LucidWorks Offers Enterprise Analytics Webinar
July 5, 2013
LucidWorks is offering an exciting series of webinars this July as part of their commitment to training and service. Check out their next webinar, “Operationalize Enterprise Analytics – Similarity Search at Any Scale.”
The introduction to the upcoming session begins:
“How do you introduce big data analytics into your daily business, foster rapid adoption, and ensure a return on your investment? Similarity Search provides a foundation for enterprise analytics that can be operationalized by delivering advanced, automated data exploration capability. Learn how Similarity Search can significantly increase productivity across a broad spectrum of data search use cases.”
A dream team of experts is collaborating including Grant Ingersoll of LucidWorks, Christine Connors of Knowledgent, and Ted Dunning of MapR. These solutions have formed recent partnerships and collaborations in order to further the case of open source search across the enterprise. Fill out the simple form to register for this free session and instructions will be sent via email for viewing. Keep an eye on LucidWorks and their training hub, SearchHub.org for ongoing training opportunities.
Emily Rae Aldridge, July 5, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
HPs Big Data Blend
July 2, 2013
HP leverages several analytics acquisitions in one fell swoop, ZDNet reports in, “HP Launches Big Data Platform, Integrates Acquired Analytics Parts.” The company revealed the new platform, HAVEn, at its recent Discover conference in Las Vegas. The write-up states:
“HAVEn combines technologies from HP Autonomy, Vertica, ArcSight and Operations Management along with Hadoop. Most of those parts were acquired by HP in recent years. HP is betting that more than 700 connectors to HAVEn will help customers avoid lock-in via an open architecture. HP also has support for multiple virtualization technologies and optimized hardware. In other words, HP is selling you a big data stack from one vendor with the ability to integrate other analytical tools.
“The first big data effort built on HAVEn is HP Operations Analytics, which is a combination of IT operational data from tools from ArcSight and the company’s business service management products. Third party data sources will also be ingested. HP is rounding out the effort with analytics services.”
It sounds like HAVEn might be more than the sum of its parts; kudos to the company for a strategy well played. HP is giving potential customers a free taste with the Vertica Community Edition, which will analyze one terabyte of data gratis before entreating you to upgrade. It may well be worth checking out.
Cynthia Murrell, July 02, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Palantir: $300 Million Not Enough?
June 30, 2013
I spotted a blog post called “Could Palantir Technologies Be Raising Additional Funding?” I have no clue who or what is behind this interesting item. The main idea is that Palantir, a high profile company which has been in the news about litigation and other matters, has been funded already. According to Crunchbase, the company has more than $300 million in funding. For the sake of comparison, Attivio and Coveo — both in the content processing space — have been able to drum up about $30 million in funding. Most of the companies in the search and content processing space — Digital Reasoning, for instance — have garnered a fraction of what long time players Attivio and Coveo have been able to gather. At the time of its sale to Oracle, Endeca — another content processing and intelligence vendors — was generating an estimated $150 million in revenues. At the time of its sale to Hewlett Packard, Autonomy was nosing into the $800 million range. But the key figure for Autonomy is that it sold to the prescient managers at HP for more than $10 billion.
Let’s assume that Palantir has received funding in the $300 million range. Let’s assume that the company is not raising any additional funding. Let’s assume that the company, founded in 2004, is going to pay back its investors, operate at a profit, and fund necessary research to keep the content processing system in step with competitors like Cybertap, among others.
So what does the gargantuan funding suggest to me, this fine, humid Sunday morning in rural Kentucky?
First, revenue in the Endeca range or even the Autonomy range, may not be enough to meet investors’ targets. Expectations for big plays are rarely in the credit union savings account range. To hit a 10x return, Palantir has to be in the $3 billion per year range. That works out to 3X the revenue of Autonomy and 30X plus Autonomy’s revenue? How may companies today selling content processing are in this $3 billion club? According to my data, not too many. Based on the information I monitor, no search or content processing company has hit this type of revenue goal since I have been monitoring the 200 companies in the Overflight service.
