OwnCloud Expands with Focus on on Deployment
November 29, 2012
An impressive showing in second seed round funding–$2.5 million to be exact–was reported by open source file sync and share software company OwnCloud Inc. According to the TechCrunch article titled, “On-Premise Cloud Storage/Sharing Startup, OwnCloud, Closes $2.5M Second Seed Round, Led By General Catalyst Partners,” the round was led by investor General Catalyst Partners as well as new investors.
The Boston-based startup plans to use the money for continued expansion in its enterprise and education customer base as well as support service providers. The article shares:
“‘We’ve been excited about ownCloud since its infancy, and after watching everything they’ve accomplished in a very short time, it validated our belief that they’d developed an exceptional team with an exceptional product,’ said [General Catalyst Managing Director] Bohn in a statement. ‘There’s no one in this increasingly crowded market that can do the things ownCloud does – integrate closely with existing IT, innovate at lightning speed and offer choice of storage locations. With those capabilities already in place differentiating it from the competition, we’re confident that ownCloud will succeed.’”
Serving specific industries and sectors is a great niche for companies concentrating on transformation from storage to deployment. Trusting a solution such as Intrafind, based upon well-formed technology to deploy enterprise solutions that fit the organization, may be a wiser choice in some sectors such as finance and pharmaceuticals.
Andrea Hayden, November 29, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Intrafind Knowledge Map Increases Overall Efficiency with a Quick Click
November 28, 2012
Network infrastructures, social media, mobile and the cloud continue to bring changes in daily business operations. Transformational technologies like these can provide the key elements necessary to stay competitive but success relies heavily on their ability to evolve within the enterprise.
The right strategy can bring prosperity through evolution to any industry. ZDNet’s article “CIOs unplugged: Straight Talk from Innovators” talks about some solid strategies to consider in order to increase operational efficiency when utilizing transformational technologies:
“Operational efficiency and cost reduction are always part of the IT mandate, so the discussion touched there. These CIOs distinguish themselves precisely because their key focus is innovation, rather than cost reduction. Many organizations primarily expect the CIO (and IT) to drive efficiency and cost savings, rather than participate in planning important strategic decisions. This view devalues IT, and is intensely shortsighted, because most industries today rely on technology to create strategic advantage.”
Innovative CIOs may find themselves more capable of driving change if their users are able to find the enterprise knowledge they need when they need it. Solutions such as Intrafind’s Knowledge Map allows for better use of enterprise knowledge assets and leaves more time for organizational innovation. Overall efficiency is increased with a user friendly interface which centralizes relevant company metadata in a 360 view for access with a few quick mouse clicks.
Jennifer Shockley, November 28, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
PolySpot Speaks More Than 50 Languages
November 27, 2012
Due to the ever increasingly globalized workforce, it is more important than ever that data analytics providers are able to appeal to a multitude of countries and languages and corner the polyglot market. Matthew Aslett of the Too Much Information blog recently reported on this topic in the article, “The Dawn of Polyglot Analytics.”
According to Aslett, the emergence of a polyglot analytics platform exemplifies a new approach to data analytics that is based on the user’s approach to analytics rather than the nature of the data.
The article states:
Polyglot analytics explains why we are seeing adoption of Hadoop and MapReduce as a complement to existing data warehousing deployments. It explains, for example, why a company like LinkedIn might adopt Hadoop for its People You May Know feature while retaining its investment in Aster Data for other analytic use cases. Polyglot analytics also explains why a company like eBay would retain its Teradata Enterprise Data Warehouse for storing and analyzing traditional transactional and customer data, as well as adopting Hadoop for storing and analyzing clickstream, user behaviour and other un/semi-structured data, while also adopting an exploratory analytic platform based on Teradata’s Extreme Data Appliance for extreme analytics on a combination of transaction and user behaviour data pulled from both its EDW and Hadoop deployments.
One company that is currently excelling in polyglot analytics is Polyspot. In the recent blog post, “Polyspot is Polyglot” we learned that Polyspot offers its services in over 50 languages. Language is no longer a hindrance to data management success. PolySpot warrants a close look. The company offers high value technology within the reach of most organizations’ budgets.
Jasmine Ashton, November 27, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
High Performing Enterprise Search Needs Solid Solutions That Work
November 27, 2012
It seems that once a month someone is announcing the latest, greatest development in search optimization software and each new or revamped product gets faster, more accurate or easier to use. The increasing competition among developers has inspired designers to get more creative with their initial designs… or possibly just their marketing.
TechWeek Europe’s article “Start-up InboundWriter Scales Search Optimization For The Enterprise” spotlights a new ‘writer’ targeted search optimizer:
“One of the last miles is having an automated and scalable way to make sure your content is really, really good. That’s what we do, and we do it as simple as a spell-check. When using the service, a writer gets notifications and suggestions on better SEO words and phrases to use as he or she goes along in writing the document. There is an efficiency meter in the upper-left corner of the application to keep the writer apprised as the document is being written about how SEO-ready it is.”
