Deloitte on Top Tech Trends: Where Is Search?
April 27, 2011
Editor’s Note: This is a article written by Iain Fletcher, vice president of Search Technologies. We found his comments about a recent study authored by a top notch team at one of the world’s leading consulting firms interesting and thought provoking.
My colleagues and I were in a client meeting and had a break. One of the documents available to us was Deloitte’s report “Technology Trends 2011. The Natural Convergence of Business and IT.” The report looked interesting and we were able to download a copy of this report from the Deloitte Web site without a fee and without registering.
We found this passage particularly interesting:
… important developments are underway this year, adding compelling new dimensions to the decision process. We recommend taking a fresh look at each (Re)Emerging Enabler to see how it can apply to you in the near term, and whether new investments make sense. Disruptive Deployments require a more creative lens.
We thought the Deloitte approach of identifying enablers such as visualization and security was useful. The report then put the future in perspective by describing disruptive technologies. Among these were analytics, social computing, and mobile solutions. What struck us as interesting was the peppering of “search” throughout the book. There was no pivot point for findability. In our work, we have learned that there is an urgent need to process structured and unstructured information, making it easy for employees to locate needed information in an efficient way, and coping with the problems of “big data”.
I spoke with my colleagues at Search Technologies, which is one of the largest independent search application implementation companies. We agree with most of the Deloitte trends. My take away from our discussion was that unstructured data quality was a key issue for both search across an enterprise and for the identified emerging trend of information visualization. Visualization is an increasingly important part of business intelligence and relies on the quality of the input data. Poor data in means ill-informed decision out, whether via search or any other means.
In today’s financial climate, organizations need to reduce costs. In our experience, employees hunting for information is expensive and inefficient. The cost control is important. As important is the need to improve the efficiency of information retrieval. With search and content processing embedded in work flows, we see search and content processing as a foundation, not an add on or a spice in a consulting engagement.
Second, the merger of business processes and information access extends to the integration of different software systems. There are many buzzwords in use to describe what most senior managers intuitively know; namely, it is easier to make sense of disparate data if the information is presented in a context. Visualization, as Deloitte noted, is an enabler. However, the plumbing and the configuration of the output systems are as important as the attractive graphics. Third, young university graduates do not understand why “silos” of information force them to use multiple enterprise systems and findability solutions. Deloitte did not emphasize the generational divide that we find in some of our engagements. As today’s recent college graduates move upwards and outwards in their careers, their impact will be significant.
For more information about our firm’s approach to technical, engineering, and business consulting, visit www.searchtechnologies.com
Iain Fletcher, April 27, 2011
Search Technologies
Oracle Text Installation Help
April 25, 2011
We ran a query for IBM OmniFind and Oracle Text on Google and found that Beyond Search is one of the sources for information about how to configure these systems and obtain documentation about specific methods. We were hoping that IBM and Oracle would occupy the top spot, but it Harrod’s Creek is the go to place, we are okay with that.
As we have said, Oracle Text is a handy tool for building text queries and document classification applications. For some reason, directions for manually installing Oracle Text are somewhat elusive. That being said, Beyond Search has some good news.
So, if you’ve ever wondered how to “Install Oracle Text on Oracle Database 11gR2”, this blog post is for you. The link contains the code snippets required to install the text, install the language and verify. Appropriate explanations are included.
We’d say it is definitely worth tucking into your Oracle Text tips folder for safekeeping.
Sarah Rogers, April 25, 2011
Freebie
Is IBM Reshaping Its Approach to Enterprise Search?
April 25, 2011
IBM is a mysterious and baffling outfit to me. One day I get a call from eager IBMers panting to find out what I know about the vendors in enterprise search. content processing, and semantics. Then weeks, maybe months go by, before an IBM person emails me a message like “We’ve been really busy” or “We don’t have a very big budget but maybe you could talk for free”. The classic IBM input I had this year is from a person who agreed to participate in a Search Wizards Speak interview via email. Months after the deadline, I was told an excuse similar to those I heard when I was a freshman in college and a classmate was explaining that his mother and dog died on the same day.
