OpenText Insights as Company Shifts to Content Discovery
October 6, 2012
Some insights into OpenText were brought to my attention in the recent article, “What’s Next for OpenText As It Continues Integration of Nstein’s Technologies?” on SemanticWeb. The enterprise information management solution owns several search and content processing systems, including Nstein which the company acquired in 2010.
In the time since the acquisition, the company has been working on building Nstein’s semantic technology for text mining and analytics into OpenText’s enterprise content management platform. This has included the addition of a cloud Web site search and content discovery solution, Semantic Navigation, to the company’s existing Web content management products.
The article tells us more about the upcoming plans for the acquisition:
“Some highlights moving forward are taking entity extraction and normalization to the space of collecting, analyzing, and finding business trends that emerge across enterprise’s vast collections of documents, sources and repositories — and also going beyond extracting and categorizing named entities and sentiment from text documents to apply semantics to other media, such as photos, videos and other unstructured information.”
As the company moves forward, we are anxious to see the continued development in the area of semantics and content analysis. We doubt the company will become a major player in the field, but we will keep an eye on performance numbers as OpenText redesigns and progresses.
Andrea Hayden, October 06, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Endeca Brings Enhanced BI Capabilities to Oracle
October 5, 2012
Oracle’s acquisition of Endeca in October of last year brings the promise of enhanced business intelligence capabilities to the expanding business IT company. According to the post titled “What Endeca Adds to the Oracle BI Bag of Tools” on The Emtec Blog, Oracle will now be equipped to handle unstructured data such as social media and text files and has begun to change Endeca into a reporting engine for social media and other similar text source systems.
We learn about the new capabilities in the article:
“Endeca enables users to iteratively model the data as it suits them. IT does not have to perform traditional data modeling on the data before it can be available for end users. Endeca combines structured and unstructured data from disparate systems (inside or outside the company) and automatically organizes the information for search, discovery and analysis. This makes Oracle Endeca the only BI technology that unifies structured content and social media for analysis.”
The integration may prove a bit difficult for Oracle because of the power of Endeca’s unstructured data search capabilities, but will likely be a very wise move for the corporation. We can already see the company’s BI capabilities expanding and believe Endeca is a great addition to Oracle’s BI framework.
Andrea Hayden, October 05, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Quest Announces Dells Takeover
September 4, 2012
Dell and Quest recently went public with their plans to have Dell obtain the 15-year-old California native. Quest supplies more than 100,000 customers with support and something around 87 percent of those customers are Fortune 500 companies. According to a recent article on quest.com, “Dell to Acquire Quest Software” the prospects of the merger seem promising.
The article explains:
“The Dell Software Group will add to Dell’s enterprise solutions capability, accelerate strategic growth and further differentiate the company from competitors by increasing its solutions portfolio with Dell-owned intellectual property.
Quest’s family of software solutions and key technologies are strongly aligned with Dell’s software strategy. The acquisition provides critical components to expand Dell’s software capabilities in systems management, security, data protection and workspace management. In addition, Quest’s software portfolio is highly complementary to Dell’s scalable design approach to develop solutions that scale with customer needs.”
The article talks more about how well this agreement might play out. It appears as though this could end up being very good for both parties. Just because Quest gets to incorporate with a top tire company does not mean Dell is not going to benefit. Quest is bringing in an assorted software portfolio and high sales, $857 million done globally in 2011. If everyone plays their cards right we might be seeing some great things coming from these two. Could this deal possibly help Dell gain competitiveness with Apple?
Edie Marie, September 04, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Semafora Buys Out Ontoprise GmbH Semantic
August 29, 2012
If you have ever traveled to Karlsruhe, Germany you could have run across the company Ontoprise GmbH. This past May after the company announced their bankruptcy they let us in on their plans to be taken over by Semafora. Semafora systems GmbH is a well known player in the semantics game. They offer product solutions and even services catering specifically to semantics. The article by Eric Franzon, Ontoprise GmbH Semantic Product Line Taken Over by Semafora goes into a little more detail about this joint venture:
“Following the news in May that German company Ontoprise GmbH filed for bankruptcy, Semafora Systems GmbH has announced that it will be taking over Ontoprise’s product divisions…The transition also means that the base of operations for these products has moved from Karlsruhe to Darmstadt.”
It is unclear what brought on the companies failure to perform. Ontoprise GmbH was known for their offerings of innovative semantic technologies, information management, and products that allowed active semantic information’s integration. Due to the nature of the company’s focus on new technologies we believe that this match up is going to be a good one. The combination of an innovator with a steadily established business in the market can make for some breakthroughs in the future.
Edie Marie, August 29, 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
Trouble Looms for HPs Autonomy
August 22, 2012
CRN recently reported on dissent within the Autonomy leadership team in the article “HP Shuffles Autonomy Leadership, Departed Execs Cite Stifling Bureaucracy.”
According to the article, there have been recent changes to the Autonomy management team on the company’s Web site. While some people have been shuffled in from other sectors of the organization, other names have simply vanished. HP has declined to comment on whether or not these positions are being replaced. In addition to this news, or lack thereof, 250 Autonomy employees have quit, but a recent email to remaining employees has discussed a bright future.
In January, CEO Meg Whitman told CRN that HP would roll out Autonomy to channel partners carefully so as not to flood them with leads that they can not fulfill.
The article states:
“Whitman, who has often referred to Autonomy as a “baby tiger” to describe its vulnerability in the vastness of HP, also spoke of the care with which HP integrated the company after the deal closed.
