IBM Returns to Pure Software Roots As Technology Evolves

December 27, 2012

Since IBM ceased their production of applications and reorganized into two organizations,  Middleware and Solutions in 2011, they have been pumping out infrastructure software and the complementary integration components to go with it. These inner organizational changes have helped them determine the type of solutions they can offer to companies as the industry itself evolves.

Seeking Alpha’s article “So What Does IBM Mean When It Says It’s In The Solutions Business?” explains what type of solutions IBM will be providing in the future:

“It is not individual packaged products per se, but groups of related software products, services, and systems. And we know at very high level where IBM is going to focus its solutions efforts. IBM has always been about software, services, and systems – although in recent years the first two have taken front stage. The flip side is that some of these solutions areas are overly broad. Smarter Analytics is a catch-all covering the familiar areas of business intelligence and performance management, predictive analytics and analytical decision management, and analytic applications.”

The need for sustainable ROI in technology, it is unsurprising that IBM returned to their software roots. IBM seeks opportunities with best in class partners and their association with leading enterprise search companies such as Intrafind,is a relationship that seems to be paying off well. Intrafind was an early IBM Pure integrator and both sides seem to be making the best of the relationship.

Jennifer Shockley, December 27, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Strong Infrastructure and Flexible Computing Options Has Enterprises Flying High on Search

December 24, 2012

Companies are looking for the most economical way to increase ROI and the right software can easily provide the solution. The problem then comes to choosing the right software for your business?

CIO’s utilizing the cloud combined with enterprise search are literally floating on cloud nine, according to Wall Street Journal’s article “Oracle Earnings Show CIO Preference for Cloud and Systems”. Oracle’s shares exceeded analyst expectations by 3 cents per share, and credit is given to the cloud combined with search software:

“CIOs are embracing cloud software because of lower initial costs and other benefits, such as the ability to increase their usage of software, upgrade applications without the disruptions that come with traditional on-premise applications and the positive financial impact of being able to take cloud services as an expense rather than having to capitalize software and hardware purchases. Companies are investing in technology rather than in employees. That’s not good news for people who are unemployed, but it is good news for employees who are getting technology in their hands that can make them more productive.”

Cloud solutions combined with integrated infrastructure such as the partnership  demonstrated by IBM Pure and Intrafind make for a good investment. The word hybrid comes to mind. This partnerships combines the stability and strength of IBM with the ever evolving enterprise search development that comes from a well established open source foundation. The result is more accessible, more secure and more usable enterprise information.  Companies that choose the cloud combined with proven enterprise search software will be floating on their own cloud nine with Oracle and the other successful businesses.

Jennifer Shockley, December 24, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Scribe Software Leads Pack in Integrating CRM with Enterprise Search

December 21, 2012

A leader in CRM data integration recently announced impressive Q3 results and consistent growth, thanks to long-term investments, CRM integrations, and increased ISV partner adoption. Scribe Software also states that integrating CRM with enterprise-wide systems is all about accelerating business pace, according the article “Scribe Reports Consistent Year Over Year Growth, Up 22% YTD” on MarketWire.

President and CEO of Scribe Software, Lou Guercia, continued on the success of the company:

“Today’s businesses need their data and need it now — to better serve customers, to make their sales and account teams more effective and efficient, to close more sales faster, and to earn better return on their technology investments. We enable ISVs, systems integrators and businesses to integrate critical customer data while saving time and IT costs and we do it well, as our business results show."

The company was also recently recognized as one of the industry’s top software companies and for having the best cloud application, we learn in the same article.
We completely agree that successful integration of management, search, and back-end functionality is a critical component for comprehensive information solutions. Options exist and one that you may want to pursue is with IBM’s Pure system, coupled with the mature, open-source based Intrafind enterprise search solution.