A better search or a more complex guitar? Source: http://www.heirloomradio.com/history.htm
Imagine my surprise when I received a link to a story from Yomiuri Online. “Natural Language Analysis Software, IBM Japan” contained what may be an compass reading about IBM’s enterprise search strategy. In a nutshell, IBM may be hooking together a content analytics component with the Lucene based OmniFind Enterprise Edition 9.1. Instead of offering what I can download from Apache or Lucid Imagination, IBM has grafted on text analytics.
The product, which becomes available on April 26, 2011, in Japan. IBM Content Analytics with Enterprise Search mashes up text mining software and information retrieval software. For good measure, IBM includes natural language analysis technology.
The other shocker, if the person translating the article was accurate, is that IBM will compete aggressively on price. I am not sure how IBM prices its products in Japan, but the software could, for all practical purposes be free. IBM makes its money on hardware and services with services becoming increasingly important in my opinion.
The product will handle social content, the unstructured data that plagues customer service operations, and email, among other source and file types. The system classifies content and outputs analytics, which may mean anything from a simple frequency count to a more elaborate SPSS type of function. If prices are indeed low, my hunch is that the SPSS type horsepower will not be present in full royal wedding regalia.
Some questions:
- Will this approach make IBM a bigger contender in enterprise search? No. IBM may be trying to carve a new niche for itself but Autonomy and Exalead are already there.
- Will this play explain the role of Watson or what IBM is doing with the dozens of analytics companies it has acquired? No.
- Is this a new trend in enterprise search? No.
- Will IBM continue to make sales to organizations who want to “go IBM”? Yep.
Vendors have been trying to distance themselves from the word “search” for years. In a sense, IBM is just late to the party. But with its financial resources and clout, tardiness may not matter.
Stephen E Arnold, April 25, 2011
Freebie unlike IBM professional services or a technical roll for a FRU.
Protected: SharePoint Content and Editing Tips
April 25, 2011
PolySpot Names David Fischer Head of Research and Development
April 24, 2011
We learned last week that Polyspot, a vendor of search and content processing systems, named David Fischer to the post of director of research and development. As the firm’s chief technical officer, he will be responsible for the definition and implementation of technology policy solutions. Prior to joining Polyspot, Mr. Fischer worked at Apple and Business Objects. He is a graduate of ENST.
According to the company’s official announcement:
PolySpot is at a crucial stage in its development and is working to bring fundamental charges to its platform in order to continue to be a player in the search market and access to information ahead of its time and its competitors.
For more information about PolySpot, navigate to www.polyspot.com.
Stephen E Arnold, April 24, 2011
Freebie
Autonomy Financials via a Mid Tier Consultant
April 23, 2011
In my email this morning, was a short item that pointed me to Autonomy’s 2011, first quarter financial results. I took a quick look at the top line revenues, multiplied by four and concluded:
- Autonomy has a better than even chance of breaking $1 billion in revenue before the end of its current fiscal year
- Autonomy was growing and rolling out new products and services, including an interesting medical and health product, other vendors of search were floundering (Google), giving away search as part of bundles and other deals (Microsoft, Oracle), struggling to be findable by potential customers (Thunderstone, a search vendor whose name is now used by a band and a game), or repositioning themselves to be something other than a vendor of enterprise search (Brainware for scanning, Coveo for customer support).
- Autonomy was reporting growth in its various of lines of business at a decent rate; 28 percent organic growth if I read the report correctly.
The story was ignored by most of the financial wizards who monitor search for the bottom tier and mid tier consulting firms. I read one “analysis” from an outfit called Gerson Lehrman Group which was written by a single individual but presented with a royal “we”. What struck me was that individuals seem happy pontificating about search, financials, and a darned complex technology using sentences that remind me of the rhetoric for the royal wedding. Wedding coverage has more substance than analyses of enterprise search I think.
In my new landscape of search study for Pandia.com, I analyze Autonomy, finding enough bone and gristle to fill 13 pages with technical goodies, comments, and critical evaluation of a company that blew past Convera, Delphes, Endeca, Entopia, Fast Search & Transfer, Powerset, Radar Networks, and a bunch of others.
If you want a free run down on what Autonomy has been doing in the last two years, just do the query “Autonomy” in the search box on the splash page of this blog or click this link. We changed our search results display to make it easier for users to get a sense of search vendor activities. For the more timely information, click this link for my free Overflight “what’s happening” report.
