HP Acquires Autonomy. Investors Put on a Happy Face
October 4, 2011
A news release whizzed by on October 3, 2011, bearing happy tidings to Autonomy stakeholders. The deal with Hewlett Packard has been consummated. The news release asserted:
The acquisition positions HP as a leader in the large and growing enterprise information management space. Autonomy’s software offerings power more than 25,000 customer accounts worldwide and, as part of HP, will provide high-value business solutions to help customers manage the explosion of unstructured and structured information. Autonomy offers solutions that are complementary across HP’s enterprise offerings and strengthens the company’s data analytics, cloud, industry and workflow management capabilities.
Now with Ms. Whitman at the helm and Autonomy in the HP flotilla, will the company be able to generate the revenue required to pay for the “meaning based computing company.” I don’t have a clue. HP has some interesting challenges, but it has some big money units, including the ink business. I also think the print on demand unit has some potential, and the company desperately needs an improved findability solution for that unit as well as the HP Web site.
Fascinating to consider what HP can do. Microsoft paid $1.2 billion for Fast Search & Transfer. After three years, Fast Search is more or less a freebie for customers who buy oodles of client access licenses and jump on the SharePoint bandwagon. What will HP do with Autonomy? Make lots of money quickly is presumably one goal. We will monitor the trajectory of the deal because we think Mike Lynch could be the person to push out Ms. Whitman and get Autonomy managed effectively. Mr. Lynch is associated with search, but I think he is a much under-rated senior manager. HP could be the platform he needs to allow his skills to be showcased on a larger stage. Some “real” consultants who failed at being Web masters, home economics majors, and students of 18th century poetry will doubt my confidence in Mr. Lynch. Well, that’s why I am a big wheel in rural Kentucky and the “real” experts hang out in the world’s watering holes, not a pond filled with mine run off. Oh, the real consultants are not counting their billions as is Mr. Lynch I surmise.
Stephen E Arnold, October 4, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Autonomy Deal a Big Go
September 23, 2011
Short honk: I learned that the deal to buy Autonomy for $10 billion is a big go. Navigate to “HP’s Whitman: PC Spinoff, Autonomy Deal Still On.” Here is the passage I noted:
With regard to the potential spinoff of PSG, we’re committed to doing work right now to determine the best path forward and we expect the board to make a determination by the end of the calendar year if not sooner. This decision is solely based on the value to and investors and value to customers. Second, the Autonomy acquisition is proceeding as planned and is expected to be completed by the end of the calendar year and third, we continue to explore options to optimize the value of WebOS software.
Do I have some views of this deal? You bet. Will these be snapped into my free blog? Not a chance. Why make life easy for the failed Web masters, unemployed history majors, and repurposed home economics poobah-ettes.
Stephen E Arnold, September 23, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
The Summer of Big Deals
September 1, 2011
Will These Blockbusters Affect Business Intelligence?
The summer has been a hot one, not in terms of temperature, but when measured on the acquisition thermometer. First, Oracle the sprawling database and enterprise applications company bought InQuira. Then, Google took one third of its cash and the equivalent of two years’ profit and bought Motorola Mobility. And Hewlett Packard, one of the icon’s of the Silicon Valley way, spent $10 billion on its surprise purchase of Autonomy plc.
Business intelligence, intellectual property, and information management turned up the heat for investors and those tracking active market sectors. The market interest is high and many think these deals are likely to sustain their energy. But I don’t see it that way. I think the deals are more like dumping charcoal starter on charcoal briquettes: Very dramatic at ignition but certain to cool and fade into the fabric of day-to-day activity.
Starting a charcoal fire can produce some initial pyrotechnics. These fade quickly.
As the founder of Digital Reasoning, a company focused on delivering the next-generation solution-based on entity oriented analytics, I see these deals from the perspective of working with customers to solve big data analytics challenges. First, let me give you my view of information management and traditional business analytics and then outline where I think the technology and the market are going.
