MIndbreeze Mobile for SharePoint
November 8, 2011
Mobile devices are quickly gaining ground on personal computers as the primary entry point to the internet and other online resources. Any discussion of enterprise software is incomplete without devoting attention to mobile access. Waldek Mastykarz analyzes the effectiveness of SharePoint 2010’s mobile device support in, “Inconvenient SharePoint 2010 Mobile Redirect.” Mastykarz’s main complaint with SharePoint mobile access is its unsuitability for internet-facing Web sites because its lack of support for anonymous users. We learned:
Not only is the standard mobile experience useless on an Internet-facing website, but it also cannot be turned off. The mobile redirect is baked into the request processing module provided with SharePoint (the SPRequestModule HTTP module) and there is no on/off switch provided that you could flip to make it go away.
The author explains several workaround options for mobile access, but is quick to mention that no workaround is seamless and none completely fix SharePoint’s limitations. A solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile is a better overall fit for this and other SharePoint shortcomings. We learned from Fabasoft that:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Mobile uses a browser-based Client that is specifically adapted to the requirements of smart phones such as BlackBerry, iPhone and Android. Only three kilobytes of memory and the installation of one single certificate are required. After these steps are taken, the corporate installation of Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise – and thus all connected data sources – can be accessed through the usual Mindbreeze URL.
Additionally, Mindbreeze maintains continuous checks of existing access rights. Improving the users’ experience, every information object can be opened in Mindbreeze mobile in a preview mode that features the accompanying metadata. Enterprise solutions are useless without effective and efficient mobile solutions. Look into Mindbreeze as a good solution for increasing the usability of SharePoint’s mobile enterprise access.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 8, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: Learn about the New SharePoint 2010 Online for Office 365
November 8, 2011
Implementing with Intent
November 7, 2011
In a blog dedicated to document management news, the haphazard implementation of SharePoint is highlighted. Read the full commentary at, “SharePoint Surge Continues but Strategies Are Lacking.”
A recent survey by AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) has found that less than 50% of SharePoint implementations were subject to a formal business case, and only half of those required a financial justification. As a result, most did not have a management plan as to which of SharePoint’s many features were to be used, and where. Meanwhile, SharePoint deployment is proceeding rapidly, with 22% of respondents reporting it to be in use by 100% of office staff. This adoption rate is set to double by this time next year.
SharePoint is the current enterprise fad, with the adoption rate growing exponentially. However, is the effort even effective or worthwhile if the implementation is done without planning? Customized installation is costly but without customization the platform is virtually useless. Furthermore, a highly customized system can create a steep learning curve for new users.
One solution we found in our research is Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise. We learned from Mindbreeze:
A corporate-wide information platform maintaining and continuously expanding a well-funded knowledge base needs the greatest possible flexibility. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise links the most common data sources in corporations and organizations by special connectors, establishing the basis for further links to the creative utilization of internal corporate knowledge.
With Mindbreeze, the learning curve for new users is lessened and day-to-day work is more efficient for staff. Customization is automatic and relevant. To get the most out of your SharePoint installation, implement with intent and look into Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 7, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Spotlight: Mindbreeze for Easy Search and Access
November 4, 2011
CMS Wire weighs in on SharePoint 2010 and its viability as an internet site CMS. In, “Is SharePoint 2010 the Right Web CMS for Your Internet Site?” Michal Pisarek makes an argument for the integration of SharePoint 2010 as a broad web content management system.
Although the author argues that SharePoint 2010 has made improvements over the 2007 version, some issues remain.
Of course the breadth of SharePoint’s capabilities can also serve as its downfall. If your organization has specific needs that need deep vertical capabilities than you should be considering the cost of implementing this custom functionality on the SharePoint platform.
If this is the case then you might be better served with a niche solution, rather than the broader set of features that SharePoint offers. A product like Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise makes it easy to really handle adaptive and personalized website content. So your site acts like an information hub that adapts to users’ behavior on your site. Search-driven content as a building block of a next generation web content management functionality. Where SharePoint lags, Mindbreeze bridges the gap with your website, intranet, or mobile applications. Find more details at, “Search & Information Access as easy as 1-2-3.
“Showing search results in your Web site is hard? A new API to learn because your Web site uses a different programming language than available from your search engine vendor? Read on and learn how easy it can be to search-enable your content.”