The AI ability to second guess the user is nothing new, although in marketing things can be open to interpretation. High performing enterprise search needs functionality and usability, not more gadgets and gimmicks. That is why Intrafind has been a successful enterprise search provider for well over a decade. They use solid solutions that began in the university environment and scaled out to commercial solutions that work. Their user friendly interface enables customizable connectors which allow enterprise wide access to both structured and unstructured data in a secure environment.
Jennifer Shockley, November 27, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Enterprise Search Needs More than Plug and Play
November 26, 2012
Today’s businesses are consistently looking for ways to improve enterprise management and overall operations, so it comes as no surprise that software marketing is targeting those needs. The unfortunate side effect of a good marketing plan can often be a product that does not live up to user expectations. FCW’s article “Does Your Enterprise Search Engine Stink? Here’s Why” reiterates how often times if new software seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Content processing, productivity tools and sorting options are just a few elements of enterprise software that should be evaluated before considering a change:
“Given the predisposition to think of search as pre-formatted to meet our needs, many IT managers and executives believe they can simply purchase, install and operate enterprise search software right out of the box. To a large extent, the leading search software vendors promote this plug-and-play mentality because it is a message customers want to hear. If you are familiar only with Web search as a personal tool, it makes sense to assume that a search engine for your business would operate the same way.”
When relevant results and increased efficiency are the primary concerns a friendly user interface is just an added bonus. Despite marketing hype, quality search requires more than plug and play attention. Full service solutions, expert tagging and feature rich search, such as that provided by Intrafind are a great start for enterprise search solutions.
Jennifer Shockley, November 26 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Complexificaton: Is ElasticSearch Making a Case for a Google Search Solution?
November 24, 2012
I don’t have any dealings with Google, the GOOG, or Googzilla (a word I coined in the years before the installation of the predator skeleton on the wizard zone campus). In the briefings I once endured about the GSA (Google speak for the Google Search Appliance), I recall three business principles imparted to me; to wit:
- Search is far too complicated. The Google business proposition was and is that the GSA and other Googley things are easy to install, maintain, use, and love.
- Information technology people in organizations can often be like a stuck brake on a sports car. The institutionalized approach to enterprise software drags down the performance of the organization information technology is supposed to serve.
- The enterprise search vendors are behind the curve.
Now the assertions from the 2004 salad days of Google are only partially correct today. As everyone with a colleague under 25 years of age knows, Google is the go to solution for information. A number of large companies have embraced Google’s all-knowing, paternalistic approach to digital information. However, others—many others, in fact—have not.
One company which is replete with $10 million in venture money is ElasticSearch. Based on the open source technology which certain university computer science departments hold in reverence, ElasticSearch is marketing its heart out. I learned that Searchblox, the brother owned and operated cloud search service, has embraced ElasticSearch. Today I received a link to “Working with ElasticSearch in Scala.”
Scala, in case you are not hip to the brave new world, is a “general purpose programming language designed to express common programming patterns in a concise, elegant, and type-safe way. It smoothly integrates features of object-oriented and functional languages, enabling Java and other programmers to be more productive. Code sizes are typically reduced by a factor of two to three when compared to an equivalent Java application.”
Source: The Strategic Complexity Framework for Dummies by Vinay Gupta. See http://goo.gl/k042J Who wants to be “borked”? Not I when implementing an overly complex search solution. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Score one for Google. The article makes clear that Scala and ElasticSearch may require some technical skills which are not likely to be found in the local trucking company’s IT department. Truth be told, the expertise to work through the information in the write up can be found at Google type companies, a good sized state university, and in the noodle shops of Wuhan-like places.
Here’s a snippet from the write up:
Elasticsearch is schemaless. We can index any json to it. We have a bulk json file, each line is a json. For our implementation: Application reads file line by line and index json to the elasticsearch.
Moving on, we learn:
Rise Beyond the Cloud: Enterprise Search Consultation Powers Decisions
November 23, 2012
Savvy companies will not be getting their head out of the clouds anytime soon because the cloud is the place to be for businesses seeking success. ZDNet’s article “A Snapshot of Enterprise Cloud Adopters at Workday Rising” explains why the sky is not the limit when it comes to the enterprise cloud as it is continuing to evolve.
In order to keep up with the growing demands of the enterprise, Cloud providers have to stay on top of the latest developments:
“Having opted for the speed, agility and on-demand responsiveness of a cloud platform, customers rely on their chosen vendor maintaining the same pace going forward. One of the most remarkable things about watching a cloud vendor like Workday evolve is the extent of innovation that happens in the underlying infrastructure. These are not static structures. New components are constantly being introduced that advance performance, scalability and functionality — not just the three-times-a-year functional updates but architectural advances too.”
With the ongoing evolution of the enterprise, utilizing the expert advice of an established enterprise search consultant can keep a company’s head above the cloud, so to speak. Cloud search adopters could benefit from the services of enterprise search providers who offer a full range of assessment and solution selection services. Intrafind has offered solid guidance to customers seeking the right solution that improves efficiency and offers a solid return on investment in enterprise search for well over 10 years.
