Gartner Wants to Change Its Tint: From Azure to Blue
January 7, 2017
Is it possible for a mid tier consulting firm to change into a blue chip firm with a splurge of money, stock, and PR?
The idea is that there is a hierarchy of consulting firms. At the top are outfits like McKinsey, Bain, BCG, SRI, and a handful of others are blue chip outfits. These outfits deliver the blue ribbon winning bacon to their clients. Then at the bottom of the hierarchy are the drab gray chips held by former middle school teachers and unemployed journalists who embrace freelance consulting. You can find some of these folks at search engine optimization conferences or via gig Web sites. In the middle are consulting firms which are generating revenue and have some clients. These outfits either try to move up to the blue chip sector and compete head to head with the blue chip folks. or they are drifting down to Fiverr.com territory where “services” begin at $5 per job. In the middle are the azure chip outfits. Many of these firms purveying expertise embrace LinkedIn and do their best to become the talk of the town. The talking heads on many TV news programs come from the azure chip brigade.
Why are the color thing and the consulting hierarchy relevant?
Gartner Group, if the information in “IT Research Firm Gartner Is Buying CEB for $2.6 Billion” is on the money, is making a beeline to the paint store. From azure to blue chip with a bit of cash and Moxie.
The write up points out that Gartner is paying $2.6 billion for a services firm. I learned:
Gartner is offering $54 in cash and 0.2284 of its shares for each CEB share. The deal represents a premium of about 25 percent to CEB’s Wednesday close. CEB’s shares were up 16.4 percent at $72.05 in premarket trading, below the implied offer price of $77.25 per share. Gartner’s shares, which closed at $101.79 on Wednesday, were untraded.
Well, that’s a bit underwhelming for shareholders. “Untraded.” Hmmm.
The Washington Post reported that one CEB executive was “excited” by the deal. The CEB top dog is heading for the kennel. The Post noted:
CEB has grown more slowly than Gartner recently, making some investors worry whether the combined company can maintain the double-digit revenue growth rates Gartner has boasted in recent years.
What happens if more of the CEB professionals check out?
Will the respray deliver the growth and revenue Gartner desires? I have no crystal ball, but if there are some show dogs at CEB, why not see if the McKinsey- or Booz Allen-type outfits are hiring. More money and maybe more prestige?
The big question for me is the new blue chip paint going to hold up in the tough business climate?
Stephen E Arnold, January 7, 2017
Study of Search: Weird Results Plus Bonus Errors
December 30, 2016
I was able to snag a copy of “Indexing and Search: A Peek into What Real Users Think.” The study appeared in October 2016, and it appears to be the work of IT Central Station, which is an outfit described as a source of “unbiased reviews from the tech community.” I thought, “Oh, oh, “real users.” A survey. An IDC type or Gartner type sample which although suspicious to me seems to convey some useful information when the moon is huge. Nope. Nope.Unbiased. Nope.
Note that the report is free. One can argue that free does not translate to accurate, high value, somewhat useful information. I support this argument.
The report, like many of the “real” reports I have reviewed over the decades is relatively harmless. In terms of today’s content payloads, the study fires blanks. Let’s take a look at some of the results, and you can work through the 16 pages to double check my critique.
First, who are the “top” vendors? This list reads quite a bit about the basic flaw in the “peek.” The table below presents the list of “top” vendors along with my comment about each vendor. Companies with open source Lucene/Solr based systems are in dark red. Companies or brands which have retired from the playing field in professional search are in bold gray.
| Vendor | Comment |
| Apache | This is not a search system. It is an open source umbrella for projects of which Lucene and Solr are two projects among many. |
| Attivio | Based on Lucene/Solr open source search software; positioned as a business intelligence vendor |
| Copernic | A desktop search and research system based on proprietary technology from the outfit known as Coveo |
| Coveo | A vendor of proprietary search technology now chasing Big Data and customer support |
| Dassault Systèmes | Owns Exalead which is now downgraded to a utility with Dassault’s PLM software |
| Data Design, now Ryft.com | Pitches search without indexing via propriety “circuit module” method |
| Data Gravity | Search is a utility in a storage centric system |
| DieselPoint | Company has been “quiet” for a number of years |
| Expert System | Publicly traded and revenue challenged vendor of a metadata utility, not a search system |
| Fabasoft | Mindbreeze is a proprietary replacement for SharePoint search |
| Discontinued the Google Search Appliance and exited enterprise search | |
| Hewlett Packard Enterprise | Sold its search technology to Micro Focus; legal dispute in progress over alleged fraud |
| IBM Ominifind | Lucene and proprietary scripts plus acquired technology |
| IBM StoredIQ | Like DB2 search, a proprietary utility |
| ISYS Search Software | Now owned by Lexmark and marginalized due to alleged revenue shortfalls |
| Lookeen | Lucene based desktop and Outlook search |
| Lucidworks | Solr add ons with floundering to be more than enterprise search |
| MAANA | Proprietary search optimized for Big Data |
| Microsoft | Offers multiple search solutions. The most notorious are Bing and Fast Search & Transfer proprietary solutions |
| Oracle | Full text search is a utility for Oracle licenses; owns Artificial Linguistics, Triple Hop, Endeca, RightNow, InQuira, and the marginalized Secure Enterprise Search. Oh, don’t forget command line querying via PL/SQL |
| Polyspot, now CustomerMatrix | Now a customer service vendor |
| Siderean Software | Went out of business in 2008; a semantic search outfit |
| Sinequa | Now a Big Data outfit with hopes of becoming the “next big thing” in whatever sells |
| X1 Search | An eternal start up pitching eDiscovery and desktop search with a wild and crazy interface |
What’s the table tell us about “top” systems? First, the list includes vendors not directly in the search and retrieval business. There is no differentiation among the vendors repackaging and reselling open source Lucene/Solr solutions. The listing is a fruit cake of desktop, database, and unstructured search systems. In short, the word “top” does not do the trick for me. I prefer “a list of eclectic and mostly unknown systems which include a search function.”