Second, the $300 million funding may be a signal that doing advanced search and content processing is not just expensive. The costs are quite high and may be difficult for Palantir’s senior management to predict. (Perhaps the company needs some of Recorded Future’s technology to get the money thing parameterized?) Will the costs of creating, supporting, and innovating a service like Palantir whet the appetites of big bucks investors for Palantir or stimulate a flow of revenue into one of the dozens of start ups in the space? Will, for example, Quid benefit?
Third, perhaps the massive funding is a form of stage dressing for a high profile, super sized sale of the company. Could large firms be jockeying to bid eBay-style for Palantir. The idea is that if so much smart money has flowed into the firm, a more IBM-style or GM-style management approach can uncork massive revenues and even more gigantic profits? I can formulate this question, “Is the Palantir cash appetite a prelude to the main course; that is, the blockbuster sale later this year or in 2014?”
A Palantir professional asked me recently, “Why do you ping Palantir?”
Answer: Heck, it is an anomaly in funding, in litigation, and in getting media attention. Why wouldn’t I pay attention to Palantir? I have zero interest in writing about the actions of a government entity. Last time I checked, a retired person approaching 70 years of age can do research and summarize it, offer an opinion, and ask questions, right?
I have a goose as a logo. Maybe I am angling for a stand up comedy gig at the local open mike night in a big city not far from Harrod’s Creek? Ever think of that? I don’t think investors who do not get their money back are going to be in a receptive frame of mind for my brand of humor? I did not need Recorded Future to predict that, by the way.
Stephen E Arnold, June 30, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky
At the Top of the BI Stack
June 28, 2013
Business intelligence tools are becoming a big priority for even small businesses. TopCultured supplies some guidance for those considering their options in, “The 4 Biggest Business Intelligence Companies.” We were a little surprised that writer Drew Hendricks included Microsoft on this list.
The write-up begins:
“Finding the meaning behind mountains of raw data can be a difficult task, especially for companies that have not been monitoring their processes on a regular basis. Keeping an eye on business intelligence can tell stories of new opportunities, potential verticals for growth, and identify dangerous problems, allowing companies to enact a solution.
“As business intelligence becomes more accessible to smaller companies and startups, with app developers driving mobile solutions, the need for BI-trained workers and software solutions goes up. Take a look at the four top business intelligence companies out there now.”
With that, the list begins. Roambi is lauded for being easy to use and interpret. YellowFin boasts a bird’s-eye-view of a company’s strengths and weaknesses. In at number three, Domo is flexible enough to be used throughout an organization. Microsoft‘s SharePoint—well, I suppose being “considered the industry standard” does give the veteran platform some standing.
See the article for more on each of these companies. Organizations would do well to carefully consider their needs and investigate all options before choosing a BI platform.
Cynthia Murrell, June 28, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Enterprise Analytics with Similarity Search
June 25, 2013
Today SearchHub.org is offering a webinar designed to help organizations implement Similarity Search across the enterprise. In a collaboration between Knowledgent, MapR, and LucidWorks, the webinar, “Operationalize Enterprise Analytics: Similarity Search at any Scale,” will explore integrating Big Data analytics into daily business.
The webinar will address:
“How do you introduce big data analytics into your daily business, foster rapid adoption, and ensure a return on your investment? Similarity Search provides a foundation for enterprise analytics that can be operationalized by delivering advanced, automated data exploration capability. Learn how Similarity Search can significantly increase productivity across a broad spectrum of data search use cases.”
It is very exciting to see collaboration between so many heavy hitters in the open source enterprise world. Such partnerships are really molding and shaping open source enterprise technologies, and Big Data solutions in particular are really benefiting. The LucidWorks products on their own are intuitive and efficient solutions for many organizational needs. However, such collaborations truly push the edge on what emerging technologies can do and we cannot wait to see what is next.