Business intelligence in general and analytics particular are now verbal noise. I know that most of the professionals with whom I speak interpret the phrase “business intelligence” in terms of their own experiences in getting information to make a decision. For some, business intelligence is a report and follow up telephone conversation with a human expert. Don’t get me wrong, consultants and advisors often do great work, but my point is that the phrase “business intelligence” is anchored in a method of information analysis rooted in human behavior unchanged since our ancestors sat around the camp fire roasting meat on sticks.,
The word analytics is equally difficult to explain. For many of our clients, analytics means SAS or SPSS (both the bread and butter of traditional statistics courses and business analysts from banking to warehouse management).
Oracle Snaps Up InQuira
July 29, 2011
We learned from a source in Silicon Valley that Oracle has acquired InQuira. We noted “Oracle Buys InQuira to Boost Fusion CRM”. InQuira is an interesting search company. The firm was formed in 2002 from two semi successful search companies, Answerfriend Inc. and Electric Knowledge Inc. The company hit its stride with its positioning of “natural language search” for customer support applications. InQuira hit my radar screen when it signed a deal with Yahoo to power the Yahoo customer support service. I wrote about the upside and downside of the Yahoo implementation and then looked at InQuira every few months. You can run a query in Beyond Search and get a list of the articles I wrote to track the company’s activities since 2008. InQuira has been able to move forward despite the lemmings of search rushing into the customer service market.
According to the IDG News write up:
The company has patented NLP (natural language processing) capabilities that enable it to determine the “true intent” of a customer question, according to its website. “We expect InQuira to be the centerpiece for Oracle Fusion CRM Service,” said Anthony Lye, senior vice president of Oracle CRM, in a statement.
Our view at Beyond Search is that buying InQuira is probably a reasonable move for Oracle. The company’s Secure Enterprise Search 11g is not suited for the Fusion type of application. Oracle purchased Triple Hop, but I have lost track of that firm’s Match Point innovation within the giantness of Oracle.
Will InQuira propel Oracle forward in enterprise search in its various manifestations? My hunch is that Oracle will generate additional revenue and put pressure on the incumbents in the customer support market. Oracle may need to acquire additional search and content processing companies in order to meet the needs of the big and diverse Oracle customer base. InQuira’s approach often requires significant computational horsepower. Oracle is positioned to sell InQuira’s customers the hardware required to deliver zippy performance.
We think the notion of a giant company building a “knowledge management” solution is sort of interesting. Big companies have to buy other companies to move forward. That’s why we think Oracle may still be shopping for search and content management solutions.
Stephen E Arnold, July 29, 2011
Freebie unlike products from Oracle and InQuira.
Google Strikes Sparkbuy
June 4, 2011
Search Engine Watch reports “Google Buys Electronics Search Engine Sparkbuy.” The innovators behind the young startup seem surprised at their success. Though declining to reveal details about the deal, the company has posted a giddy letter to its customers on its Web site.
The Search Engine Watch article explains Sparkbuy’s service:
Built in late 2010 and launched just two months ago in March, Shapiro created the VC and angel-backed Sparkbuy because ‘using traditional search engines such as Bing and Google to search for laptops, TVs or other electronics is kind of like trying to find a needle in a haystack.’ Sparkbuy is to consumer electronics search what Expedia or Kayak are to travel search.
The news was timely for the Sparkbuy team, because they had begun to grasp how widely their methodology could apply if they but had the resources.
Voila! Now they will be working at Google to bring their algorithmic talents beyond electronics, starting with Advisor, Google’s new mortgage, credit card, and bank account comparison site.
Congratulations, guys. Will you work on your product or are you Google human resources?