The report presents 10 bar charts which tell me absolutely nothing about search and retrieval. The bars appear to be a popularity content based on visits to the author’s Web site. Only two of the search systems listed in the bar chart have “reviews.” Autonomy IDOL garnered three reviews and Lookeen one review. The other eight vendors’ products were not reviewed. Autonomy and Lookeen could not be more different in purpose, design, and features.
The report then tackles the “top five” search systems in terms of clicks on the author’s Web site. Yep, clicks. That’s a heck of a yardstick because what percentage of clicks were humans and what percentage was bot driven? No answer, of course.
The most popular “solutions” illustrate the weirdness of the sample. The number one solution is DataGravity, which is a data management system with various features and utilities. The next four “top” solutions are:
- Oracle Endeca – eCommerce and business intelligence and whatever Oracle can use the ageing system for
- The Google Search Appliance – discontinued with a cloud solution coming down the pike, sort of
- Lucene – open source, the engine behind Elasticsearch, which is quite remarkably not on the list of vendors
- Microsoft Fast Search – included in SharePoint to the delight of the integrators who charge to make the dog heel once in a while.
I find it fascinating that DataGravity (1,273) garnered almost 4X the “votes” as Microsoft Fast Search (404). I think there are more than 200 million plus SharePoint licensees. Many of these outfits have many questions about Fast Search. I would hazard a guess that DataGravity has a tiny fraction of the SharePoint installed base and its brand identity and company name recognition are a fraction of Microsoft’s. Weird data or meaningless.
The bulk of the report are comparison of various search engines. I could not figure out the logic of the comparisons. What, for example, do Lookeen and IBM StoredIQ have in common? Answer: Zero.
The search report strikes me as a bit of silliness. The report may be an anti sales document. But your mileage will differ. If it does, good luck to you.
Stephen E Arnold, December 30, 2016
Cacaphones: A Chapbook for the Cursory Consultant
December 16, 2016
I came across a post consisting of images from a mid tier consulting firm. You know. Mid tier, an azure chip consulting firm. This type of firm is distinct from blue-chip consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, the “old”, pre spin out Snowden Booz, Allen & Hamilton. Those folks. Another generation’s Google.
You can find (for now) the collection of images at this link. The person posting this link will probably not get hired at the azure chip, mid tier outfit who cooked up the images in “Every Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies Since 2000.” That works out to 16 years of “cacaphones”; that is, words which are an emission of jargon, buzzwords, and argot designed to help sell consulting work that benefits consultants.
The blue chip outfits mostly stick with the crazy lingo of MBAs, lawyers, accountants, and engineers who know who Milton and Whitman are.
Here’s a run down by year of the cacaphones. How many of these do you use? How many of these can you define even if you bandy the cacaphones around in meetings, at conferences, or at your favorite Starbuck’s?
Year 2000 Cacaphones (n=20 spoor)
3-D Web
Active Server Pages
Audio mining
Biometrics
Bluetooth
DSL/Cable modems
Digital ink
Enterprise portals
Java language
Jini
Micropayments
Quantum computing
Smart cards
Speech recognition
Synthetic characters
Voice over IP
Voice portals
WAP/Wireless Web
Webtops
XML
Year 2001 Cacaphones (n=19 spoor)
Active server pages
B2B e markets
B2C e business
Bluetooth
Digital signatures
Enterprise instant messaging
Enterprise portals
Head mounted displays
M commerce
PDA phones
Peer to peer
Personal fuel cells
Semantic Web
Synthetic characters
Voice over IP
Web services
Wireless LANs/802.11
Wireless Web/WAP
e payments
Year 2002 Cacaphones (n=21 spoor)
Biometrics
Bluetooth
E payments
E tags
Grid computing
Identity services
Location sensing
Nanocomputing
Natural language search
Peer to peer computing
Personal digital assistant phones
Personal fuel cells
Public key infrastructure
Speech recognition in call centers
Speech recognition on desktops
Text to speech
Virtual private networks
Voice over IP
WAP/Wireless Web
Web services
Wireless LANs/802.11
Year 2003 Cacaphones (n=24 spoor): The Year of the Portal
Advanced Web services in portals
Advanced integration in portals
Basic Web services support in portals
Basic search
Business process fusion
Contextual personalization
Federated portals across vendor families
Federated portals within vendor families
Integrated collaboration
Integrated content management
JSR170
Mobile access to portals
Open source portals
Personal work portals
Portal fabric
Portal ubiquity
Portlets
Process portals
Roll based personalization
SES (possibly the Korean girl musical group)
Virtual content repositories
WSRP and JSR 168
XML based multichannel output and interaction
Year 2004 Cacaphones (n=32 spoor): Revenge of the Portal
Advanced Web services in portals
Advanced integration in portals
Application platform suites
Basic Web services support in portals
Basic search
Business process fusion
Contextual personalization
Desktop portals
Federated portals across vendor families
Federated portals within vendor families
Hosted portals
Integrated collaboration
Integrated content management
Integrated open source content management
JSR168 (a portlet catalog)
JSR170 (content repository)
Micro portals
Mobile access to portals
Offline portals
Open source higher education portals
Open source horizontal portals
Portal fabric
Portal ubiquity
Portlets
Process portals
Rich client portals
Role based personalization
Smart enterpriser suites (maybe the 2003 SES?)
