Hardware and Software Requirements for SharePoint 2013 Explained
August 24, 2012
In his post, “SharePoint 2013: A Look at Hardware, Software and Other Requirements,” Wictor Wilen explains some requirements users should expect with the upcoming SharePoint 2013 release. Wilen summarizes:
A few new requirements and increased hardware resources compared to SharePoint 2010. But this is all about planning – you cannot just take the requirement and apply that onto your SharePoint 2013 farm, you need to evaluate your farm design and test it. Over the next few months I expect to see some great design samples including metrics from MSIT and of course gain experience from the 2013 engagements starting now…
As far as operating systems, SharePoint 2013 will support Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2012. Database servers, .NET Framwork, and hardware requirements are also discussed. If you are thinking to migrate or adopt the new release, you may want to check out Wilen’s summary as you make your plans.
And while SharePoint adoption continues to grow and the platform develops, you may want to consider a cost-effective solution available now to boost your farm. A comprehensive third party application worth a second look is the suite of solutions available from Fabasoft Mindbreeze. With clear navigation and a self-explanatory interface, Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise facilitates findability. No install solutions are also available, including Mindbreeze InSite.
Philip West, August 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
The Wrath of the Algorithm
August 24, 2012
What if we imagined an algorithm as a disgruntled worker? The Washington Post gives us “The Tale of the Rogue Algorithm,” a story which does just that. Prompted by the news that recent stock market turbulence was caused by an errant automated stock trading program, opinion writer Alexandra Petri imagines what circumstances might drive some poor algorithm to stoop to such disruption. She writes:
“For days, a sense of vague anxiety had been dogging at this algorithm. Trading was fulfilling, sure, and things with Sheryl were off to a great start. . . .
“But the algorithm couldn’t shake the nerves. Watching the Olympics, it had been struck by the feeling that something was missing from its life. For no reason whatsoever, it had begun sobbing uncontrollably during a commercial for Charmin Ultra.
“What was missing, exactly? It was not sure. Algorithms did most of the trading on Wall Street, but where was the recognition? What had it gotten out of its years of service? It still lived in a slow computer in a bad part of town. A PC, as a matter of fact.”
The yarn continues in this fashion, ending with the algorithm’s impulsive, out-of-control, 30-minute trading run. All in great fun, but the spoof points to a very real concern—we simply can’t trust in the math-driven utopia some folks would like to make the norm. Please, let’s keep the humans. As supervisors, at least.
Cynthia Murrell, August 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Measuring Emotion in the Enterprise
August 24, 2012
We thought SharePoint incorporated social functions. We also thought Fast Search offered sentiment analysis via Lexalytics‘ technology. More must be needed, since CIO now declares, “Yammer Lets Organizations Measure Emotions in Enterprise Social Networks.” The write up informs us:
“Yammer is adding functionality to its cloud-based enterprise social networking (ESN) software that lets organizations gauge the types of emotions expressed in employee posts.
“The new capability will be provided via an integration with Kanjoya, whose Crane software is designed to identify and analyze ‘sentiment’ in text, Yammer said on Thursday.
“Yammer customers who sign up for this feature will have a new Crane dashboard in their Yammer admin console that will describe the prevalent mood in reactions from employees in the ESN about specific topics.”
The example given—use the software to analyze emails and other communications to determine how employees feel about a recent benefits change.Crane tracks about 80 different emotions; it allows administrators to search by keywords, narrow reactions by office or department, and create graphical representations of their workers’ feelings.
I know such a tool can be more efficient than simply asking employees for their opinions, especially in large organizations. Still, I just can’t ignore the Orwellian aftertaste left by such innovations. Maybe it’s just me.
Cynthia Murrell, August 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Linguamatics and the US FDA
August 24, 2012
Linguamatics recently announced that the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and research (CDER) is set to use their I2E platform, which is the company’s interactive data mining and extraction software across CDER’s laboratory research relating to drug safety.
The write-up “Linguamatics’ I2E Text Mining Platform Chosen by FDA” provides more details about why the text mining company was selected by the CDER:
“I2E’s NLP-based querying capabilities, coupled with its scalability and flexibility, mean it is ideally suited to answering many challenging, high value questions in life sciences and healthcare by unlocking knowledge buried in the scientific literature and other textual information. Rather than just retrieving documents, I2E can rapidly identify, extract, synthesize and analyze specific, relevant facts and relationships, such as those between genes and diseases or compounds and side effects. Customers include nine of the top ten global pharmaceutical companies.”
