InfoDome: Cloud Database for Almost Everyone
April 9, 2010
Databases can be made to look really easy to use. I remember a Filemaker demo from several years ago. I was amazed, but when we tried to create some custom forms. We got Filemaker working but the ease of use was narrowly defined. InfoDome has taken up the challenge of creating an easy-to-use, cloud-based database. You can watch a video of the system in action on the InfoDome Web site. The link is easy to spot and the video shows off the system’s features. The service offers a REST API to add application business logic. Pricing ranges from free for 1,000 or fewer records to $175 a month for 100,000 records, 30 gigabytes of storage, and unlimited users. Looks interesting. I was surprised to learn that the company has been in business since 2007. The clouds are arriving.
Stephen E Arnold, April 7, 2010
A freebie.
Exalead Powers PagesJaunes.fr and More
March 29, 2010
A happy quack to the reader who alerted me to the new Exalead-powered PagesJaunes service.
The system allows a user to enter a name of a company or a needed service and get a listing, a map, and other information. The Exalead system displays the traditional address and phone number, but the system taps into information on social network on which the person has a public profile.
PageJaunes.fr is high-revenue, high-use service. The Exalead system adds functionality and speed to the PageJaunes service.
The blog post PagesJaunes Integrates Social Networks with Exalead PagesBlanches.fr explains how the social networking content amplifies the listings.
I try to keep pace with innovations in directory systems. Exalead’s push into this market is welcome news. Most of the directory-centric systems I examine struggle when acquiring, indexing, and mashing up content from structured and unstructured sources. Exalead’s system makes this type of next-generation information display part of the firm’s core system.
For more information about Exalead, navigate to www.exalead.com. If you want to read an interview with the technical wizard behind the Exalead system, navigate to the ArnoldIT.com Search Wizards Speak series.
AT&T, check out PagesJaunes.com. Put your existing system out to pasture and let me use an Exalead-powered system from my goose pond in Kentucky. Yo, AT&T, are you listening?
Stephen E Arnold, March 29, 2010
No one paid me to point out that the Exalead directory system is a heck of a lot better than what I have to use from Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky. I suppose I can report this to the ever vigilant FCC. But Exalead is a French company, so maybe I have to report to the State Department. Goodness, compliance is often confusing.
Infrastructure Ripple from SharePoint
March 22, 2010
Navigate to Thor Projects and read the article “Infrastructure Ripple Effect – The Story of Servers, Racks and Power.” I have about 48 inches of screen real estate and I needed all of it to read the article. The layout is – in a word – interesting. The point of the write up, in my opinion, is summarized in this passage from the article:
I am reminded that any change creates a ton of little ripples.
When an information technology pro runs into problems with a single server, I wonder what the impact of more massive on premises changes might be.
I thought about Mauro Cardarelli’s “Where Does SharePoint Still Fall Short?” when I thought about adding hardware. He wrote:
Let’s face it; the interface for security management is confusing and cumbersome… even for people who use it every day. What are the consequences? First, you increase the likelihood of security breaches (i.e. showing content to the wrong audience). Second, you increase the likelihood of giving users permissions greater than necessary. Finally, you increase the likelihood of a having a security model that is highly diluted and overly complex. This is probably why the 3rd party market for SharePoint administration has been so strong… someone needs to pay attention to what these folks are doing! But I would argue that this is reactive (versus proactive) management… and things need to be taken one step further.
Hardware and security. Hmmm.
Stephen E Arnold, March 22, 2010
No one paid me to write this article. I will report this to the Salvation Army, an outfit that knows about work without pay. Perhaps the cloud access to SharePoint will obviate the problem?
InQuira Embraces the Cloud
March 19, 2010
I read “InQuira Puts It Knowledge Solutions in the Cloud” and learned that the approach “is in no way a light weight version.” On premises search systems can be tough to install, tune, and maintain. Blossom has been, in my opinion, one of the trail blazers for hosted search, and it offers a robust, powerful, and customizable solution. InQuira is moving in that direction as well.
According to the write up which quotes an InQuira officer:
InQuira has existing partnerships with Oracle CRM On Demand, Oracle’s Siebel offering, and Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories. The newest on-demand offering will extend the company’s reach…[InQuira] has a really established reputation as the best-of-breed intelligent search vendor that quickly and easily integrates with everyone,” says John Ragsdale, vice president of technology research for the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA).
One feature of the approach is that storage is provided in an “on demand” model.
You can get more information from www.inquira.com.
Stephen E Arnold, March 19, 2010
Freebie. No one paid me to write this. I will report non payment to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an outfit who tracks work for no compensation each day, every day.