Cynthia Murrell, June 4, 2011
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, the resource for enterprise search information and current news about data fusion
Autonomy Mines Iron Mountain
May 16, 2011
I have written about Stratify in the three editions of the Enterprise Search Report which I wrote when “search” was hot, and in my Gilbane report named after this blog. Since late 2010, Stratify (originally named Purple Yogi which got some In-Q-Tel love in 2001) has gotten lost within Iron Mountain’s labyrinth of organizational tunnels. Now Iron Mountain seems to face significant financial, technical, business, and management challenges. The details of what Autonomy snagged are fuzzy, but based on the sketchy information that flowed to me since May 12, 2011, here’s what I have been able to “mine”:
Autonomy mines Iron Mountain for revenue, customer, and upsell “gold.” Image source: http://www.davestravelcorner.com/articles/goldcountry/article.htm
- Autonomy will get the archiving, eDiscovery, and online back up business of Iron Mountain
- No word on the fate of Mimosa Systems which Iron Mountain bought in early 2010. (My recollection is that Mimosa used a mid tier search solution obtained from a third party. I want to link Mimosa with dtSearch, but I may be mistaken on that point.)
- Autonomy will apply is well-honed management method to the properties. Expect to see Autonomy push ever closer to $1.0 billion in revenues, maybe this calendar year.
You can get some numbers from the news item “Autonomy Acquires Some Iron Mountain Digital Assets for $380 Million.”
Stratify’s technology was the cat’s pajamas years ago. More recently, the technology has lagged. Iron Mountain’s own difficulties distracted the company from its digital opportunities. My view is the Iron Mountain made an all to familiar error: Online looks easy but looks are deceiving.
Some of the former Web masters, failed “real” journalists, and self appointed search experts will enjoy the opportunity to berate Autonomy for its acquisitions and growth tactics, but I think those folks are wrong.
Autonomy does manage its acquisitions to generate stakeholder and customer value.
In fact, Autonomy’s track record with its acquisitions is, in my opinion, better than either Google’s or Microsoft’s. As for Endeca, that company has fallen behind Autonomy due to different management strategies and growth tactics. Don’t believe me?
Just look at Autonomy’s track record, top line revenue, profits, and customer base, not tweets from a yesterday thinker at a lumber-filled, pay to play meet up.
Stephen E Arnold, May 16, 2011
Freebie.
Facebook to Skype Google
May 5, 2011
If true, Facebook is going to Skype the GOOG. Annoying? Not to me. To Google? On the surface, nah. Inside the Google cubicles? You bet. You can read “Facebook Buying Out Skype? $4 Billion Deal Being Talked About” and decide for yourself if the story is on the money. The story asserts:
By the way, if you are looking at going into what the $4 billion ‘possible’ takeover would bring to Skype, let us also take you to a situation where Skype had been mulling over an IPO. If you would remember, the Skype IPO was recently delayed by its new CEO until the second half of 2011. And that public offer would have brought to the Skype coffers only around $1 billion. Considering such a scene, the Facebook move, if at all that bears fruit, could mean a lot to Skype. We also hear Google too is looking at a venture with Skype. More details are awaited.
I will “await”. But with display ads humming along, lots of stateful users who spend hours being social, and now the Skype phone and video conference plus message thing. Wow. If the deal goes down, Google has to do some fancy dancing at this ice cream social.
Stephen E Arnold, May 5, 2011
Freebie
WalMart Grabs Kosmix
April 25, 2011
Kosmix, along with the now defunct Navgle, were among the most interesting mash up search systems we tracked. The Google deal with Naver for the Navgle service was problematic and disappeared quietly. Did you even notice? Kosmix was a company founded by Anand Rajaraman, a fellow with pretty good connections to some interesting Googlers. Early on, I thought that Google might acquire the company, but the deal went a different direction. Instead of motoring on Highway 101, Kosmix took a flight to Bentonville, Arkansas. We were surprised when we learned in the article “Wal-Mart Acquires Kosmix to Move Into Social and Mobile.”
