3D Company Wants In On Financial Industry
January 8, 2013
Dassault Systèmes is one of the premiere leaders in 3D solutions from design, digital mock-up, and product lifecycle management. Press Zoom brings us the exciting headline: “Dassault Systèmes Launches the First Industry Solution Experiences for Financial Services: ‘Product Innovation Factory.’”
According to the article the new endeavor is described as:
“Based on Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, “Product Innovation Factory” allows product managers from investment, wealth management, insurance and banking organizations to capitalize on market opportunities, as well as to respond quickly to market and regulatory challenges in order to accelerate the lifecycle of financial products from ideas to sales. “Product Innovation Factory” leverages the same technologies used by the world’s leading aerospace, consumer products, retail and life sciences companies to drive innovation, mitigate operational risk and maintain transparency regardless of product complexity.”
Of course, with any new technology deployment in this day and age it includes analytics, data management, social intelligence, and collaboration. The Production Innovation Factory has its own collaborative content management platform along with Big Data analytics it seems. The new product comes at a time when financial services are trying to predict their clients’ needs and take advantage of the rich fields of data open to them. The Product Innovation Factory allows its users to control their data with seamless real-time control.
What is apparent in this new tool is that product management and technology and search meet for the purpose of innovation. Search is going to be the real powerhouse behind the factory, for without it how are the users going to manage and find their content?
Whitney Grace, January 08, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Savanna Provides Model Enabled and User Generated Analysis
January 7, 2013
A powerful new suit of analytical tools has been released that allows for user-generated, model-enabled analysis. Savanna by Thetus places discoveries in meaningful context and is open and flexible, according to the product website. An article on SYS-CON Media, “Thetus Savanna: Powerful but Easy to Learn Analytic Tools,” describes the uses and capabilities of the new technology.
We learn the best ways to learn how to apply Savanna:
“It is very capable, and surprisingly easy to learn. This means once an enterprise has installed and configured Savanna very little (or no) training is required before the workforce can apply it. Organizations will definitely want to think through the best uses of Savanna, but even that is not hard. I recommend doing that two ways: 1) Watch some of the overview demos of Savanna on Youtube and 2) Watch the overview I built below that walks you through how I used it […]”
We like the fact that the product allows users to perform analysis and author their findings in one place, as well as the ability to fit into existing infrastructures. Some good videos are available that overview the suite and are fairly approachable, including the one posted at the mentioned article: http://www.sys-con.com/node/2480874.
Andrea Hayden, January 07, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Attivio Offers Attractive Security Options
January 7, 2013
Attivio makes a very strong case for its own security solution in “The Pitfalls of Early Binding, Late Binding and Hybrid Security Models.” The well-organized article begins by describing each model and its pitfalls. For example, early binding requires constant content reprocessing, while late binding tends to slow response times considerably. The hybrid model, naturally, retains flaws from both its parent models. This section would actually make a good primer on the subject.
Next, the piece explains Attivio’s unique approach, which began by looking at how organizations actually used access controls. Steve Bower, director of client engineering and author of the post, discusses his company’s method:
“The first thing we came to understand was that changes in access control are primarily changes in access to sets – sometimes large – of content, as well changes to the user/group structure itself. . . .
“At the root of our Active Security model is the idea of breaking up the access control problem into its constituent parts; users, groups, documents and ACLs. To accomplish this, Active Security models documents, ACLs and user/group hierarchies as independent records within the Attivio universal index, enabling discrete control by allowing for independent updates to any part of the system. At query time these pieces are brought together, in a single query execution, using a combination of Attivio’s patented JOIN operator and Attivio’s GRAPH operator.”
Bower states that this innovative approach results in improvements over the traditional options, including latency reduction and a reduced load on security systems. He also lauds the platform’s scalability, simplicity, and extensibility.
Headquartered in Newton, MA, Attivio also has offices in the UK and Germany. The company offers high-performance, cost-effective approaches to the complex data challenges faced by government agencies and their defense and aerospace colleagues. Attivio prides itself on innovatively integrating enterprise search, intelligence, and analytic capabilities to provide the best solutions.