Comets and Dinosaurs
March 16, 2010
I wrote about “newsosaurs” over the weekend, and this article caught my eye: “NetSuite Calls Microsoft ‘ERP Dinosaur.” The write up is not about search, although it could have been shaped to cover that technology as well. I wanted to capture this line from the write up:
The memo, with the subject line “The Netsuite comet officially hits the Microsoft ERP dinosaur,” calls Microsoft’s announcement “an obvious act of desperation as Microsoft’s customers and partners defect en masse for NetSuite and the cloud.” Microsoft’s bid, Nelson wrote, “tries to convince NetSuite customers to move backwards 20 years to try Great Plains, Navision or Solomon”– the names of Dynamics GP, NAV and SL before Microsoft acquired them. “Microsoft has no cloud-based ERP answer to NetSuite, and Microsoft’s statement that ‘hosting’ Great Plains is their response to the cloud is so absurd as to be laughable,” Nelson said in his memo. “This is the old ‘ASP’ approach of hosting client/server products that failed as a delivery mechanism even before we entered the Year 2000.”
Stong words. Ever try to find an item in Microsoft’s ERP solutions?
Stephen E Arnold, March 16, 2010
Free, free as a bird. No one paid me to write this. Since it is an uncompensated bit of work, I must report this to the zoologist responsible for the National Zoo’s aviary ad unit.
Clouds: Fast, Slow, Broken
March 6, 2010
Measuring cloud speed is one of those chores aspiring meteorologists must endure. Here’s a snapshot of what’s involved. My source is Charles F. Brooks, The Use of Clouds in Forecasting, page 1167:
The quickest way of getting cloud motions is with a window-sill nephoscope consisting of a plane, black, horizontal mirror of eight to ten inches diameter, with- out markings on the mirror other than a depression at the center, and a peephole eyepiece through which the observer can watch the motion of the image of a cloud and follow it with a small marker. When followed for a standard period (or easy fraction or multiple), the direction and relative speed are determined with a single placement of a ruler,
Whew. That’s going to take some hunting here in Harrod’s Creek. I wonder if the gun and ammo shop has a nephoscope.
I was thinking about cloud speed when I read “Steve Ballmer’s Memo To Microsoft Staff: “We Must Move At Cloud Speed”. I think the idea is for Microsoft to move quickly. As I said in my SSN Minute today, Microsoft is turning to Cray to help Microsoft with its data center issues. My hunch is that if Microsoft moves too quickly its plumbing might not be able to keep pace. Here’s the snippet that caught my attention in the write up:
We have strong competitors. We need to be (and are) willing to change our business models to take advantage of the cloud. We must move at “cloud speed,” especially in our consumer offerings. And we need to be crystal clear about the value we provide to all our customers. To drive our message home even further, today you will see an ad campaign in the U.S. focused on our commercial and government businesses, a new website with consolidated content and case studies, and ongoing emphasis on the cloud from me and other members of the SLT in our upcoming speeches and presentations.
I will be most interested to see how Microsoft Fast, the enterprise search product, performs as a cloud service. I recall the good old days of the application service providers (ASP) and hosted Exchange. The cloud was moving slowly. Will Microsoft Fast move quickly as indexes update and queries get processed? There are fast clouds and there are slow clouds? Which will be the cloud for Microsoft Fast?
Stephen E Arnold, March 6, 2010
No one paid me to write this. I have to report unpaid writing to NOAA, an outfit that understands but is not yet able to control clouds. Someday I expect. Someday.
Quote to Note: Cloud Revenue Potential
March 5, 2010
Thinkq.com yielded a quote to note. “Microsoft Spies a Billion Dollars in Cloud” reported that Stephen Elop, head of Microsoft business software unit, allegedly said:
Three years, five years, is it [cloud services] a billion-dollar business? I’m quite certain it will be.
I have marked my calendar.
Stephen E Arnold, March 2, 2010
A freebie. Because I mentioned a calendar, I think I must report to NIST, a clock and calendar manager of some repute.
Vendor Lock In. Sorry, It Is Here to Stay
February 23, 2010
A happy quack to the reader who sent me a link to the Forbes Magazine story “The Future Of Enterprise Software.” The write up is one that says, “Yo, cloud computing is coming.” The suggestion is that vendors of enterprise software will no longer “lock in” a customer to a specific system.
Huh?
A commercial company has a mission: make money. One makes money by getting customers and keeping them. In the good old days of the mainframe, there was multi-point lock in. Today, the lock in is somewhat more subtle, but a bit like one of the country club prisoners that some wrong doers enjoy.
For me this passage triggered a chuckle:
Collectively these developments allow corporations to take a step back from software lock-in the way they stepped back from hardware lock-in during the mainframe era. IBM’s mainframes suffered more because of a concern over vendor lock-in than because of inefficiency or performance. And data outsourcing ended abruptly in the client/server era largely because companies were disgusted with service provider lock-in from companies like EDS.
In my experience, here is a run down of what some vendors are now doing:
First, there is the low cost play. Quite a few companies are moving down this path. The idea is to get the customer hooked and then play the “security” or “fear” card. The result is that the company will stick with a particular vendor to get the added value the company delivers. This is a “devil you know” approach.