Syndication
Virtual content repositories
Web services for remote portals
XML based multichannel output and interaction
Year 2005 Cacaphones (n=41 spoor): A Bountiful Year of Caca
4G
902.16 2004 Worldwide inter operability for microwave access
Augmented reality
Biometric identity documents
Biometric user identification
Business process management suites
Business process networks
Business rule engines
Carbon nanotubes
Corporate Semantic Web
Corporate blogging
DNA logic
Desktop search (what?)
Electronic ink/digital paper
Handwriting recognition
Inkjet manufacturing
Internal Web services
Internet micropayments
Linux on desktop for mainstream business users
Location aware applications
Mesh networks Senor
Micro fuel cells (no longer personal)
Model drive approaches
Networked collective intelligence
Organic light emitting devices
Peer to peer VoIP
Podcasting
Prediction markets
Quantum computing
RFID (passive)
Really simple syndication
Services oriented architecture
Software as a Service
Speech recognition for telephony and call centers
Tablet PC
Text mining
Text to speech speech synthesis
Trusted computing group
Videoconferencing
VoIP (listed twice in the 2005 hype cycle)
XBRL
Year 2006 Cacaphones (n=32 spoor): A Year for Remembering Quantum Computing
Augmented reality
Biometric payments
Collective intelligence
Corporate blogging
Corporate Semantic Web
DNA logic
Digital paper/e paper
Enterprise instant messaging
Event driven architecture
Folksonomies
IPv6
Internal Web servicers
Location aware applications
Location aware technology
Mashup
Mesh networks: sensor
Model driven architectures
Offline Ajax
Prediction markets
Quantum computing
RFID
RSS enterprise
Smartphone
Social network analysis
Speech recognition for mobile devices
Speech to speech translation
Tablet PC Mobile phone payments
Telepresence
Tera-architectures
VoIP
Web 2.0
Wikis
Year 2007 Cacaphones (n=34 spoor): VoIP and Digital Fiesta
Bluetooth in automobiles
Broadband video on demand
Consumer telematics
Digital TV (cable and satellite)
Digital terrestrial TV
Digital video recorders
Digital video broadcasting–handheld
Fixed mobile converged voice service
HD Radio
HD optical disc players
HDTV displays
Household Wi-Fi
IPTV
Interactive TV
Legal file sharing / legitimate P2P
Micro projectors
Media distribution via game consoles
Mobile TV broadcasting
Mobile TV streaming
Mobile video on demand
Network DVR
Next generation satellite
OLED TVs
Online game consoles
PC based media center
Portable media players
Portable personality
Residential VoIP
Ultra mobile devices
Video on demand
Video chat over IP
Wire line home networking (coaxial and power line)
Widgets
Wire line home networking / dedicated Ethernet wiring
Year 2008 Cacaphones (n=27 spoor): The Hardware Influence
3D printing
Augmented reality
Basic Web services (Yep, basic)
Behavioral economics
Cloud computing
Context delivery architecture
Corporate blogging
Electronic paper
Erasable paper printing systems (Huh?)
Green IT
Idea management
Location aware applications
Micro blogging
Mobile robots
Public virtual worlds (Oh, boy)
RFID (case/pallet)
Service oriented architecture
Service oriented business applications
Social computing platforms
Social network analysis
Solid state drives
Surface computers (A mid tier person talked to Microsoft)
Tablet PC
Video telepresence
Virtual assistants
Web 2.0
Wikis
Year 2009 Cacaphones (n=35 spoor): Some Weird Stuff
3-D flat panel displays
3-D printing
Augmented reality
Behavioral economics (Someone took a night school course)
Cloud computing
Context delivery architecture
Corporate blogging
Developed markets (What?)
E book readers
Electronic paper
Green IT
Home health monitoring
Human augmentation
Idea management (What?)
Internet TV
Location aware applications
Mesh networks: sensor
Micro blogging
Mobile robots
Online video
Over the air mobile phone payment systems
Public virtual worlds
Quantum computing (Yippy. Back on the list)
RFID (case/pallet)
Services oriented architecture
Social network analysis
Social software suites (Huh?)