Cynthia Murrell, January 07, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
ComScore Announces New Media Measurement Platform
January 2, 2013
Google must be pleased. Tom’s Hardware announces, “Google Only Site to Surpass 100 Million Unique Visitors.” The article is really, though, about a new platform, the Media Metrix Multi-Platform, being used by ComScore, which tracks Web site visitors. The article tells us:
“The platform is currently in a beta stage in the U.S., with its technology tracking metrics including audience size and demographics on desktop browsers and mobile devices. The new system also accounts for users utilizing multiple devices to access the sites. . . . “For Facebook in particular, the Media Metrix Multi-Platform makes it the third-most-visited site on the web during September via 179,411,000 visitors. When judging by desktop traffic, it would drop to fourth place. “Google remains at the top spot by using either ComScore’s new measurement strategy or its old platform. It was the only site to surpass 100 million unique visitors on both desktop and mobile.”
A chart listing the recent results, ranking traffic at 20 sites, is included in the article. The tool will remain in beta for several months. ComScore uses its Web traffic analysis expertise to help clients manage their digital investments. Founded in 1999, the company went public in 2007. ComScore is located in Reston, Virginia, and maintains offices around the world.
Cynthia Murrell, January 02, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Data Intelligence
January 2, 2013
Helping to keep people safe is a large part of what the analysis specialist firm Data Intelligence does. The company serves organizations in the realms of defense, intelligence, cyber security, and law enforcement. They don’t stop there, though; the outfit also supplies tools for social media analysis, financial intelligence, recruiting, business intelligence, marketing, and business integration. Software consulting is also on their sizable plate.
Data Intelligence has a nifty video for potential customers who would like to get an idea of their offerings. Their central product is the Entity Analytical Platform, which emphasizes collaboration and information linking and displays results in a unique knowledge graph. Their site describes the software:
“Social collaboration tool for linking together Big Knowledge Graphs combined with Search & Discovery at Cloud Scale
- Link together custom networks that relate to your business model
- Collaborate among your team and follow areas of interest
- Search smarter: ‘Who worked with James at Data Intelligence in 2012’
- Discover business insights as data is transformed into intelligence”
Data Intelligence was formed by James Kraemer, and is located in Washington, DC.
Cynthia Murrell, January 02, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Big Data and Search
January 1, 2013
A new year has arrived. Flipping a digit on the calendar prompts many gurus, wizards, failed Web masters, former real journalists, and unemployed English majors to identify trends. How can I resist a chrome plated, Gangnam style bandwagon? Big Data is no trend. It is, according to the smart set:
that Big Data would be “the next big chapter of our business history.
My approach is more modest. And I want to avoid silver-numbered politics and the monitoring business. I want to think about a subject of interest to a small group of techno-watchers: Big Data and search.
My view is that there has been Big Data for a long time. Marketers and venture hawks circle an issue. If enough birds block the sun, others notice. Big Data is now one of the official Big Trends for 2013. Search, as readers of this blog may know, experiences the best of times and the worst of times regardless of the year or the hot trends.
As the volume of unstructured information increases, search plays a part. What’s different for 2013 is that those trying to make better decisions need a helping hand, crutches, training wheels, and tools. Vendors of analytics systems like SAS and IBM SPSS should be in the driver’s seat. But these firms are not. An outfit like Palantir claims to be the leader of the parade. The company has snazzy graphics and $150 million in venture funding. Good enough for me I suppose. The Palantirs suggest that the old dudes at SAS and SPSS still require individuals who understand math and can program for the “end user”. Not surprisingly, there are more end users than there are SAS and SPSS wizards. One way around the shortage is to make Big Data a point-and-click affair. Satisfying? The marketers say, “For sure.”
A new opportunity arises for those who want the benefits of fancy math without the cost, hassle, and delay of dealing with intermediaries who may not have an MBA or aspire to be independently wealth before the age of 30. Toss in the health care data the US Federal government mandates, the avalanche of fuzzy thinking baloney from blogs like this one, and the tireless efforts of PR wizards to promote everything thing from antique abacuses to zebra striped fabrics. One must not overlook e-mail, PowerPoint presentations, and the rivers of video which have to be processed and “understood.” In these streams of real time and semi-fresh data, there must be gems which can generate diamond bright insights. Even sociology major may have a shot at a permanent job.
The biggest of the Big Berthas are firing away at Big Data. Navigate to “Sure, Big Data Is Great. But So Is Intuition.” Harvard, MIT, and juicy details explain that the trend is now anchored into the halls of academe. There is even a cautionary quote from an academic who was able to identify just one example of Big Data going somewhat astray. Here’s the quote:
At the M.I.T. conference, a panel was asked to cite examples of big failures in Big Data. No one could really think of any. Soon after, though, Roberto Rigobon could barely contain himself as he took to the stage. Mr. Rigobon, a professor at M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management, said that the financial crisis certainly humbled the data hounds. “Hedge funds failed all over the world,” he said. THE problem is that a math model, like a metaphor, is a simplification. This type of modeling came out of the sciences, where the behavior of particles in a fluid, for example, is predictable according to the laws of physics.
