don’t think Apple, specialty publishers, or the Titantics of the text book world will man the barricades. And search. Not on the radar.
Stephen E Arnold, January 18, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
JackBe: Data Fusion
January 17, 2012
Founded in 2002 by brothers Luis and Jacob Derechin, JackBe was originally an AJAX widget company. At the demand of its customers, the company centered its product offering around an enterprise mashup server that supports the user-driven ad-hoc integration of data. The company was cited as a “Next-Gen BI” technology by Forrester Research, Inc. in its March 2011 “Trends 2011 And Beyond: Business Intelligence” report.
JackBe’s real-time business intelligence platform, Presto, allows users to combine data from any enterprise application, as well as data from the cloud to compose apps and dashboards that are publishable to portals, the web, spreadsheets, and mobile devices. The platform is organized around Presto Hub, which provides a single point of sign-on for JackBe’s mashup development editors, governance tools for administrators, and application storefront.
The company’s Presto Enterprise Mashup Server provides service virtualization that solves business problems and allows users and developers secure and consolidated access to disparate data from internal services, external services, and application databases. Presto Mashup Composers and Presto Mashup Connectors feature tools that enable business and technical users to create mashups. JackBe also offers Transparency 2.0, a solution for data feeds and data widgets for state and local government’s citizen-facing websites, and Mashup Sites for SharePoint, an intelligence solution that provides SharePoint 2007/2010 business users with real-time visual web-part-based apps and interactive dashboards.
To help users store, organize, and share mashups and apps, JackBe developed an app store framework in the third iteration of Presto. The apps are portable and can feed data into Excel and run standalone, on dashboards, on mobile devices, or in SharePoint.
Customers include the US Air Force, the US Army, NASA, Elsevier, Random House, Qualcom, GE Energy, and Accenture and illustrate the broad appeal of the platform. Competitors include Zapatec, IBM, and mashup tools provided by online service providers such as Google and Yahoo.
One observation: Our efforts to contact the company have been routinely ignored or pushed to a telemarketer. Your mileage may vary.
Rita Safranek, January 17, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: Is SharePoint the Best Web Content Management Platform?
January 17, 2012
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of SharePoint Hosting Options
January 17, 2012
A SharePoint installation is a grand undertaking, with two basic options: on-site installation or the cloud. Both options have pros and cons, and Gina Montgomery weighs them all in, “SharePoint Decisions: To Host or Not to Host?”
Montgomery sums up the issue:
Have you been scratching your head over the potential infrastructure investment that you’ll incur with your upcoming SharePoint Farm deployment? Are you feeling a sense of bewilderment over how you’ll have full control of your SharePoint environment if it’s not on premise? Or, perhaps you’ve been perplexed with how you’ll manage the around-the-clock IT support and overhead costs that come with the 24/7 monitoring and the recapitulation of OS upgrades and patches in your on premise environment. Well, the good news is that you’re not alone.
Montgomery does a good job of sizing up both options. While an on-site hosting for one organization might be best, another organization might choose to go with the cloud. She urges that each organization’s decision will be unique, based upon what suits their needs most effectively. However, we would like to throw out another option. There are third-party vendors that can meet an organization’s enterprise needs while also simplifying their hosting needs.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze offers different scalable options depending on an organization’s size and needs. Read more in, “Three Configurations for Dynamic Scalability and Deployment.”
In enterprise search, quality, usability and style are as important as relevancy of results and performance to engage your users right from the start. Let’s take a look at typical scale-out scenarios that become relevant when implementing enterprise environments with Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
The entry goes on to describe the customization options available via Fabasoft Mindbreeze depending upon the scale and scope of the client. Ranging from an installation that utilizes one single Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance, all the way up to a cloud installation, every organization will be able to have their storage needs met. The most useful part of this type of third-party installation is that Fabasoft will work with you to ensure that your bases are covered, while also planning for the future.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 17, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Europe Sees Growth in Advanced Managment Solutions
January 17, 2012
Economic growth is few and far between these days, but management technology is one of the bright spots. As discussed in “PAM and PLM Emerge as Indispensable Advanced Management Solutions in Highly Competitive European Industrial Markets, Finds Frost & Sullivan” management technology is no longer a luxury, it is now a necessity.