Emily Rae Aldridge, June 25, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Functional Versus Aesthetic
June 15, 2013
While the idea of the functional aesthetic is popular in contemporary art, there is an unsurprising parallel to math. Both artistic mediums like metal and paint in addition to numbers on a page are in the end both symbols. A blog called The Old New Thing posted a thought-provoking article called “Mathematical Formulas are Designed to be Pretty Not to be Suitable for Computation.”
According to the article, mathematicians are concerned with the elegance and formatting of equations – sometimes to the point where function matters less.
The author points to a few ways that he sees a solution to this issue developing:
“Often people will ask for an efficient way of calculating factorials, when in fact they don’t really need factorials (which is a good thing, because that would require a bignum package); they are really just trying to evaluate a formula that happens to be expressed mathematically with factorials (because factorials are pretty). Another place pretty formulas prove unsuitable for computation is in Taylor series. The denominator of a Taylor series is typically a factorial, and the numerator can get quite large, too. For example, exp(x) = ? x? ? n!.”
It appears that computational needs and math may not be congruent. Both the big picture and the nitty gritty of what the author points to in this article could be quite a shock for some in the analytics sci fi game.
Megan Feil, June 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Search and Content Processing Vendor in the Spotlight
June 8, 2013
Once again I have no opinion about allegations regarding data intercepts. Not my business. Here in Harrod’s Creek, I am thrilled to have electric power and a couple of dogs to accompany me on my morning walk in the hollow by the pond filled with mine drainage.
I did read a TPM story commenting about Palantir, a company which has more than $100 million in funding and now has a PR profile higher than the Empire State Building. The write up explains that a company with search, connectors, and some repackaged numerical recipes may be involved with certain US government activities.
Here’s a quote from a quote in the write up:
Apparently, Palantir has a software package called “Prism”: “Prism is a software component that lets you quickly integrate external databases into Palantir.” That sounds like exactly the tool you’d want if you were trying to find patterns in data from multiple companies.
The write up has some links to Palantir documents.
Several thoughts:
First, there are quite a few firms working in the same content processing sector as Palantir. Some of these you may know; for example IBM. Others are probably off your radar and maybe drifting into oblivion like Digital Reasoning. The point is that many organizations looking to make money from search and content processing have turned to government contracts to stay afloat. Why haven’t real journalists and azure chip consultants cranking out pay to play profiles described the business functions of these outfits? Maybe these experts and former English majors are not such smart folks after all. Writing about Microsoft is just easier perhaps>
Second, the fancy math outfits are not confined to Silicon Valley. Nope, there are some pretty clever systems built and operated outside the US. You can find some nifty technology in such surprising places as downtown Paris, a Stockholm suburb, and far off Madrid. Why? There is a global appetite for software and systems which can make sense of Big Data. I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but these systems do not vary too much. They use similar math, have similar weaknesses, and similar outputs. The reason? Ah, gentle reader, Big O helps make clear why fancy math systems are pretty much alike as information access systems have been for decades.
Third, the marketers convince the bureaucrats that they have a capability which is bigger, faster, and cheaper. In today’s world this translates to giant server farms and digital Dysons. When the marketers have moved on to sell Teslas, lesser souls are left with the task of making the systems work.
My view is that we are in the midst of the largest single PR event related to search in my lifetime.
Will the discussion of search and content processing improve information access?
Nope.
Will the visibility alter the trajectory of hybrid systems which “understand” content?
Nope.
Will Big Data yield high value insights which the marketers promised?
Nope.
My thought is that there will be more marketing thrills in the search and content processing sector. Stay tuned but don’t use a fancy math system to pick your retirement investment, the winner of today’s Belmont, or do much more than deliver a 1970s type of survey output.
Oh, the Big O. The annoying computational barriers. The need to recycle a dozen or so well known math methods juiced with some visualizations.