What’s great about the I2E platform is that unlike other text mining systems, I2E provides businesses with full control over what information is to be extracted, what query definitions are, and the kind of output. With it, users can obtain information in a short period of time even from large documents.
Again, another company from the science sector has opted to use Linguamatics’ I2E platform. CDER joins Pfizer, Selventa, AstraZeneca, and others from the company’s roster of prestigious clients. Linguamatics has truly evolved from being a small player to being the industry leader in NLP-based text mining within just a few years. We’re excited to see what the company will become two to three years from now.
Lauren Llamanzares, August 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Microsoft Issues Exchange Sharepoint Related Security Advisory
August 24, 2012
Possible a first in the industry, Microsoft Security Research Center published Microsoft Security Advisory (2737111), which describes how possible vulnerabilities in Oracle Outside In libraries affect the WebReady Document Viewing functionality of Microsoft Exchange and FAST Search Server. Oracle also released their own Critical Patch Update Advisory. Here are more details about the security risk:
“The vulnerabilities exist due to the way that files are parsed by the third-party, Oracle Outside In libraries. In the most severe case of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, it is possible under certain conditions for the vulnerabilities to allow an attacker to take control of the server process that is parsing a specially crafted file. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or take any other action that the server process has access to do.”
If you think you may be affected by this, look at this blog post that recommends the workarounds to be done.
Take note that there are 24 other companies – some of them industry giants – that also make use of the said Oracle library. Some of them are IBM, Cisco, Symantec, and McAfee. Hopefully, these companies will soon be able to assess the impact of the said vulnerability on their platforms and issue a security update soon.
Lauren Llamanzares, August 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Mindbreeze InSite Delivers Powerful Search for Computerwelt Austria
August 23, 2012
Collaboration and advanced social technology is inevitable as business gets social. To keep up in the game, boost your Web site with a search feature that connects users to the right information efficiently and effectively every time. To tap into the possibilities consider looking into a third party solution with references to back up their product to complete your search system.
We like Fabasoft Mindbreeze. The Mindbreeze solution:
smoothly integrates itself into your website so that the user doesn’t even realize that Cloud services are working in the background. Furthermore, InSite always knows what a user is interested in. Navigation behavior on the website serves as the basis for recognizing their interests. If the user finds themselves on one of your sub-pages on the topic mobility for example, even at this level Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite still displays further information such as blogs, news, Wikipedia etc. on the relevant topic.
To learn more, check out Computerwelt, Austria’s case study. Here you can read about the task at hand for Computerwelt:A professional internet presence is a quality criterion for a leading IT publication. COMPUTERWELT is published on different websites, such as the company database www.top1001.at/ and the portals www.seitenclicke.at, www.itheads.at and www.it-termine.at. Each week brings more than 300 new articles. The existing search was database-based, static and incapable of displaying semantic connections. With Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite…the user finds relevant information at split-second speed thanks to the program’s semantic capabilities. Moreover, the search is easy to use, intuitive and requires no maintenance effort on the client side.
Check out the full suite of solutions at Mindbreeze to see what works for you.
Philip West, August 23, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Lexalytics and FutureEverything Join Forces to Analyze London Olympics Sentiment
August 23, 2012
To further add to the hype of the London Olympics, text analysis firm Lexalytics has announced that it has partnered with FutureEverything with the goal of analyzing the overall sentiment during the said event. “Lexalytics tracks mood of London Olympics” describes how they’re set on accomplishing this:
“The Amherst-based software business has provided Salience, a multi-lingual text analysis engine that is integrated into systems for media monitoring, analysis and business intelligence, to Emoto, a project by FutureEverything.
… Launched this week, Emoto provides the worldwide mood in response to events that are taking place in London 2012. The project tracks micro-blogging sites such as Twitter for themes that are related to the Olympic Games and then analyzes the messages for content and tone, according to the company.”
The public can then access this information via the Emoto website and through the Android mobile app aptly named Emoto in London.