Speech recognition
Surface computers (Go, Microsoft)
Tablet PC
Video search (Discovering YouTube and Google Video search perchance)
Video telepresence
Web 2.0
Wikis
Wireless power
Year 2010 Cacaphones (n=32 spoor):The Début of Extreme
3D flat panel TVs and displays
3D printing Speech to speech translation
4G standard
Activity streams
Augmented reality
Autonomous vehicles
Biometric authentication methods
Broadband over power lines
Cloud computing
Cloud/Web platforms
Computer brain interface
Consumer generated media
Context delivery architecture
E book readers
Extreme transaction processing
Gesture recognition
Human augmentations
Idea management (round up those puppies, partner)
Interactive TV
Internet TV
Internet micropayment systems
Location aware applications
Media tablet
Mesh networks sensor
Micro blogging
Mobile application store
Mobile robots
Pen centric tablet PCs
Predictive analytics
Private cloud computing
Public virtual worlds
Social analytics
Speech recognition
Tangible user interfaces
Terahertz waves
Video search (again!)
Video telepresence
Virtual assistants
Wireless power
Year 2011 Cacaphones (n=41 spoor): A Year in Recycling
3D bio printing
3D printing
Activity streams
Augmented reality
Big Data and extreme processing and management
Biometric authentication methods
Cloud / Web platforms
Cloud computing
Computer brain interface
Context enriched services
E book readers (hello, Kindle)
Gamification
Gesture recognition
Group buying
Hosted virtual desktops
Human augmentation
Idea management
Image recognition
In memory database management systems
Internet TV
Internet of things
Location aware applications
Machine to machine communication services (ah, ha, a network)
Media table
Mesh networks sensor
Mobile application stores
Mobile robots
NFC payment
Natural language question answering
Predictive analytics
Private cloud computing
QR /color code consumerization
Quantum computing (it’s back again)
Social TV
Social analytics
Speech recognition
Speech to speech translation
Video analytics for customer services
Virtual assistants
Virtual worlds
Wireless power
Year 2012 Cacaphones (n=44 spoor): The Kitchen Sink Era
3D bio printing
3D printing
3D scanners
Activity streams
Application stores
Audio mining / speech analytics
Augmented reality
Automatic content recognition (Huh?)
Autonomous vehicles
Big Data (at last!)
Biometric authentication methods
Bring your own device
Cloud computing
Complex event processing
Consumer telematics
Consumerization
Crowdsourcing
Gamification
Gesture control
HTML5
Home health monitoring
Hosted virtual desktops
Human augmentation
Hybrid cloud computing
Idea management
In memory analytics
In memory database management systems
Internet of things
Machine to machine communication services
Media tablets
Mobile over the air payments
Mobile robots
NFC payment
Natural language question answering
Predictive analytics
Private cloud computing
Quantum computing (a familiar emerging technology)
Silicon anode batteries
Social analytics
Speech recognition
Speech to speech translation
Text analytics
Virtual worlds
Volumetric and holographic displays
Wireless power
Year 2013 Cacaphones (n=43 spoor): Losing the Familiar
3D bio printing
3D scanners
Activity streams
Affective computing
Augmented reality
Autonomous vehicles
Big Data
Bio acoustic sensing
Bio metric authentication methods
Bio chips
Brain computer interface
Cloud computing
Consumer 3D printing
Consumer telematics
Complex event processing
Content analytics
Electro vibration
Enterprise 3D printing
Gamification
Gesture control
Human augmentation
In memory analytics
In memory database management systems
Internet of things
Location intelligence
Machine to machine communication services
Mesh networks sensor
Mobile health monitoring
Mobile robots
Natural Language question answering
Neuro business (huh?)
Near field communication
Predictive analytics (a perennial favorite)
Prescriptive analytics
Quantified self (huh?)
Quantum computing (still an innovation trigger)
Smart dust
Speech recognition
Speech to speech translation
Virtual assistants
Virtual reality
Volumetric and holographic displays
Wearable user interfaces
Year 2014 Cacaphones (n=43 spoor):Time for Affective Computing
3D bio printing systems
3D scanners
Activity streams
Affective computing
Augmented reality
Autonomous vehicles
Big Data
Bio acoustic sensing
Biochips
Brain computer interface
Cloud computing
Complex event processing
Connected home
Consumer 3D printing
Consumer telematics
Content analytics (new jargon for the old jargon text analytics?)
Crypto currencies (the consultants discover Bitcoin)
Data science
Digital security (at last, security)
Enterprise 3D printing
Gamification
Gesture control
Human augmentation
Hybrid cloud computing
In memory analytics
In memory database management systems
Internet of things
Machine to machine communication services
Mobile health monitoring
Natural language question answering
Near field communications
Neuro business
Prescriptive analytics (do what the math says, Mary)
Quantum computing (still an innovation trigger)
Smart advisors
Smart robots (mobile robots have disappeared it seems)
Software defined anything (anything?)