Sure Big Data has downsides. MBAs love to lift downsides via their trusty, almost infallible intellectual hydraulics.
My focus is search. The trends I wish to share with my two or three readers require some preliminary observations:
- Search vendors will just say they can handle Big Data. Proof not required. It is cheaper to assert a technology than actually develop a capability.
- Search vendors will point out that sooner or later a user will know enough to enter a query. Fancy math notwithstanding, nothing works quite like a well crafted query. Search may be a commodity, but it will not go away.
- Big Data systems are great at generating hot graphics. In order to answer a question, a Big Data system must be able to display the source document. Even the slickest analytics person has to find a source. Well, maybe not all of the time, but sometimes it is useful prior to a deposition.
- Big Data systems cannot process certain types of data. Search systems cannot process certain types of data. It makes sense to process whatever fits into each system’s intake system and use both systems. The charm of two systems which do not quite align is sweet music to a marketer’s ears. If a company has a search system, that outfit will buy a Big Data system. If a company has a Big Data system, the outfit will be shopping for a search system. Nice symmetry!
- Search systems and Big Data systems can scale. Now this particular assertion is true when one criterion is met; an unending supply of money. The Big Data thing has a huge appetite for resources. Chomp. Chomp. That’s the sound of a budget being consumed in a sprightly way.
Now the trends:
Trend 1. Before the end of 2013, Big Data will find itself explaining why the actual data processed were Small Data. The assertion that existing systems can handle whatever the client wants to process will be exposed as selective content processing systems. Big Data are big and systems have finite capacity. Some clients may not be thrilled to learn that their ore did not include the tonnage that contained the gems. In short, say hello to aggressive sampling and indexes which are not refreshed in anything close to real time.
Trend 2. Big Data and search vendors will be tripping over themselves in an effort to explain which system does what under what circumstances. The assertion that a system can do both structured and unstructured while uncovering the meaning of the data is one I want to believe. Too bad the assertion is mushy in the accuracy department’s basement.
Trend 3.The talent pool for Big Data and search is less plentiful than the pool of art history majors. More bad news. The pool is not filling rapidly. As a result, quite a few data swimmers drown. Example: the financial crisis perhaps? The talent shortage suggests some interesting cost overruns and project failures.
Trend 4. A new Big Thing will nose into the Big Data and search content processing space. Will the new Big Thing work? Nah. The reason is that extracting high value knowledge from raw data is a tough problem. Writing new marketing copy is a great deal easier. I am not sure what the buzzword will be. I am pretty sure vendors will need a new one before the end of 2013. Even PSY called it quits with Gangnam style. No such luck in Big Data and search at this time.
Trend 5. The same glassy eyed confusion which analytics and search presentations engender will lead to greater buyer confusion and slow down procurements. Not even the magic of the “cloud” will be able to close certain deals. In a quest for revenue, the vendors will wrap basic ideas in a cloud of unknowing.
I suppose that is a good thing. Thank goodness I am unemployed, clueless, and living in a rural Kentucky goose pond.
Stephen E Arnold, January 1, 2012
Another Beyond Search analysis for free
Semantria Goes Pentalingual
January 1, 2013
Semantria is a text analytics and sentiment analysis solutions company. In order to reach a new clientele as well as work with companies with an international base, “Semantria Announces Content Classification and Categorization Functionality in 5 Languages.” Semantria now speaks English, Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese.
To power its categorization functionality, Semantria uses the Concept Matrix. It is a large thesaurus that used Wikipedia in its beta phase. After digesting Wikipedia, the Concept Matrix created lexical connections between every concept within it. Semantria developed the technology with Lexalytics and the Lexalytics Salience 5 engine powers the Concept Matrix. The Concept Matrix is a one of a kind tool that organizes and classifies information:
“Seth Redmore, VP Product Management and Marketing at Lexalytics, explains; ‘Text categorization requires an understanding of how things are alike. Before the Concept Matrix, you’d have to use a massive amount of training data to “teach” your engine, i.e. ‘documents about food’.’ And, he continues, ‘With the Concept Matrix, the training’s already done, and by providing Semantria a few keywords, it drops your content into the correct categories.’ ”
A piece of software that does all the organizing for you, how amazing is that? If it “ate” Wikipedia and made lexical connections, what could it do with Google, Bing, the entire Internet?