An explanation of features follows, including personalized, search-driven and contextualized content. This Mindbreeze tutorial demonstrates how easy it is to add Fabasoft Mindbreeze functionality to a site, without much more than basic knowledge of HTML and JavaScript. We agree that SharePoint 2010 improves usability, but if ultimate efficiency and precision are desired, Mindbreeze is the best solution for search and information access.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 4, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Watson Does Big Data Plus Game Shows
November 3, 2011
And why not? Watson is IBM’s magical solution to Lucene’s unexciting key word search functionality. Oh, Lucene is under the hood, but the Watson system is much, much more sophisticated. And Watson can do “big data.” We are not sure what that means, but it is a game show system, right?
A new software initiative has IBM cheerleading for Watson and analytics. Yahoo! News reports that “IBM Unveils New ‘Big Data’ Tools.” The new tools, aimed at the healthcare, marketing, and other industries, are built partially around components IBM acquired with its purchases of Netezza and Cognos. The healthcare analytics, though, were grown from supercomputer Watson’s legendary artificial intelligence. IBM’s Watson, of course, became famous for beating Jeopardy!’s all-time biggest (human) winner in February 2011.
Of the new applications, writer Barry Levine explains:
The new software tools are intended to make a difference in a business environment that is awash with data. IBM said 90 percent of the world’s data, including information generated by sensors, mobile devices, online transactions and social networks, has been created within the past two years. . . . [The software] allows users to analyze unstructured data from such sources as social networks, mobile devices and sensors, as well as structured data in databases.
Based on Hadoop, IBM InfoSphere BigInsights will be accessed via the IBM SmartCloud Enterprise. A basic free version is available, but the company hopes businesses will subscribe to the priced-by-the-hour enterprise version.
An added twist is the availability of a location-aware analytics tool, IBM Cognos Mobile, that will be available for free to mobile devices. I think that might just turn out to be the most exciting part. Will IBM tackle another game show or just stick with demonstrations to future Harvard MBAs.
Cynthia Murrell November 3, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Spotlight: Mindbreeze and the SharePoint Vision
November 3, 2011
We read CMSWire’s “What is SharePoint 2010? Vision and Reality.” Overall we think that the article hits the highlights of Microsoft’s very popular content management system.
We found the “six pillars of SharePoint” in line with our understanding of the software system. In our work, we have implemented collaborative functions, portals, content management, business forms, search, and business intelligence. We noted this passage in particular:
In the 2010 release Microsoft greatly improved the functionality for creating and managing business documents. Organizations typically have two types of content: documents and information used to complete tasks and activities, and records. Records differ from the previous category in that they are documents and information that must be frozen and stored for compliance and/or regulatory purposes.
We agree and we think that this functionality can be greatly enhanced with third party components.
Of particular importance to us at Mindbreeze is search. We agree that Microsoft has made strides in its SharePoint search. However, there are important benefits that accrues to users of the Mindbreeze system. For example, Mindbreeze search includes the InApp functionality. The idea is that Mindbreeze seamlessly handles structured and unstructured information and data. Our focus is on third parties who need tools that streamline certain customized implementations for SharePoint.
Mindbreeze told us:
The new development of a highly scalable and likewise high-performance search costs a lot of time, resources and money. With Fabasoft Mindbreeze InApp software manufacturers, providers, integrators and developers can profit from the already proven Fabasoft Mindbreeze technology with very little effort.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze provides internationally awarded search technology which has been tried and tested by many users and can be simply integrated into any application. The download package includes the proven architecture, the optimized index component, the filter as well as the Fabasoft Mindbreeze – Web Client and the Fabasoft Mindbreeze – Embedded Client along with the SDK and the associated Eclipse project.
In short, Mindbreeze extends and enhances a developer’s ability to tailor SharePoint to the specific requirements of the client. The tools can be used to build complete, snap in applications for SharePoint as well as Linux systems.
Mindbreeze, a unit of the highly regarded Fabasoft organization, delivers a platform independent development platform. It provides high scalability and includes Fabasoft’s personal support.
To extend and customize SharePoint without some of the technical implementation hurdles, take a look at the Mindbreeze InApp development solution.
Stuart Schram, November 3, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: Is Microsoft SharePoint a Facebook Service?
November 2, 2011
Google and LAPD Disagree on Security
November 1, 2011
Call me old fashioned, but I thought sophisticated enterprise cloud services were secure. Guess I was wrong. Looks like more security hassles for Google, this time centering around the city of Los Angeles.