Jennifer Shockley, November 23, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Established Search Providers Like Intrafind Design a Big Data Future with Results
November 23, 2012
What is Big Data and what can it do for businesses today? That seems to be the billion dollar question, as businesses literally spent billions on Big Data programs, software and projects this past year. The irony is that despite all the headline hype and the funds being invested, companies are still not sure what they are getting out of Big Data according to Business Insider’s article “Enterprises Are Spending Wildly On ‘Big Data’ But Don’t Know If It’s Worth It Yet”.
This is not to say that corporations do not have Big Data designs in mind for the future:
“Big Data” means scooping up large quantities of information, often from nontraditional, server-busting sources like Web traffic logs or social media, and using it to make business decisions in real time. Including things like watching competitors, monitoring their own brands, creating new services that they can sell, and tracking product and pricing information.”
With over $4.3 billion spent in 2012 and an estimated $34 billion expected in 2013 it is no wonder that Big Data has been generating a lot of buzz. However, all the hype means nothing without an eventual increase in efficiency and ROI. When it comes to finding the right data, companies would benefit from the use of an established search provider like Intrafind that offers rich tagging features and secure search within the enterprise.
Jennifer Shockley, November xx, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
IBM Pure Competes with Oracle Exadata Line
November 22, 2012
Large tech companies, such as Oracle and IBM, are addressing Big Data challenges by releasing integrated systems that are designed with hardware and software created to work together for maximum performance. However, these systems are still working out some flaws, according to the article “Oracle’s Secret Sauce: Why Exadata is Rocking the Tech Industry” on Forbes. We learn in the article that some engineered systems are struggling to compete with Oracle’s tested Exadata line in terms of cost and performance.
The article tells us:
“But even IBM is finding that the move to truly optimized and engineered systems takes more than just packaging some components together, which is about the extent of their effort with their initial Pure Systems. Those machines offer only a limited amount of focused IP to optimize the platforms. In addition, while Exadata handles all workloads in one system, IBM has come out with 3 separate database platforms based upon varying workloads.”
However, we believe IBM Pure and similar systems are highly beneficial and necessary for companies because of proven data delivery results and support. The company’s reliance on trusted integrators such as Intrafind helps customers make the best of infrastructure, application, and execution of enterprise search.
Andrea Hayden, November 22, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Forrester 2012, Gartner 2010, and Autonomy
November 21, 2012
I don’t have much interaction with Autonomy and I have even less with Forrester or Gartner, both azure chip consultants stuffed with high IQ big thinkers about technology. How can someone residing in Harrod’s Creek hope to compare to sleek, real consultants who work in cities with electricity and running water.
However, on a recent trip to a dumpy Internet cafe near Victoria Station, I read “Hewlett’s Loss: A Folly Unfolds, by the Numbers.” In that article I noted this quote from an azure chip consultant working at the tony Forrester Research outfit. Here’s the passage that made my feathers twitch:
Autonomy, too, was facing challenges after years of fast growth but poor customer relations, according to Leslie Owens, an analyst with Forrester Research. “They didn’t invest in R&D; they didn’t have regular software releases; they weren’t transparent with a road map of where they were going; they didn’t seek customer feedback,” she said. “Customers complained, but the promise of managing all their information and making better decisions was so attractive. They bought more.” Soon after the H.P. acquisition, Ms. Owens said, Autonomy announced a new version of its core product. “We asked for a demo,” she said, and “we’re still waiting.”
Okay. I remember seeing a Boston Consulting Group dog, question mark, star, and cow type chart in 2009. Allegedly produced by another high end think tank, Gartner Group. I did not recall Autonomy getting low marks. I did some poking around and I would like to direct you, gentle reader, to this Web address: http://www.contentmanager.eu.com/graphics/gartner-wcm2010.jpg.
I am fearful of azure chip retribution, so you have to navigate to the page and look at the 2010 BCG style chart by Gartner Group experts.
What is interesting is that Gartner pegs Autonomy in the leaders quadrant for Web content management. I don’t know what that means. I do understand what it means to be a “leader”, singled out for excellence on whatever yardstick was used to size up 17 vendors of a particular type of enterprise software.
What is interesting is that two expert consulting firms have such conflicting opinions about Autonomy less than 18 to 20 months apart. Forrester “knows” that Autonomy had some issues. Gartner seems to find the company superior to such rivals as IBM and Microsoft.
Did Autonomy crash and burn between these two azure chip viewpoints? Are Forrester’s analysts more sveltish and brighter than Gartner’s high protein crowd?
Assume that each of these consulting outfits have comparable intellectual horsepower. Assume that each firm’s experts gathered information from open source and private sources. What causes two apparently superficial assessments of Autonomy.
My question: “If two blue chip consultants see Autonomy differently, won’t the truth and beauty of Autonomy will be in the eye of the beholder?”
In a legal dispute, subjective, maybe emotion, will play a larger role than dull old objective data. Little wonder so many advisors interpreted Autonomy differently. Enterprise software as an interpretation problem in 21st century business poetry. Lawyers are happy. HP and its shareholders, not so much.
Stephen E Arnold, November 21, 2012
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