Successful companies rely on PAM to ensure “the safety and process reliability of an enterprise,” while PLM “helps in accelerating new product design and development.” Together, theses advanced management solutions are essential to European manufacturers to “achieve a sustainable enterprise framework for the 21st century.”
European Advanced Management Solutions Market, finds that the market earned revenues of €300.9 million and €2640.7 million for PAM and PLM, respectively, in 2010. It is estimated that the market value of PAM and PLM will reach €506.6 and €4331.4 million, respectively, in 2017.
PAM and PLM growth “in Europe will depend on the standards and definitions of future enterprise software.”
A few outstanding technology companies are reaching worldwide success. Inforbix is one of them. They have revolutionized the way the global manufacturing industry finds, re-uses, and shares product data. Companies like Inforbix are the reason for such lofty predictions and such a bright future for advanced management technologies.
Jennifer Wensink, January 17, 2011
Protected: Make SQL Better than Ever for SharePoint
January 16, 2012
Inteltrax: Top Stories, January 9 to January 14
January 16, 2012
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, specifically, the fluctuating relationship between economics and big data analytics.
Starting off was our story, “Financial Analytics Will Be Big Competition in New Year” which predicts 2012 will be the year that the financial industry straightens itself out via analytics. We can only hope we’re right.
The curious case of “As Italian Economy Flounders Analytics Flourishes” shows how some Italian big data firms are finding a lot of business while its government and economy collapse around it.
In America, we spotted a trend in “Data Scientist Jobs on the Rise” that shows while a lot of industries aren’t hiring, big data is opening its doors to more and more workers.
Economics is a growing, mutating beast, that’s no news. But the impact analytics is having across the globe on the bottom line is helping tame that beast in unsuspecting ways. Keep tuned in to discover all the ways we see these amazing connections happening.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting www.inteltrax.com
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax.
January 16, 2012
Playing King of the Hill with ERP and PLM
January 16, 2012
Lately with all the talk in regards to big data and different types of data some misconceptions have been popping up with frequency. One issue which troubled the Arena blogger, Alyssa Sittig, is the misuse of PLM and ERP software as discussed in the article, Cutting Corners 101: Forcing ERP to do PLM’s job.
To make sense of the article a basic understanding of PLM and ERP is due. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) refers to the managing of all design functions and data whereas Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) manages business functions. These two obviously overlap making the integration of the two necessary to a good data management system. Some PLM and ERP systems, independently, claim to handle both functions with one software program.
It is tempting, explains the article, to fall into the trap of cutting corners to maximize savings and use a PLM or ERP program expecting it to do both, but the article reminds the business owner, make sure it is done right. As the article summarizes,
“ERP and PLM systems provide the highest level of efficiency when integrated together. Because PLM is intended to manage the development of your product and ERP is intended to manage the resource planning of your finalized design, it makes sense to start with a PLM system. After all, it’s a waste to plan out the resources for a product design that is still undergoing revisions.”
This article gets at the root of an even deeper problem afflicting companies – competition between departments (and software) for reasons other than the betterment of the company and definitely not in the spirit of cooperation. To compete in today’s market companies need new data management solutions that eliminate redundancy and waste.
Catherine Lamsfuss, January 16, 2012
Quick Fixes for the Daily SharePoint Environment
January 16, 2012
Shortcomings in the SharePoint environment are plentiful, comprising a large portion of the enterprise internet chatter. We are always on the lookout for good tips and tools, hoping that it will improve the quality of life for many a user. CMS Wire devotes some attention to the topic in, “Lowering the Bar: 5 Information Management Quick Fixes to Improve Your SharePoint Environment.”