Whitney Grace, January 01, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Math Unlikely to Replace People in Political Predictions
December 25, 2012
One of the victors in the recent election season, though he was not running for any office, was a prominent wielder of big data. Nate Silver‘s remarkably accurate, mathematically-driven election predictions have some asking whether the role of political pundits is waning. Tech Crunch’s Matt Baker asserts that the human element will always be a factor in “Human After All: Why Nate Silver’s Math Revolution Won’t Kill the Pundits.”
It is true that math-based predictions like those of Silver and others, such as Votamatic.org and the Princeton Election Consortium, significantly outperformed gut-based forecasts from political commentators. In fact, Researcher Philip Tetlock found pundit predictions to be “little better than random.” What’s more, he found that the prognosticators with the worst records are the ones most widely cited in the media! One could be forgiven, then, for supposing the more accurate algorithms are bound to replace these purveyors of truthiness.
Baker, however, insists that algorithms, themselves the products of human minds, can never exist outside of human bias. He writes:
“Nate Silver’s mysterious secret sauce is still an unknown, and while he shared many features of his model, it was ultimately inaccessible to peer review. Without transparency, there’s even more danger the creator of statistical models could fall prey to the same faults that Tetlock found in pundits.
“Models are tools. They far exceed our own ability to condense and process the multitude of data available in areas like politics and finance. They can inform us, and even forecast for us, but they are only as strong as the rigor employed by their authors. Nov. 6, 2012, was not the triumph of data over pundits; it was a watershed event in the evolution of our predictions. We’re witnessing a revolution in the tools and accuracy of experts, but our forecasts will always be human.”
So, we can expect math to help our predictions get better, but they will never be free from human influence. See the article for more details and examples that support Baker’s premise. I happen to agree with him, despite my very opinion that the world would be a better place with fewer political pundits in it. Oh well.
Cynthia Murrell, December 25, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Visual Aids Always Make Data Analysis Better
December 24, 2012
You might have asked yourself the question, “what is data?” The answer according to Dictionary.com is individual facts, statistics, or items of information or a body of facts/information. Data basically supplies you with knowledge about a subject. When it comes to data analysis, you will probably ask yourself this question as well, “what is the best way for me to represent my data findings?” The answer to this one is even simpler: use visual aids. If you are unsure where to find useful and free data visuals, Computer World has been keeping a running inventory of “Chart and Image Gallery: 30+ Free Tools for Data Visualization and Analysis.”
Running through the list you will notices there are free tools for presentations, charts, and other ways to represent your analysis findings without relying on an expensive, commercial software. These free tools do require a certain set of skills; each one is ranked according to difficulty:
“Skill levels are represented as numbers from easiest to most difficult to learn and use:
1. Users who are comfortable with basic spreadsheet tasks
2. Users who are technically proficient enough not to be frightened off by spending a couple of hours learning a new application
3. Power users
4. Users with coding experience or specialized knowledge in a field like GIS or network analysis.”
With Big Data becoming even a bigger player in the business world taking advantage of these tools will help your organize the results from your Big Data analysis. Visual aids have come a long way from the standard PowerPoint.
Whitney Grace, December 24, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Elasticsearch 2013 Training Schedule
December 21, 2012
Elasticsearch is a Big Data search and analytics company. Their 2013 training schedule has been publicized and aims to equip users to solve Big Data challenges with Elasticsearch. Read more in MarketWatch’s full report, “Elasticsearch Selling Out Training Classes Worldwide; Announces 2013 Training Schedule.”
The article begins:
“Elasticsearch is open source search and analytics software that has emerged as one of the most popular open source projects in the big data market and is already being used by thousands of companies all over the world. The Elasticsearch training course provides a solid foundation in search and information retrieval, starting with basic fundamental Elasticsearch concepts, best-practices, key features and distributed search application development. The sessions are interactive with time built in for discussions and case-study presentations.”
Elasticsearch appears to be doing well, but there are more established companies who offer specialized enterprise software based on open source technology. LucidWorks has been in the field for several years, with industry-vetted software solutions based on Apache Lucene and Solr. While they may seem like two equal options, LucidWorks offers Solr training and commercial support. However, LucidWorks is truly invested in the open source community, employing one quarter of the committers on the Apache Lucene/Solr project and creating SearchHub, an online meeting place for open source developers.
Emily Rae Aldridge, December 21, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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