Speech recognition
Speech to speech translation
Virtual personal assistants
Virtual reality
Volumetric and holographic displays
Wearable user interfaces
Year 2015 Cacaphones (n=37 spoor): Not Much Neuro Creativity Evident
3D bio printing systems for organ transplant
Advanced analytics with self service delivery
Affective computing
Augmented reality
Autonomous field vehicles (Isn’t this autonomous vehicles?)
Autonomous vehicles
Bio acoustic sensing
Biochips
Brain computer interface
Citizen data science
Connected home
Consumer 3D printing
Crypto currencies
Crypto currency exchange
Digital dexterity
Digital security
Enterprise 3D printing
Gesture control
Human augmentation
Hybrid cloud computing
Internet of Things
Internet of things platform
Machine learning (finally!)
Micro data centers
Natural language question answering
Neuro business
People literate technology (A first timer)
Quantum computing (still with us)
Smart advisors (who wants a stupid advisor?)
Smart dust
Smart robots
Software defined security (a variation on software defined anything)
Speech to speech translation
Virtual personal assistants
Virtual reality
Volumetric displays
Wearable
Year 2016 Cacaphones (n=33 spoor): Lots of “Smart”
4D printing (another dimension?)
802.11ax
Affective computing (More emotion in that silicon)
Augmented reality (Remember Google Glass)
Autonomous vehicles
Blockchain (A first timer)
Brain computer interface
Cognitive expert advisors
Commercial UAV drones (Go, Amazon)
Connected home
Context brokering (love that context word)
Conversational user interfaces
Data broker Platform as a Service or dbrPssS
Enterprise taxonomy and ontology management (Huh?)
General purpose machine intelligence (Wow!)
Gesture control devices
Internet of Things platform
Machine learning
Micro data centers
Nanotube electronics
Natural language question answering
Neuro morphic hardware (Huh?)
Personal analytics
Quantum computing (Plugging along)
Smart data discovery (Opposite of stupid data discovery?)
Smart dust
Smart robots
Smart workspace
Software defined security
Software defined anything, now SDx
Virtual personal assistants
Virtual reality
Volumetric displays.
Here’s a list of the cacaphones, deduplicated, in alphabetical order:
3-D Web
3-D flat panel displays
3-D printing
3D bio printing
3D flat panel TVs and displays
3D scanners
4D printing (another dimension?)
4G
4G standard
802.11ax
902.16
Active server pages
Activity streams
Advanced Web services in portals
Advanced analytics with self service delivery
Advanced integration in portals
Affective computing
Application platform suites
Application stores
Audio mining
Augmented reality
Automatic content recognition (Huh?)
Autonomous field vehicles
Autonomous vehicles
B2B e markets
B2C e business
Basic Web services
Basic Web services support in portals
Basic search
Behavioral economics
Big Data
Bio acoustic sensing
Biochips
Bio metric authentication methods
Bio metric identity documents
Bio metric payments
Bio metric user identification
Bio metrics
Blockchain (A first timer)
Bluetooth
Bluetooth in automobiles
Brain computer interface
Bring your own device. BYOB
Broadband over power lines
Broadband video on demand
Business process fusion
Business process management suites
Business process networks
Business rule engines
Carbon nanotubes
Citizen data science
Cloud / Web platforms
Cloud computing
Cloud/Web platforms
Cognitive expert advisers
Collective intelligence
Commercial UAV drones (Go, Amazon)
Complex event processing
Computer brain interface
Connected home
Consumer 3D printing
Consumer generated media
Consumer telematics
Consumerization
Content analytics
Context brokering
Context delivery architecture
Context enriched services
Contextual personalization
Conversational user interfaces
Corporate Semantic Web
Corporate blogging
Crowdsourcing
Crypto currencies
DNA logic
DSL/Cable modems
Data broker Platform as a Service or dbrPssS
Data science
Desktop portals
Desktop search
Developed markets
Digital TV (cable and satellite)
Digital dexterity
Digital ink
Digital paper
Digital security
Digital signatures
Digital terrestrial TV
Digital video recorders
Digital video broadcasting–handheld
E book readers
E payments
E tags
Electronic ink
Electronic paper
Electro vibration
Enterprise 3D printing
Enterprise instant messaging
Enterprise portals
Enterprise taxonomy and ontology management
Erasable paper printing systems
Event driven architecture
Extreme processing
Extreme transaction processing
Federated portals across vendor families
Fixed mobile converged voice service
Folksonomies
Gamification
General purpose machine intelligence (Wow!)