In 2009, the city approved a $7.25 million deal to move its email and productivity infrastructure to Google Apps, yet the move hasn’t been completed yet. The reason? LAPD and other agencies in the city are not happy with Google’s security, particularly in the realm of criminal history data. The number of LA employees expected to move has been downed from 30,000 to 17,000 and the city is demanding a refund for the money it has paid Novell for a GroupWise System, Fire Department Arson Investigators, City Attorney Criminal Branch, and several other city groups concerning criminal history data.
Ars Technia’s article, “Google Apps Hasn’t Met LAPD’s Security Requirements, City Demands Refund,” tells us more:
Both CSC and Google released statements this week. According to Network World, CSC said it has ‘successfully migrated all of the City of Los Angeles’s employees, except those with the City law enforcement agencies, to the new Google Apps cloud computing solution,’ and ‘subsequent to the award of the original contract, the City identified significant new security requirements for the Police Department. CSC and Google worked closely with the City to evaluate and eventually implement the additional data security requirements, which are related to criminal justice services information, and we’re still working together on one final security requirement.’
I think the issue boils down to a a failure to communicate. Now the parties have to determine who said what and when but really meant another thing. Clear? If not, perhaps Google will sue Los Angeles as it did Fish & Wildlife. Clear?
Andrea Hayden,November 1, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Spotlight: Mindbreeze on the SharePoint Stage
November 1, 2011
A new feature, mentioned in the Beyond Search story “Software and Smart Content.” We will be taking a close look at some vendors. Some will be off the board; for example, systems which have been acquired and, for all practical purposes, their feature set frozen. I have enlisted Abe Lederman, one of the founders of Verity (now a unit of Autonomy and Hewlett Packard) and now the chief executive of Deep Web Technologies.
Our first company under the spotlight is Mindbreeze, which is a unit of Fabasoft, which is one of the leading, if not the leading, Microsoft partners in Austria. Based in Linz, Mindbreeze offers are remarkably robust search and content processing solution.
The company is a leader in adding functionality to basic search, finding, and indexing tasks in organizations worldwide. In August 2011, CMSWire’s “A Strategic Look at SharePoint: Economics, Information & People” made this point:
SharePoint continues to grow in organizations of all sizes, from document collaboration and intranet publishing, to an increasing focus on business process workflows, internet and extranets. Today, many organizations are now in flight with their 2010 upgrades, replacing other portals and ECM applications, and even embracing social computing all on SharePoint.
The Mindbreeze system, according to Daniel Fallmann, the individual who was the mastermind behind the Mindbreeze technology, “snaps in” to Microsoft SharePoint and addresses many of the challenges that a SharePoint administrator encounters when trying to respond to diverse user needs in search and retrieval. In as little as a few hours, maybe a day, a company struggling to locate information in a SharePoint installation can be finding documents using a friendly, graphical interface.
My recollection of Mindbreeze is that it was a “multi stage” service oriented architecture. For me, this means that system administrators can configure the system from a central administrative console and work through the graphical set up screens to handle content crawling (acquisition), indexing, and querying.
The system supports mobile search and can support “apps,” which are quickly becoming the preferred method of accessing certain types of reports. The idea is that a Mindbreeze user from sales can access the content needed prior to a sales call from a mobile device.
According to Andreas Fritschi, a government official at Canton Thurgau:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise makes our everyday work much easier. This is also an advantage for our citizens. They receive their information much faster. This software can be used by people in all sectors of public administration, from handling enquiries to people in management.
Why is the tight integration with Microsoft SharePoint important? There are three reasons that our work in search and content processing highlights.
First, there are more than 100 million SharePoint installations and most of the Fortune 1000 are using SharePoint to provide employees with content management, collaboration, and specialized search-centric functions such as locating a person with a particular area of knowledge in one’s organization. With Mindbreeze, these functions become easier to use and require no custom coding to implement within a SharePoint environment.
Second, users are demanding answers, not laundry lists. The Mindbreeze approach allows a licensee to set up the system to deliver exactly with a group of users or a single user requires. The tailoring occurs within the Fabasoft and Mindbreeze “composite content environment.” Fabasoft and Mindbreeze deliver easy-to-use configuration tools. Mash ups are a few clicks away.
Third, Mindbreeze makes use of the Fabasoft work flow technology. Information can be moved from Point A to Point B without requiring changing users’ work behaviors. As a result, user satisfaction rises.
You can learn more about Mindbreeze at www.mindbreeze.com. Information about Fabasoft and its technology are at www.fabasoft.com.
Stephen E Arnold, November 1, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Protected: The Top Fortune 500 SharePoint Users
October 31, 2011
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