dtSearch Rolls Out New Filters
November 21, 2012
Dr. Dobb’s software development website recently reported on new proprietary search features that cover online and offline data types in the article, “New dtSearch Document Filter Products.”
According to the article, dtSearch, a text retrieval software company that allows users to instantly search terabytes of text, has announced the latest release of its product line. Version 7.70 sees improved document filters embedded across the entire dtSearch product line.
The article states:
“The new version extends the document filters to add image support to Word (.doc/.docx), PowerPoint (.ppt/.pptx), Excel (.xls/.xlsx), Access (.mdb/accdb), RTF, and email files including Thunderbird (mbox/.eml) and Outlook (.pst/.msg) files. The release displays these formats showing highlighted hits in context with both text and images. The release also adds support for Japanese Ichitaro documents.
dtSearch’s proprietary document filters support a broad range of data types from “Office” documents: MS Office, OpenOffice, RTF, PDF to emails and also MS Exchange, Outlook, Thunderbird — all with nested attachments.”
This company has received impressive reviews regarding their search power and indexing abilities. We can only assume that dtSearch 7.70 will be even better.
Jasmine Ashton, November 21, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Autonomy and HP: That Was Fast
November 20, 2012
I like to point out that making money via search and content processing is a challenge. Not long ago, an investment bank’s 30 somethings told me, “We can figure this search stuff out.”
Don’t hold your breath.
I just learned that HP is not too happy with Autonomy’s accounting or business model. Hmmm. Isn’t the time to be unhappy before one writes a check for $10 billion? Call me old fashioned, but caveat emptor.
Navigate to “HP Takes $8.8B Charge on Autonomy ‘Improprieties’”. The write up asserts:
Hewlett-Packard took a massive charge related to its purchase of Autonomy and indicated that it bought the company based pumped-up and fraudulent accounting. In its fourth-quarter earnings report, HP recorded a charge of $8.8 billion in its software unit.
When I read this, I thought of the old chestnut attributed to either a cartoon character or a baseball professional, “It’s deja vu all over again.”
Interesting.
I never buy printer ink unless I check first. I assume the same prudence might apply to buying a search and content processing vendor.
Is there fix? Yep, the goose floats quietly in the pond awaiting the call.
Stephen E Arnold, November 20, 2012
Renaissance in the Enterprise Calls for Proven Features
November 20, 2012
A general partner at venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz stated the obvious at a recent conference: there are a lot of changes going on in the enterprise. Enough changes, says Andreessen Horowitz partner Peter Levine, that it could be considered a renaissance and an entirely new generation of creativity in the enterprise. According to the article “Andreessen Horowitz General Partner Peter Levine: There’s an Enterprise Renaissance Going On” on TechCrunch, Levine is comparing the enterprise renaissance to that that occurred in the city states of Italy.
The article states:
“[…]Levine said, there is lots of proof that the renaissance is underway — well illustrated in the shift from the personal computer to mobile. The infrastructure has to change in this shift; the applications will have to be built natively to the mobile device. Services out of the back-end will need to be secured. The devices are getting more powerful and will have to integrate with distributed infrastructures around the world. Data platforms are just emerging. The development is just starting.”
The changes and the Big Data renaissance call for new ways of dealing with and addressing data. We recommend Intrafind, which offers some renaissance features that are tried and true due to their maturity in the enterprise search market. We look forward to the changes in the new age and believe businesses should prepare with the right tools to help them learn and collaborate in the emerging market.
Andrea Hayden, November 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Metalogix Announces Migration Tool for SharePoint 2013 Upgrade
November 20, 2012
Metalogix recently launched Content Matrix 6.0, a new take on the former Migration Manager product. Details of the tool can be read in, “Speeding, Easing SharePoint Migration.” Content Matrix aims to provide power, speed, and flexibility to upgrade to SharePoint 2013 from any previous version. The product is explained:
Content Matrix 6.0 is designed to simplify an organization’s content experience, including moving to the cloud. In addition to SharePoint migration, architects and administrators can migrate file shares and documents from legacy enterprise content management (ECM) systems and keep SharePoint content organized in a high fidelity and ongoing basis. Further, content owners have more control over content directly from the SharePoint user interface.
The company is also introducing SharePoint 4.0, which offers the ability to automatic and continuously back up unstructured SharePoint content. The tool may be worth looking into for a migration option. You may also want to consider a more comprehensive solution, especially for reducing content storage sprawl and adding structure to your vast unstructured data. Fabasoft Mindbreeze integrates knowledge from all sections of a company into a uniform, linked whole hub of business information. With the added benefit of a SharePoint connector, Mindbreeze snaps seamlessly into existing systems to extend capabilities and efficiently create relevant business knowledge.
Philip West, November 20, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
KMWorld Announces Mindbreeze InSite as Trend Setting Product of 2012
November 19, 2012
KMWorld.com recently put the spotlight on Mindbreeze InSite in their September 2012, Trend-Setting Products 2012 issue. The full article, “Trend-Setting Products 2012: Mindbreeze: Mindbreeze InSite,” highlights the impressive Web site search and simple implementation benefits. The author states that traditional Web site search just doesn’t work; it is clunky and often presents thousands of unordered search results. This is said about InSite:
InSite changes this. With powerful semantic understanding and an intuitive search and navigation system, InSite allows website visitors to pinpoint their desired page in moments. Searching across your multiple websites, blogs and social media through one search box, InSite revolutionizes your user’s experience: removing hassle, encouraging interaction and delivering information.