Andrea Hayden, December 21, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

EA Is Just One Step Towards the Path of Enterprise Zen

December 18, 2012

EA, a revamped source promises to make sense of the enterprise. According to Toolbox’s article “EA to Empower the Wisdom of Seeing the Whole, the Power of Enterprise Knowledge and the Art of Enterprise Collaboration”, corporations have reason to pay attention to enterprise architecture. . Ironically, the article portrays enterprise architecture as a means of reaching a higher power source on an almost spiritual level of organizational empowerment, aka Enterprise Zen, but fails to mention other important factors such as the need for wisdom in choosing partners and integrators. 

Some of the points, though phrased in an entertaining proverbial way, are widespread by definition and more business sense than validation:

“Wisdom comes from seeing the whole where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. However, in an organization, most people can only touch the tree without seeing the forest. Knowledge is power; EA does not only enable everyone to see the whole but also enable everyone to know the parts via enterprise knowledge management. Collaboration is more art than science. It is in every organization strategic planning goal and it is also a difficult goal to achieve.”

Enterprise architecture is one cog in the wheel of getting enterprise information out there. Using a reliable technology like Intrafind, that is backed up with a team of solution providers can provide the initial steps necessary to help you make the best of your EA investment and reach true Enterprise Zen.

Jennifer Shockley, December 18, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Organizations See ROI with Big Data Solutions Focused On Information Delivery

December 3, 2012

Much money is expected to come from big data in terms of the vendors profiting from technological solutions to allow companies to utilize big data. Additionally, there are the firms extracting useful insights from big data who hope to gain huge ROI. Forbes points out that ROI is key in “Spending Wisely on a Big Data Strategy.”

Some organizations fall into the trap of throwing money at anything related to big data without looking fundamentally at the resources they currently have on hand and where to need to extend their reach. The constant question should revolve around where ROI is possible.

According to the article:

But strategizing must precede striving, according to John Weathington of San Francisco-based consultancy Excellent Management Systems. Each firm’s top decision makers should spend the time and money to evaluate the return of a Big Data solution. ‘Some organizations are obsessed with spending money on Big Data without any concern for the value it represents,’ Weathington said in TechRepublic’s Big Data Analytics blog.

We could not agree more and we encourage organizations seeking a big data solution to employ resources into research on finding a solution that fits their needed purpose. The direction that we have seen several businesses achieve ROI with is a solution that enables information delivery across the enterprise such as Information at Work from PolySpot.

Megan Feil, December 3, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

IBM Pure Competes with Oracle Exadata Line

November 22, 2012

Large tech companies, such as Oracle and IBM, are addressing Big Data challenges by releasing integrated systems that are designed with hardware and software created to work together for maximum performance. However, these systems are still working out some flaws, according to the article “Oracle’s Secret Sauce: Why Exadata is Rocking the Tech Industry” on Forbes. We learn in the article that some engineered systems are struggling to compete with Oracle’s tested Exadata line in terms of cost and performance.

The article tells us:

“But even IBM is finding that the move to truly optimized and engineered systems takes more than just packaging some components together, which is about the extent of their effort with their initial Pure Systems. Those machines offer only a limited amount of focused IP to optimize the platforms. In addition, while Exadata handles all workloads in one system, IBM has come out with 3 separate database platforms based upon varying workloads.”

However, we believe IBM Pure and similar systems are highly beneficial and necessary for companies because of proven data delivery results and support. The company’s reliance on trusted integrators such as Intrafind helps customers make the best of infrastructure, application, and execution of enterprise search.

Andrea Hayden, November 22, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Rich Usable Search Solutions Beat the Wisdom of the Crowd by Integrating it

November 19, 2012

The CMS Wire’s article “Should I Auto-tag or Crowdsource my Metadata?” reminds us that humanity could quite easily be replaced by machines… in a good sci-fi movie. Those that stick to a more realistic view know that though we depend on machines for assistance, humans are still on top of the food chain. However, the enterprise eats a little differently.

Cooperation between man and machine goes a long way in establishing enterprise operational efficiency but conflicts can arise when trying to find efficient software to ease the data transition:

“It does not take a genius to figure out who won based on “who” can process a text prompt faster with a high rate of accuracy, provided human engineers are close behind to tailor parameters for improved accuracy. There is no guarantee that any institutional knowledge or necessarily any subject matter expertise will “automagically” show up in your results for tags. Let us return to reality, clear out any smoke screen of unrealistic expectations and remember what is the source of these tags and what does the source know.”