Stephen E Arnold, April 23, 2011
Freebie unlike low and mid tier consulting services
Enterprise Search Reaches Out to Video
April 22, 2011
Probably many of us are familiar with video in the workplace, but with limited applications like training. The next step is finding more ways to make video work for us, as stated in “Searching for Value: Overcoming the Challenges of Video in the Enterprise”.
The referenced article focuses on the obstacles associated with implementing video as a vehicle for knowledge sharing. Namely, the amount of bandwidth required to process videos can become a nightmare for ill-prepared companies and in turn disrupt other services. Even more importantly:
“A few reasons why video poses challenges go beyond bandwidth, but confront issues associated with ownership, archival and business value. Companies serious about video need to consider a few necessary additions to their search infrastructure…”
The author recommends these additions include enterprise search technology, digital asset management and hosted video solutions.
There are a number of outfits who have already been successfully solving these problems. Exalead’s Voxalead and Autonomy’s Virage systems can both process video, making it searchable and providing an expansive toolset to the user. Even Cisco recently announced including video search capabilities in its TelePresence package. So no need to reinvent the wheel on this one; jumping on the latest corporate trend can be easier than ever before. Or should I say more robust?
Sarah Rogers, April 22, 2011
Freebie
Protected: Microsoft SharePoint a Swiss Army Knife? Almost.
April 22, 2011
Protected: Is Genesis a New SharePoint Opportunity?
April 21, 2011
Asia Technical Services
April 20, 2011
An Interview with Patrick and Jean Garez
In Hong Kong in late March 2011, I met with one of the senior officers of Asia Tech. The company’s official name is “Asia Technical Services Pte Ltd.” I learned about the company from Dassault Exalead. For eight years Asia Tech has been the partner for Exalead in Asia and has become the “go to” resource for the Dassault Systèmes team covering South Asia regarding Exalead after the acquisition. Based in Singapore, Asia Tech is hours away from Dassault clients in Thailand, China, and Viet-Nam, among other countries whose thirst for Dassault technology continues to increase. In my initial conversation with Jean Garez, the person who appears to be the heir apparent to the firm his father founded, I learned that Asia Tech is now responding to a surge of inquiries about Exalead’s search based applications.
Patrick (founder) and Jean Garez (senior manager), Asia Technology Services Pte Ltd.
Upon my return to the US, I followed up with Mr. Garez via Skype for a more lengthy discussion. On the call, Patrick Garez joined the interview. For convenience, I have merged the comments from both Garezs into one stream. The full text of that interview appears below:
What’s the history of Asia Tech?
Asia Technical Services Pte Ltd was first conceived in Hong Kong in 1974 by our founder, and my father, Patrick Garez. The original business was the marketing and after-sales support of products, engineering services and asset management solutions to the commercial aviation industry. My father was a pioneer because he was among the first to predict the growth potential of commercial aviation in the Asia Pacific region and to identify Singapore as the future hub for South East Asia and beyond.
Along the way ATS tackled some industry-specific software solutions supporting various maintenance data management, engineering processes and workflows, but it wasn’t until 2003 that ATS officially began distributing software solutions as a dedicated part of our business.
What triggered the shift?
Client demand. ATS has prided itself on responding to the needs of its clients across this region. Once we started doing work in a different area, word of mouth sent additional projects our way.
ATS focuses on finding leading edge innovative and cost effective ISV solutions from Europe and the US and offering them a platform to enter into the Asia Pacific market with a limited investment.
And your activity in search?
Same path.
In the mid-2000’s up until probably 2009, the search market in Singapore and the region was dominated by legacy platforms built with an 80’s approach key word indexing and information retrieval. There was some interest in the SPSS and SAS approach to structured data, of course.
However, in response to a client project, we came across a technologically-advanced company in Paris, France. The founder was a member of the original Digital Equipment AltaVista.com search team and making significant progress with technology that was scalable and very, very speedy. In addition, Exalead was deploying a lighter, automated semantic engine that did the thinking for the user by automatically categorizing and providing structure to unstructured data. We tapped them for our client project from then on, we knew we were going to see great things from them. We continued to follow and participate in the growth of this company from their incubation phase until its acquisition in 2010 by Dassault Systems. ATS remains its partner for the region.
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