Kosmix streams postings from social networking sites and organizes them by topic. As noted in the article:
It’s not particularly clear how Kosmix leads to better mobile and social interactions. The company may be best known for powering TweetBeat, which it defines as a real-time social media filter for live events. It also operates Kosmix.com, where people go to discover social content by topic, and it operates RightHealth, which it claims to be one of the top three health and medical information sites by reach.
Kosmix’s value is apparently clear to Walmart. They expect it be an important part of their ecommerce strategy, centered in its new @WalmartLabs. The deal should be complete in the first half of this year. We don’t know much about WalMart, but the company operates in a way that would make Ebenezer Scrooge fell warm all over. The WalMartization of Kosmix should be fun to watch.
Cynthia Murrell April 25, 2011
Are Google Rules Made to Be Broken?
March 9, 2011
I am not into financial comparisons in the UK or in the US for that matter. Too many opportunities to fiddle the data exist. Your view of these types of online services may be different from mine. After all, I am 66 and have worked in the commercial online sector for 30 plus years. Yep, lots of looseness exists. Anyone remember the ratings of certain financial instruments coincident with the financial meltdown in 2008?
The story that caught my attention was “Google Buys BeatThatQuote, a UK Comparison Site Violating Google’s Guidelines.” The main idea was that Google acquired a semi-hot company for pocket change; that is, $60 million or so. The SEOBook article asserted:
What is screwed up about this is that Google is engaging in *major* channel conflict. Not only is there some gray area background stuff:
“BeatThatQuote.com’s ad prompted 101 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, with 65 objecting that the commercial “trivialized, condoned or encouraged bullying in the workplace”.”
But now they have to consider SEO as well. I highlighted how it was a bit unjust when Google arbitrarily chose to whack one site while letting another get away with worse just because the founder was good at public relations, but how can Google police Google’s guidelines when Google is the one breaking them?
Now this is quite interesting. Are Google’s rules made to be broken? Heck, when you are a really big outfit operating in post crash America with a great deal of cash, rules are mostly “suggestions” or “hints”.
I think that as consolidation continues in the online space, the spirit of AT&T before Judge Green will influence a number of firms’ acquisition activities. Google is not doing anything much different from some other firms in similar positions. The free market encourages rules that work much like suggestions or hints.
Adaptation is an important attribute.
Stephen E Arnold, March 9, 2011
Freebie
AOL, Search, and Management
January 18, 2011
I miss Relegence.com, a property acquired by AOL and now subsumed into the various consumer services AOL offers. I used to enjoy testing AOL Search. The company once had PLS (Personal Library Software), then Thunderstone, then Fast Search & Transfer, and now I just don’t know.
What is interesting are two stories I saw today (January 17, 2011). The first appeared in the hard copy of the New York Times I get each morning. Well, most mornings. Delivery is a challenge in Harrod’s Creek when the weather does not cooperate. The article explained that AOL was doing well with Patch.com, a locality information service. You may be able to read the NYT article at this link, but, like home delivery in Harrod’s Creek, access can be a hit and miss affair. This is a Kool-Aid story, sparkling with good news. Now Patch.com is interesting because the company was the or one of the founders. See “Tim Armstrong’s Patch to Cash In on Death of Newspapers.” Xoogler Armstrong is the top dog at AOL. I find this interesting and amusing, particularly because the NYT often gilds lilies.
The other interesting story is the dust up between two AOL information services. I don’t understand what the hassle between two Web logs concerns. What does interest me is that Xoogler Armstrong is not able to manage the issue. You can one blog’s view at “Dear Michael Arrington.” You can get the other blog’s angle at “Blog Fight Rules of Engagement.”
My view is:
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- AOL management should focus on making its services and content findable
- The content side of the business may want to brand its properties so what is really a snit among siblings is easily identified as an in-house affair. Do you know what Project Phoenix is?
- The notion that working at Google translates to management expertise gets another dent in its sleek, retro rod exterior.
Just our opinion where the newspapers may not get delivered and the local citizens shoot squirrels with big guns.
Stephen E Arnold, January 18, 2011
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