The search and content processing bandwagon rolls forward. The cloud of unknowing surrounds information access. What’s new?
Stephen E Arnold, June 8, 2013
Sponsored by Xenky, the ArnoldIT portal.
The Old Bayesian Recipe: Burning the Predictive Reality Cupcakes
June 7, 2013
I don’t have any comment about the alleged surveillance conducted by governments or the comments of giant online vendors alleged interactions with governments. I will leave the subject and speculations to those younger than I and possibly — just possibly — less well informed folks.
I do want to call attention to the write up “How Likely Is the NSA PRISM Program to Catch a Terrorist?” The source is the Bayesian Biologist. I know less about PRISM, biology, and Bayes than my neighbors here in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky.
Here’s the snippet I noted in the “How Likely” story:
for every positive (the NSA calls these ‘reports’) there is only a 1 in 10,102 chance (using our rough assumptions) that they’ve found a real bad guy.Big brother is always watching, but he’s still got a needle in a haystack problem.
I think that there might be some fascinating marketing hype, fear, and salami in the digital blender.
In my most recent lecture about Big Data and the limitations of today’s software:
Collecting is one thing. Finding is another.
Search, content processing, and analytics work well in certain circumstances; for example, trimmed data sets which match the textbook checklists for valid inputs and when key facts are known such as the name and aliases of an entity.
Today’s systems — no matter what the marketers say — have been designed to work within some constraints. Marketers and fear mongers don’t have to cope with computational realities.
Stephen E Arnold, June 7, 2013
HP and SAP Spat Could Be Trouble for Stocks
June 7, 2013
Up until now the world of big data analytics has been a relatively friendly, yet competitive one. There always seems to be news of new partnerships and business deals among providers. However, as big money gets bigger, big data is getting mouthy. We discovered just how one war of words began in a recent Register article, “HP Tried to Offload Autonomy on SAP, says SAP Co-Chief.”
According to the story:
So, if you’re keeping track: Oracle didn’t want Autonomy. Oracle says it was approached about a sale before HP bought it. Dell didn’t want Autonomy, turning it down before HP bought it, too. Now, SAP didn’t want Autonomy, either, turning it down after HP bought it.
Poor Autonomy, right? Well, not so fast. This is where the story starts getting interesting. The battle over this beleaguered software title has begun to resemble political campaign double speak. Notably, there was the article in the Business Insider, which saw HP stating: “Contrary to reports in the media, HP has no interest is selling Autonomy. During the past year, we’ve received inquiries from SAP about purchasing HP software assets, and time and again we’ve said ‘no.’” Either way, this looks like the makings of an interesting rivalry. However, if squabbling continues, we’d expect stock prices for both companies to waver. In the meantime, why not use LucidWorks or one of the venture backed “been around a while” systems?
Patrick Roland June 07, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Google Needs Predictive Analytic Enlightenment
June 7, 2013
Search is not a perfect thing. While many platforms look like they have the answer all the time, the fact is that human curiosity far outreaches what some search can and can’t do…even the behemoth of search. We discovered exactly how in a recent CNET story, “Google Search Scratches its Head 500 Million Times a Day.”
According to the story:
On a daily basis, 15 percent of queries submitted — 500 million — have never been seen before by Google’s search engine, and that has continued for the nearly 15 years the company has existed, according to John Wiley, the lead designer for Google Search.
Okay, that’s understandable and completely shocking from a volume perspective. But, hey, here’s a novel idea, Google, how about predicting what users want for that 15 percent? Sure, it may be less relevant than selling ads, as Freakanomics recently noted. Meanwhile, tons of smaller companies are perfecting predictive analytics, which Google apparently hasn’t. For those looking to get a handle on predictive analytics (*Cough* Google) we recently found a terrific guide which lays out the ins and outs of analytics for those looking for enlightenment.
Patrick Roland, June 07, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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