Gesture control devices
Gesture recognition
Green IT
Grid computing
Group buying
HD Radio
HD optical disc players
HDTV displays
HTML5
Handwriting recognition
Head mounted displays
Home health monitoring
Hosted portals
Hosted virtual desktops
Household Wi-Fi
Human augmentation
Hybrid cloud computing
IPTV
IPv6
Idea management
Identity survives
Image recognition
In memory analytics
In memory database management systems
Ink jet manufacturing
Integrated collaboration
Integrated content management
Integrated open source content management
Interactive TV
Internal Web services
Internet TV
Internet micro payment systems
Internet micro payments
Internet of Things
Internet of Things platform
JSR168 (a portlet catalog)
JSR170 (content repository)
Java language
Jini
Legal file sharing / legitimate P2P
Linux on desktop for mainstream business users
Location aware applications
Location intelligence
Location sensing
M commerce
Machine learning
Machine to machine communication services
Mash up
Media distribution via game consoles
Media tablets
Mesh networks sensor
Micro data centers
Micro fuel cells
Micro portals
Micro blogging
Micro payments
Micro projectors
Mobile TV broadcasting
Mobile TV streaming
Mobile access to portals
Mobile application store
Bio metric authentication methods
Mobile application stores
Mobile health monitoring
Mobile over the air payments
Mobile robots
Mobile video on demand
Model drive approaches
Model driven architectures
NFC payment
Nanocomputing
Nanotube electronics
Natural language question answering
Natural language search
Near field communications
Network DVR
Networked collective intelligence
Neuro business
Neuro morphic hardware (Huh?)
Neuro business (huh?)
Next generation satellite
OLED TVs
Offline Ajax
Offline portals
Online game consoles
Online video
Open source higher education portals
Open source horizontal portals
Open source portals
Organic light emitting devices
Over the air mobile phone payment systems
PC based media center
PDA phones
Peer to peer
Peer to peer VoIP
Peer to peer computing
Pen centric tablet PCs
People literate technology (A first timer)
Personal analytics
Personal digital assistant phones
Personal fuel cells
Personal work portals
Podcasting
Portable media players
Portable personality
Portal fabric
Portal ubiquity
Portlets
Prediction markets
Predictive analytics
Prescriptive analytics
Private cloud computing
Process portals
Public key infrastructure
Public virtual worlds
QR /color code consumerization
Quantified self (huh?)
Quantum computing
RFID
RFID (case/pallet)
RFID (passive)
RSS enterprise
Really simple syndication
Residential VoIP
Rich client portals
Role based personalization
SES (possibly the Korean girl musical group)
Semantic Web
Service oriented architecture
Service oriented business applications
Services oriented architecture
Silicon anode batteries
Smart advisers
Smart cards
Smart data discovery
Smart dust
Smart enterprise suites (maybe the 2003 SES?)
Smart robots
Smart workspace
Smart phone
Social TV
Social analytics
Social computing platforms
Social network analysis
Social software suites (Huh?)
Software defined security
Software as a Service
Software defined anything, now SDx
Software defined security (a variation on software defined anything)
Solid state drives
Speech analytics
Speech recognition
Speech recognition for mobile devices
Speech recognition for telephony and call centers
Speech recognition in call centers
Speech recognition on desktops
Speech to speech translation
Speech to speech translation
Speech to speech translation
Surface computers
Syndication
Synthetic characters
Tablet PC
Tablet PC Mobile phone payments
Tangible user interfaces
Telepresence
Tera-architectures
Tera hertz waves
Text analytics
Text mining
Text to speech
Text to speech speech synthesis
Trusted computing group
Ultra mobile devices
Video analytics for customer services
Video chat over IP
Video on demand
Video search
Video telepresence
Videoconferencing
Virtual assistants
Virtual content repositories
Virtual personal assistants
Virtual private networks
Virtual reality
Virtual worlds
VoIP
Voice over IP
Voice portals
Volumetric and holographic displays
Volumetric displays
WAP/Wireless Web
WSRP and JSR 168
Wearable
Wearable user interfaces
Web 2.0
Web services
Web services for remote portals
Webtops
Widgets
Wikis
Wireless LANs/802.11
Wireless Web/WAP
Wireless power
Wire line home networking (coaxial and power line)
Wire line home networking / dedicated Ethernet wiring
Worldwide inter operability for microwave access (Yes!)
XBRL
XML
XML based multichannel output and interaction
Observations
- Each annual list is what appears to be a subjective round up of jargon. Unlike Google Trends, the lists and their relative placement on the hype graph seem subjective.
- Some drums are beaten loudly and for years; examples include portal (20 mentions). Other inclusions are pretty darned weird or incomprehensible; for instance, digital dexterity, quantified self, synthetic characters, electro vibration, and behavioral economics.
- The lists with their suggestion of what’s coming, what’s here, and what’s going out of style is obviously a marketing exercise. The give away is that collective cacaphones skew to business processes, hot hardware (real or imagined), and network services. My hypothesis is that the mid tier outfit wants to sell bread-and-butter advice along with speculation about the world of Star Wars and Star Trek.
- One would expect an entry to appear each year with its location adjusted to reflect the market grip of the “innovation.” That’s not the case. Items appear once like behavior economics and then disappear. I asked myself, “is this annual cacaphone graph prepared over kale and sushi in a brainstorming session with participants Googling for ideas?”
You will be able to divine the future by contemplating these alphabetical lists and doing some poetical extrapolation. Security appears in four different forms, but lags behind the burning hot subject of portlet. Apply your efforts to “neuro business” and thrive or not. By the way, I have absolutely zero idea what to do with my “quantified self” when I use “neuro morphic hardware.” Stupid, right?
Stephen E Arnold, December 16, 2016
Big Data Is So Big
November 4, 2016
I love simplifications. I love simplifications even more when they arrive with nary a footnote, explanation of sources, or comments about methodology. Ta da. Let me point you to an IDC chart at this location. If the link does not resolve, contact IDC. I bet you can buy this picture.