‘It’s easy for a big company to roll over a little company in an acquisition. HP is so huge that we could have overwhelmed them, so we tried to do a really smart job of setting that up,’ Whitman said at the time. “
Regardless of what was intended, it appears to us that HP has not succeeded in their plans to shelter the little company that they acquired.
Jasmine Ashton, August 22, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Mercado Ignition Evolves into Adobe Search&Promote
August 13, 2012
Looking for Mercado’s search system and merchandising suite Ignition? It is currently tough to find, but it is still available. It is now called Search&Promote, and is owned by Adobe.
Companies can weave a confusing web when they start snapping each other up. Omniture bought Mercado and renamed the software Omniture Merchandising. Then Adobe bought Omniture. It seems businesses would get more sales if it were easier for customers to find the products they liked in an earlier incarnation. Why not just go with “Adobe Ignition?” Nah, too simple.
Here’s the description of the system in its latest form:
“Adobe Search&Promote enables marketers to optimize how visitors browse, find, compare, and select relevant products and content on web and mobile sites. Businesses can easily promote priority items based on business objectives and visitor intent, as well as automate merchandising and promotions activity via KPI-based triggers or metrics. Adobe Search&Promote is part of the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite for online business optimization.”
The software is available as an enterprise SaaS application. The search and navigation interfaces are flexible, and the marketing console is designed to be intuitive.
Mercado began in 1998, and was based in Pleasanton, California. Founded in 1996, Omniture lives on as a division of Adobe, and is based in Orem, Utah. Adobe, of course, is a publishing and (now) marketing software powerhouse that began in 1982 and just keeps expanding. They famously gave the world the Portable Document Format (PDF) in 1993.
Cynthia Murrell, August 13, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Genetics Company 23andMe Acquires Web Site CureTogether
August 9, 2012
Here we have an intriguing development for a company in which Googler Sergey Brin has an interest. MIT’s Technology Review reveals, “23andMe Expands its Data Mining Operations.” The personal genetics company has acquired CureTogether, an online forum wherein about 25,000 members discuss their diseases, treatments, and lifestyle choices. A valuable resource for folks living with illnesses—and a wealth of healthcare-related data.
Writer Susan Young reveals:
“23andMe sells DNA tests directly to consumers who send a spit sample to the company for genomic screening of up to 1 million genetic variants, which are a mix of both recreational (e.g. the genetic basis for tongue rolling) and serious medical traits (e.g. genetic factors associated with Parkinson’s Disease) as well as variants that indicate a customer’s ancestry.
“The amount of the purchase was not reported and is 23andMe’s first acquisition, according to the San Francisco Business Times.”
The name 23andMe, of course, is a reference to humankind’s 23 chromosomes. The company’s worthy mission is simply “to be the world’s trusted source of personal genetic information.” The acquisition of CureTogether should help them toward that goal. Founded in 2006, 23andMe makes its home in Mountain View, California. If you’re curious about their service, take a look at this fact sheet.
Cynthia Murrell, August 9, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Lexmark Touts Brainware as a Global Player
August 6, 2012
In their News Blog, Lexmark praises Brainware’s latest global associations in “Brainware Update: Capturing Relationships Globally.” The piece explains that data capture outfit Brainware is “expanding more than ever before,” with several new partnerships in new regions formed over the last six weeks alone. These new allies include Mexico’s STN Latam, whose specialty is finance resource planning; Outsourcing and IT consultants Novosit in the Dominica Republic; and IT services firm Content Concepts, operating in the Asia Pacific market. Nice work. See the write up for more details on each enterprise.
The Lexmark second quarter earnings call also mentioned Brainware, stating:
“Perceptive announced that the University of Kansas plans to expand the use of Perceptive Software solutions to a university-wide contract. This will also include the use of Brainware’s award-winning Distiller software to streamline invoice processing. . . .
“And we are leveraging our MPS enterprise presence along with our new Brainware intelligent capture expertise to help our customers extend their smart MFPs to now scan, classify and extract key content from documents all automatically and deposit the content directly into a core system or process, reducing time and manual labor costs in the process.”
It sounds like Brainware is bringing a lot to Lexmark’s projects. The company was formed in 2006 with the buyout of technology from SER Solutions. They emphasize that their auto-learning data capture and search solutions are scalable and user-friendly.
Veteran enterprise search technology vendor ISYS Search Software, another Lexmark acquisition, also received a (brief) mention in the earnings call.
Cynthia Murrell, August 6, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Did Google Overpay for Motorola?
August 3, 2012
Though Google cited patent collection as a primary motivation for acquiring Motorola, The Wall Street Journal now tells us, “Google Says Patents, Tech Were Less Than Half Motorola’s Price.” In a recent regulatory filing, the company revealed that $5.5 billion of the $12.4 billion investment covered ‘patents and developed technology.” Nevertheless, I suspect the company is pleased with its purchase; as writer John Letzing notes:
“Google has sought to bulk up on patents as a protective measure, as a number of its technology rivals have targeted both the company and its Android software with litigation.
“Oracle sued Google for alleged patent and copyright infringement by Android in 2010, though a related trial earlier this year resulted in a victory for Google.”
Yes, the protection a trove of patents can provide is a valuable thing, valuable enough to put up with a lot. The article also reveals:
“Google reported second-quarter earnings that included Motorola results from a portion of the period. Google said Motorola contributed some $1.25 billion in revenue, though the new unit also posted a $233 million operating loss.”
Eh, the patents and an operating loss of $233 million are but peanuts to Google. All in the cost of doing its globe-dominating business.
Cynthia Murrell, August 3, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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