The author describes how he hopes his simple tips might improve the usability of SharePoint and limit wasted search time:
Let’s dive in to what I’ve found to be the most effective ways to improve a SharePoint environment through changing how end-users work with documents on a daily basis. These are not technically complex, but . . . they require a commitment from end-users to spend an additional 15-30 seconds during the document creation, upload or check-in process. And although we all know that users are notoriously reluctant to spend any extra time at all during these activities, if you frame these in terms of the time folks waste looking for documents they can’t find . . . you stand half a chance of getting folks on board for at least one of these — and doing even just one of these consistently will have a huge impact on the overall quality of your SharePoint environment.
He goes on to advise beginning document names with the file type, organizing top-level folders, and using comment fields for checking in documents, as well as a few others. Let’s bring some attention to the main idea proposed by the author. In order to avoid wasting time in SharePoint, the user must be trained to spend a bit of additional time on the front end. This is understandable, but it comes across as a workaround. We like solutions that are intuitive and timesaving all on their own. One we particularly like for this reason is Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Read more about their intuitive approach:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise finds every scrap of information within a very short time, whether document, contract, note, e-mail or calendar entry, in intranet or internet, person- or text-related. The software solution finds all required information, regardless of source, for its users. Get a comprehensive overview of corporate knowledge in seconds without redundancy or loss of data.
More and more organizations are turning to third-party solutions for a better enterprise experience. Check out Fabasoft Mindbreeze and see if it might meet your organization’s information storage and retrieval needs.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 16, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Inforbix: A New Mobile Search Service for CAD and Product Data
January 16, 2012
Beyond Search recognizes that mobile applications are on the rise and people are moving their business to devices that are as flexible as they are. However, our team notices that this trend leaves a lot of people confused about how to deal with the excess of data that is available in the world of mobile applications. Search systems that navigate the chaos are often difficult to use or are simply nonexistent.
Boston-based Inforbix is responding to the rising issue. The company develops intelligent apps for CAD and product data access and is rolling out an iPad mobile application that allows customers to search engineering data anywhere, anytime.
Inforbix is a software company founded in 2012 that addresses the excess of product data within manufacturing companies. The company strives to develop software solutions and apps to address specific data trends and improve productivity. Inforbix is currently a cloud service accessed by web browser and assists customers in finding and sharing product data companywide.
Inforbix products work together with Product Data Management systems that may already be in place at organizations and connect companywide product data. Smaller companies without PDM systems can find an affordable alternative with Inforbix.
The new iPad app is the first mobile application release by Inforbix. The app is powered by InforBix’s semantic technology, which connects structured and unstructured related product data. This link allows users to find and access product data quickly on-the-go, while still providing correct and thorough information that is crucial to efficiency and productivity.
The service is cloud-based and requires no data migration or maintenance. The app can also access multiple file types and addresses searching and accessing product data, as well as other product data tasks such as organizing and presenting data patterns. The app is easy to use and requires no training or prior experience to use.
Chief Executive Officer Oleg Shilovistsky speaks on the topic of the mobile app release in the PR News Release:
“There’s lots of data everywhere. Customers are asking ‘How can I access it all with a single solution?’ Enter Inforbix, and the new iPad app will take Inforbix, a fresh new approach to find, engage with, and administer product data in manufacturing companies, a giant step forward in accessibility.”
The software is simple for companies to employ and is an intelligent solution to sorting through the endless product data that is available. The app can be demoed by pointing to http://www.inforbix.com/demo. Current Inforbix customers can already begin using the iPad app, which is available for free on the Apple App Store. New users can register with Inforbix to enable the app and begin accessing company product data.
At Beyond Search, we applaud companies that are focusing on creatively solving the issue of excess data and are impressed with Inforbix’s move to mobile. The future of technology is going fluid and companies need to remain accessible in the transition.
Andrea Hayden, January 16, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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