My copy arrived via a tweet. More fascinating that the weird collection of circles is that the work comes from the same outfit which tried to sell my research on Amazon. The tweet with the wonky chart was free, but IDC slapped a $3,500 price tag on eight pages of information with my name but without my permission for its Amazon venture. At least my research team used footnotes. Ah, IDC, home of the “how much time you waste looking for information” craziness. A wonderful resource because — you know, like, really — Big Data are so big.
Stephen E Arnold, November 4, 2016
Cyber Security Factoids
October 31, 2016
I came across “Luxembourg to Become a Cyber Security Hub.” I usually ignore these blue chip consulting firm public relations love fests. I did not some interesting factoids in the write up. Who knows if these are correct, but some large organizations pay a lot of money to have the MBAs and accountants deliver these observations:
- “In Luxembourg, 57%* of players expect to be the victim of cybercrime in the next 24 months.” (I assume that “players” are companies which the consulting firm either has as clients or hopes to make into clients.)
- There are four trends in cyber security: “1) digital businesses are adopting new technologies and approaches to Cyber Security, 2) threat intelligence and information sharing have become business-critical, 3) organizations are addressing risks associated with the Internet of Things (IoT), and 4) geopolitical threats are rising.”
- “In the 2017 Global State of Information Security Survey, PwC found more than 80% of European companies had experienced at least on Cyber Security incident in the past year. Likewise, the number of digital security incidents across all industries worldwide rose by 80%. The spending in the Cyber Security space is also increasing with 59% of the companies surveyed affirming that digitalization of the business ecosystem has affected their security spending.”
- Companies the consulting firm finds interesting include: “Digital Shadows from the UK, Quarkslab from France, SecurityScorecard, enSilo, Skybox Security and RedOwl from the US, NetGuardians from Switzerland,Ironscales and Morphisec from Israel, and Picus Security from Turkey.”
Interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, October 31, 2016
Mid Tier Consulting Firm: Big Data Fear
October 12, 2016
I love it when mid tier consulting firms become contrarians. Navigate to “Gartner Warns Big Data’s Bubble May Burst As Enterprises Cut Investment.” The write up informed me:
Gartner has found. In its latest survey of 199 technology executives, the analyst firm found that many companies have struggled to obtain insights that make a real difference to their bottom line.
I don’t want to get into the Statistics 101 lecture about sampling, but keep in mind that there may be some wobbles in who was asked and who answered the “survey.”
Let’s assume that the mid-tier outfit did a pretty good job with its 199 objective respondents. I learned that:
the number of companies that are planning to invest in Big Data in the next two years has fallen by 6 percent, from 31 percent in 2015 to just 25 percent this year. Another telling statistic is that while roughly three-quarters of companies have invested, or are planning to invest, in Big Data, the overwhelming majority of those firms remain stuck at the pilot stage.
The write up points to another mid tier outfit’s research which suggests that Big Data may not be the home run that some pundits assert. Is Big Data doomed? Nah, a third mid tier outfit predicts that the Big Data market will grow “three times as fast as the overall information technology market.”
Whew. For a moment I thought the sky was falling.
Several observations:
- Fear sells.
- Uncertainty sells.
- Seemingly authoritative research sells.
What’s the common factor? The mid tier outfits are working overtime to generate interest in their services. Perhaps the economy is putting some pressure on the mid tier folks. Go with fear.
Even snakes flee from earth tremors. There may be Big Data to quantify that fear as long as one can point and click, not think about data integrity, and have to do math. I love it. 199.
Stephen E Arnold, October 12, 2016
Booz Allen: A Race from the Top to the Mid Tier of Consulting
October 8, 2016
(A blog software glitch prevented this story from appearing at 5 13 am on Saturday, October 8, 2016.)
As a former Booz Allen employee, I was surprised to learn about the Snowdon matter. Now Booz Allen finds itself in the spotlight again. To get the big time take on this glitch, navigate to “At Booz Allen, a Vast U.S. Spy Operation, Run for Private Profit.” If you have to pay to view the write up, well, don’t blame me. The Gray Lady needs cash and pronto.
The main idea is that the US government contracts with experts, mavens, and wizards to perform certain types of work. The government trades money for the efforts of folks who might not otherwise labor in the hallowed halls of government-leased buildings.
I learned:
Booz Allen has helped the United Arab Emirates build its own high-tech spy agency.
Busy, busy.
The problem is that another Booz Allen expert has been allegedly taking classified materials from a government facility.
Several observations:
- What’s the vetting process for getting a job at Booz Allen these days? Is that process sort of working?
- What about the security which checks each person when leaving a government facility? The Rubic’s Cube gambit is good video, but real life maybe demands a bit more than bon ami?
- How will the other mid tier consulting firms react to having the equivalent of a college student sent back to grade school?
My former boss at Booz Allen would be acting in a manner which could alter the career paths of the favored few who land jobs with one of the blue chip consulting firms. That gentle soul has moved on, and with the new generation of Booz Allen senior managers, some of my boss’s managerial qualities seem to have departed as well.