While we all used to think that emotions and computers just don’t mix, Lexalytics has done a good job of getting a lifeless, emotionless machine quantify some sentiment and draw out meaning from text. Of course, the company is far from perfecting this technology and is currently refining it. But once it does, I’m really excited what sort of big applications will emerge, particularly in the area of mobile tech. I can imagine our phones summarizing our emails for us complete with the action items. What do you think?
Lauren Llamanzares, August 23, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Thunderstone Offers Smooth Transition from Google Mini
August 23, 2012
If you have been using Google Mini as your search appliance of choice, then probably by now you know that you’ve been forcefully exiled. But worry not, Mini refugees. There’s still good news.
Thunderstone, a leading player in search and content processing has announced that they will be offering an upgrade path that will allow Google Mini owners to transition to the Thunderstone Search Appliance smoothly.
The write-up “Thunderstone Provides Special Competitive Upgrade Offer for Google Mini Owners” gives us more details:
“For customers upgrading to the Thunderstone Search Appliance, Thunderstone will honor the remaining warranty and support contract on the Google Mini as an extension to the standard two year support contract on a Thunderstone Search Appliance. In addition Thunderstone will provide assistance in the migration and a 30-day money back guarantee, so that the entire process is painless.”
For a long time, many felt sorry for Thunderstone for having been forced to fight head-on with Google even though they pioneered the search appliance. It’s such a pity that the first runner in the field doesn’t necessarily win. But good thing that it was able to stick around. Now, it even offers a good upgrade package for Google Mini after it was announced that the latter’s production will be discontinued. What a relief for Mini users.
Lauren Llamanzares, August 23, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Blue Washing of IBMs Recent Acquisitions Might Affect Licensing Deals
August 23, 2012
Lately, IBM seems to be on an analytics-buying spree having successfully completed three acquisitions spaced only a month apart. Its latest purchase is Tealeaf Technology, which is a company that focuses on customer behavior analysis and digital customer experience management. Prior that, it was Varicent, which specializes on sales performance and compensation. And before that was Vivisimo, a discovery and data-capture software provider.
But pre-acquisition customers may have a problem with this later on. “IBM’s “Blue Washing” Affects Customers Worldwide – Scott & Scott, LLP Alerts Customers of Potential Licensing Surprises” discusses why:
“…IBM’s recent acquisition of Tealeaf, Vivisimo, and Varicent will likely change existing license agreements with the newly acquired publishers.
There are a number of legal strategies that can be employed when IBM ‘blue washes’ its code and its license agreements. Blue washing is IBM’s term used when IBM releases updated code and changes its licensing metrics for products acquired from other publishers. Once customers upgrade to IBM’s product, it is often too late to negotiate and avoid hefty licensing charges associated with changed licensing metrics…”
Blue washing isn’t an ideal situation for companies who have been using business-critical software under terms that are advantageous to them. But what can they do against IBM? What negotiating power do small companies have versus the blue giant?
Changes in licensing deals by IBM wouldn’t surprise us here at Beyond Search. The only thing left for the affected companies to do is to absorb one of two costs: IBM’s more costly licensing metrics or shifting to other software.
Lauren Llamanzares, August 23, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Samsung in the Hot Seat for Destroying Evidence in Patent Case Against Apple
August 23, 2012
Jamie Condliffe of the GIZMODO blog recently reported on the latest in an ongoing patent infringement case in the article “Judge Sanctions Samsung for Destroying Evidence in Apple Case.”
According to the story, this is not the first time that Samsung has been in the hot seat. Despite the fact that Samsung is accusing Apple of deriving the original design for the iPhone from Sony, the companies accusations may not stand in court because it has a history of discovery abuses and has already been sanctioned four times. In this case, for destroying evidence which makes up part of the case it is fighting against.
Condliffe writes:
“On Wednesday, Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal explained that Sammy had ‘failed to prevent the destruction of relevant evidence’ in the form of company emails, and went on to suggest the company could have done more to preserve them.
As Apple no doubt sat gleefully rubbing its hands in excitement, Samsung was forced to explain its company policy of deleting all company email after just two weeks. But the judge pointed out that Samsung continued to delete emails even after it knew about the litigation—so it should have taken steps to change the policy.”
It looks like Samsung is going to have to come up with a pretty crafty plan to get out of this one.
Jasmine Ashton, August 23, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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