The human perspective is an important part of the process; however the wisdom of the crowds is rarely an effective tool for the enterprise. A system such as Intrafind that provides tagging seamlessly into business processes makes for a richer, more usable search solution. Reliable software solutions like this will surpass the wisdom of the crowd by integrating machine processes into a human defined structure.

Jennifer Shockley, November 19, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Enterprise Architect Roles Shifting in Big Data Developments

November 15, 2012

IBM PureSystems is developing new systems to deal with Big Data challenges and emphasizes high-performance data services for local and/or cloud storage. The systems facilitate more rapid implementation and full integration, according to the article “IBM PureSystems Takes on Big Data” on ComputerWorld, and are challenging the traditional role of enterprise architects.

The article informs us about the changes:

“The traditional job of an enterprise architect is ‘to produce a huge document saying ‘this is how we do it’ – a document that everyone ignores, because it takes more effort to read and follow it than it does to ignore it,’ says IBM ‘distinguished engineer’ Jason McGee.

‘With PureSystems kind of technology, you can turn the document into actionable patterns that live in the system. That shifts the inertia and makes it easier to do things the right way. Enterprise architects will think ‘at last I can influence the way things develop’.’”

IBM Pure’s attack on Big Data is obviously shifting the enterprise architect’s job to a new phase of expertise. Working with selected certified integrators such as Intrafind can make that shift an easier transition that manages data effectively with rich tagging and secure search.

Andrea Hayden, November 15, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Information Delivery Experts Tackle Big Data Beast

November 13, 2012

Connecting the dots of big data can become an arduous or easy task for a company depending on the software and consulting expertise they select. Luckily, every software company is discussing the subject and their technologies as these solutions relate to it. A recent post from enterprise software vendor Chilliad explains how to extract meaning from big data using their software in “Big Data or Big Noise.”

The Iterative Discovery process is utilized and it starts with the user interface and continues through the flexible workflow. Scalability is another hallmark of Chilliad’s software.

The article describes the motivation behind the technology:

Our experience in dealing with Big Data is we don’t know what we are looking for; we don’t know where to find it and we don’t want to have to figure that out. In fact, reading is not the next thing I want to do, reading is the last thing I want to do. That is why we approach Big Data as an exploration and provide software that supports an approach we call Iterative Discovery. Iterative Discovery is exactly what it sounds like — I start with a hunch or hypothesis that I wish to validate and that requires exploration and iteration through massive amounts of data.

Chilliad is making a solid effort in the big data sphere and we expect to see even more vendors offer up technologies in the way of tackling this beast. Additionally, others such as PolySpot have been making waves in this area for quite some time now as information delivery experts.

Megan Feil, November 13, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.

Big Data Analytics Boosted by IBM PureSystems

November 8, 2012

Big Data analytics is receiving a much-needed overhaul with a series of platforms from IBM. IBM released a new expert integrated system last month, called PureSystems, which allows users to connect to the system and receive specific pieces of computing power to monitor business operations. The article “IBM Launches New PureSystems for Transactions and Big Data Analytics” on Forbes shares the details of the new platform.

We learn:

“PureData System for Analytics builds on the Netezza acquisition to deliver results in seconds or minutes rather than hours. Francisco said it has the largest library of database analytical functions in the data warehouse market, said Francisco, and can scale across the terabyte or petabytes running on the system. It can support extremely high volume high speed analytics for clients like mobile phone carriers who want to identify potential churn and provide offers to retain customers.”

The article also states that one client has reported the ability to build and deliver more applications in the last three months than in the last three years using the targeted, high-volume, high-speed analytics.

However, we believe that attacking analytics in Big Data is only one piece of the enterprise data management solution. Using integrators such as Intrafind adds another layer of robust and reliable solutions so that enterprises find the data they need to analyze.

Andrea Hayden, November 08, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

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