Stephen E Arnold, October 8, 2016
Open Source CRM Galore for Salespeople, Manufacturers, and Even Freelancers
September 26, 2016
The article titled Top 10 Open Source CRM on Datamation weighs the customer relationship management (CRM) options based on individual needs in addition to features and functions. It highlights certain key benefits and points of strength such as EspoCRM’s excellent website, SugarCRM’s competitive edge over Salesforce, and the low cost of Dolibarr. The typical entry reads like this,
EPESI – The last in this list of Linux compatible CRM options is called EPESI. What makes it unique is the ability to take the mail page of the CRM and rearrange how things are laid out visually…it’s pretty nice to have when customizing ones workflow. In addition to expected CRM functionality, this tool also offers ERP options as well. With its modular design and cloud, enterprise and DIY editions, odds are there is a CRM solution available for everyone.
What strikes one the most about this list is how few familiar names appear. This list is certainly worth consulting to gain insights about the landscape, particularly since it does at least allude now and then to the specialty of several of the CRM software. For example, Dolibarr supports freelancers, Compiere is based around the needs of warehousing and manufacturing companies, and Zurmo was designed for salespeople. It is a good time to be in the market for CRM apps.
Chelsea Kerwin, September 26, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monographThere is a Louisville, Kentucky Hidden Web/Dark Web meet up on September 27, 2016.
Information is at this link: https://www.meetup.com/Louisville-Hidden-Dark-Web-Meetup/events/233599645/
Bot Landscape Includes Search
August 23, 2016
Search and retrieval technology finds a place in a “bot landscape.” The collection of icons appears in “Introducing the Bots Landscape: 170+ Companies, $4 Billion in Funding, Thousands of Bots.” The diagram of the bots landscape in the write up is, for me, impossible to read. I admit it does convey the impression of a lot of a bots. The high resolution version was also difficult for me to read. You can download a copy and take a gander yourself at this link. But there is a super high resolution version available for which one must provide a name and an email. Then one goes through a verification step. Clever marketing? Well, annoying to me. The download process required three additional clicks. Here it is. A sight for young eyes.
I was able to discern a reference to search and retrieval technology in the category labeled “AI Tools: Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, Speech & Voice Recognition.” I was able to identity the logo of Fair Issacs and the mark of Zorro, but the other logos were unreadable by my 72 year old eyes.
The graphic includes these bot-agories too:
- Bots with traction
- Connectors and shared services
- Bot discover
- Bot developer frameworks and tools
- Analytics
- Messaging.
The bot landscape is rich and varied. MBAs and mavens are resourceful and gifted specialists in classification. The fact that the categories are, well, a little muddled is less important than finding a way to round up so many companies worth so much money.
Stephen E Arnold, August 23, 2016
Gartner Declares Microsoft a Winner
August 12, 2016
I read “Microsoft Is a Leader in 18 Gartner Magic Quadrants, Including Cloud Infrastructure as a Service.” Those folks at Microsoft should be darned proud of themselves. Receiving A grades in 18 Gartner Magic Quadrants is remarkable.
I noted this passage in the write up:
Microsoft is the only cloud computing vendor that is a Magic Quadrant Leader in all of the major cloud services categories, including IaaS, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). These ratings place Microsoft in an enviable position above Amazon AWS, Salesforce, and Google. Looking at the following chart, we can see that Microsoft is a Leader in fully 18 different Magic Quadrants.
Yes, Microsoft stomps on Amazon. I can here the chant “We’re number one” now even though I am in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky.
What are those 18 Magic Quadrants? I think this is the list, but I can be wrong. My view is that Gartner’s experts are never, ever, ever incorrect in their objective analyses of leading vendors. Perish the thought that the Magic Quadrant is influenced by any subjective element. I shudder to think how subjectivity influencing ratings would rock the myriad consultants wherever they may work.
The 18 Magic Quadrants:
Application develop life cycle management or ADLM
Business intelligence and analytics platforms or BIAP
Cloud infrastructure as a service or CaaS
CRM customer engagement center or CRMCEC
Data warehouse and data management solutions for analytics or DWaDMSfA
Disaster recovery as a service or DRaaS
Enterprise content management or ECM
Horizontal portals or HP (Please, do not confuse the leadership outfit Microsoft with the struggling Hewlett Packard)
Identity as a service or IDaaS
Mobile application development platforms or MADP
Operational database management systems or ODBMS
Public cloud storage services or PCSS
Sales force automation or SFA
Unified communications or UC (Not to be confused with Google ooze)
Web conferencing or WC (Please, be careful with this acronym in the UK)
X86 server virtualization infrastructure or XSVI.
Frankly, the best acronym on this list, which is filled with impressive acronyms, is DWaDMSfA. However, I quite like UC which may be pronounced “uck” and WC. But for the connotation of a loo, WC is outstanding. I know that Microsoft is the all time champ of the enterprise.
Perhaps Amazon will pick up its marbles and focus on space travel and selling weird voice activated surveillance devices? Kudos to Microsoft for its stellar and totally objective achievement.
Stephen E Arnold, August 12, 2016
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