Second, there is the open source play. Predicated on reducing license fees, most of the open source vendors sell services. Most organizations have at best a couple of wizards who can deal with open source. The rest will pay fees to have the open source experts manage the shop. Hey, it’s still money and it works just like the old lock in model but it has a “green” feel—responsible, natural, lower cost, etc.
Third, there is the cloud play. The idea is that an organization cannot afford or find top notch IT people. The cloud vendor can, so shove the software “out there” and enjoy the reduced costs.
Human nature loathes certain types of change. Once a vendor lands a customer, the vendor manages the customer relationship. The goal is lock in.
In my goose pond, lock in is the name of the game. It has to be because the cost of customer acquisition is too high. The whole point of selling software, systems and services is lock in. Just my opinion, Mr. Forbes.
Stephen E Arnold, February 23, 2010
No one paid me to write this. Because I mentioned lock in, I will report non payment to the General Accountability Office, an outfit that rides herd on vendors who work hard to lock in the Federal government and some succeed pretty darn regularly.
Microsoft Fast on Linux and Unix Innovation
February 15, 2010
It’s Valentine’s Day. I feel quite a bit of affection for the system professionals who have licensed Fast Search ESP, and I hope each finds search love. I think there will be a “tough” element to this love. And like other types of love, there will be ups and downs. Microsoft practiced some “tough love” for licensees of the Linux and Unix versions of Fast Search & Transfer’s Enterprise Search Platform recently. I am in a discursive frame of mind, and I will share my opinion about the “tough love” for the Linux and Unix licensees of the 1997 technology that comprises some of Fast Search & Transfer’s system.
The not-too-surprising announcement that Microsoft would stop supporting Fast Search & Transfer’s Linux and Unix customers surprised some folks. I think a handful of resellers were delighted because customers with non-Windows versions of Fast Search cannot change horses in the middle of the Tigris River, as Alexander the Great discovered in 331 BCE. Some poobahs pointed out that open source search would become a hot ticket for Fast Search Linux and Unix licensees. Others took a more balanced view of figuring out whether to rip and replace or supplement the aging Fast Search system with one of the more specialized solutions now available; for example, Exalead’s system could be snapped in without much hassle, based on my research for Successful Enterprise Search Management, published by Galatea in the UK last year. (Martin White was my co-author.)
Source: http://www.zastavki.com/pictures/1024×768/2008/Saint_Valentines_Day_St.Valentine_004959_.jpg
What I found interesting is that the Microsoft Enterprise Search blog contained some information from Bjørn Olstad, CTO, FAST and Distinguished Engineer, Microsoft. The write up’s title is “Innovation on Linux and Unix,” and it appeared on February 4, 2010.
Mr. Olstad wrote:
When we announced the acquisition two years ago, we said that we were committed to cross-platform innovation—that we’d “continue to offer stand-alone versions of ESP that run on Linux and UNIX,” and that we would provide updates to these versions to address customer concerns and add new features. Over the last two years, we’ve done just that.
The deal was consummated in April 2008. In October 2008, the Norwegian authorities seized some company information, but there has not been much news about the investigation into the pre-acquisition Fast Search & Transfer’s activities. At any event, it is now February 2010, so Microsoft has been operating Fast Search for the period between April 2008 and February 2010. That’s not quite two years, which is a nit, but software works when details are correct. What’s clear is that Fast Search and its Enterprise Search Platform or ESP is pared down and focused on the Windows platform.
I also noted this passage:
When we announced the acquisition two years ago, we said that we were committed to cross-platform innovation—that we’d “continue to offer stand-alone versions of ESP that run on Linux and UNIX,” and that we would provide updates to these versions to address customer concerns and add new features. Over the last two years, we’ve done just that.
CloudXL: Cloud Services Search
February 12, 2010
A happy quack to the reader who sent me a link to CloudXL.com, a cloud service locator service.
I have been one of the voices of caution about vertical search services. The reason is that a broad indexing methods like Google’s generally provides a method for slicing and dicing results. The vertical search engine targets a specific topic area and indexes it well. But over time the types of indexing that a company like Google does makes the broader index more useful. There are exceptions like specialty indexes for antidotes, chemical structures, and ternary phase diagrams. But for general topics, a big data index like Google has an advantage if you know how to work around the training wheels that Google bolts to some users browsers.
I did CloudXL.com useful. The service uses some Google plumbing but the CloudXL.com service provides some useful one-click filters; that is, a Boolean NOT converted to colorful buttons. If you want to see the most recent additions to the service, you don’t need to search. Just scan the home page. If you want to locate a cloud database, you just click on “Categories” and scan the list. When you spot “database as a service, check the box and click submit.
The system displayed three hits and two of them were useful. If you are looking for cloud services, you might want to bookmark CloudXL. There’s no search system. Perhaps a Google custom search engine will be added in the near future.
Stephen E Arnold, February 12, 2010
No one paid me to write this. Because I mentioned clouds, I will report non payment to NOAA.
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