This is also included about the simple installation:
Simply by adding the embed code to your website, InSite becomes fully functional in just a few minutes, providing an exceptionally fast return on investment.
InSite is a cloud service and is easily customizable. You can generate search tabs to customize the search experience for Web site visitors and you can create as many tabs as you would like. With intuitive search facets and semantic capabilities, the cost-effective solution seems to really be changing the Web site search game.
Philip West, November 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Endeca Explanation
November 19, 2012
We’ve turned up a useful summary of Endeca’s Information Discovery system; the description occurs within a post about using integration platform CloverETL with the Endeca product. “Oracle Endeca Information Discovery—CloverETL” is posted at Saichand Varanasi’s OBIEE, Endeca and ODI Blog. After referring readers to his Endeca overview, the blogger dives into the Clover. He writes:
“Today we will see how to create Clover ETL graph and populating data which will be used by MDEX engine for reporting (Studio). Endeca Information discovery helps organization to answer quickly on relevant data of both structured and Un structured. It helps to search and discover and analysis. Information is loaded from multiple data source systems and stored in a faceted data model that dynamically supports changing data. Information discovery enables an iterative approach. Integration features a new ETL tool, The integrator (Clover ETL) that lets you extract source records from a variety of source types flat files to databases.”
Next, Varanasi walks us through an example project. Along the way, he also explains how Endeca Information Discovery functions. A happy side effect, if you will. See the post for details.
Founded in 1999 and based in Cambridge, MA, Endeca was acquired by Oracle just over a year ago. The company has been at the forefront of faceted search technology, particularly for large e-commerce and online library systems.
Cynthia Murrell, November 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Government Needs to Prioritize SEO
November 18, 2012
Search Engine Watch recently reported on a federal government initiative to consolidate government domains, websites, and databases in the article, “Government SEO is Broken.”
According to the article, there could be one major hinderance to this operation. The United States government is not taking SEO into account when executing this plan. Since the federal digital presence currently includes more than 1,400 domains and 11,000 websites run by 56 agencies, consolidating is certainly necessary. However, it is also important that the government consider the daunting task of employees needing to search for information in that mess.
The article states:
“Each negative or frustrating online experience contributes to the public perception that government is too large, unresponsive, and indifferent to the needs of its diverse set of stakeholders.
But what if users were able to quickly and easily connect to government directly from the search engines with a minimum of clicks? Instead of visiting a government agency home page, navigating the site, and finally finding the information they need? What if agency activities and perspectives were highly visible and above private sector sites in the search results?”
The fact that government agencies are not number one on search engines like Google and Bing is ridiculous. The federal government needs to take advantage of the preferential treatment it receives by ranking algorithms and make search a priority.
Jasmine Ashton, November 18, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com
The Coming Financial Crunch on Search Vendors
November 17, 2012
I sat through three, maybe four, “We’re doing great!” teleconferences this week. In one of those teleconference Go To Beating things, I was told, “We think that there is great opportunity in enterprise search.”
I agreed but one cannot call “search” search. Search, in my opinion, have become a new four letter word. But this person insisted that he and his team had the solution to the revenue ceiling problem. Now the concept of a “revenue ceiling” may be unfamiliar to those running companies in a crazed effort to get enough cash to pay last month’s bills. To me, “revenue ceiling” is what keeps most enterprise search vendors below the $20 million in revenue benchmark. In fact, since I have been tracking the enterprise search sector, the companies which have blown past $20 million are no longer in play. These outfits are now part of larger firms, managed by people who are or, should I say, were confident that making oodles of money from enterprise search technology was a “no brainer.”
A happy quack to http://goo.gl/xQMP0 for this inspirational image.
So what’s happening to my through the ceiling outfits? HP owns Autonomy and based on the grim financial results HP continues to report, Autonomy is not lofting HP to new revenue heights. The Endeca crowd managed to get revenues north of $150 million before the sale to Oracle. I have not heard that the Endeca team is pushing Mark Hurd aside due to their financial performance. I do know that Endeca is now just one more arrow in the Oracle quiver of tools and solutions. And Fast Search & Transfer? Microsoft does not break out revenues from Fast which once reported revenues of $170 million. The number was revised downward and I picked up a rumor that some in the Sinofsky free environment were looking at Fast Search as a technological equivalent of a 68 year old soccer player. It’s great the fellow remembers to go to the game, but in a crunch, let’s let gramps watch the 20 somethings win the game.
So, search has been a tough sector to make payoff big. Autonomy, much to the chagrin of the “real” consultants sold for $10 billion. But the real important point is that no other firm to my knowledge has been able to make almost a billion from “search.” Keep in mind that giants like IBM and Google can make numbers dance the tango. But for most search and content processing companies, revenue life and cost control have been similar to earning enough in a war zone to buy a new Rolls Royce. It can be done, but a close look at how may not be a wise idea.
Smash cut to these interesting developments:
- Yahoo is putting more heat on employees and may fire thousands of Yahooligans. See Yahoo CEO Mayer Cuts End-of-Year “Week of Rest” for Employees, While Prepping Plans to Cull Bottom 20 Percent of Staff
- The brains behind Netflix’ brilliant pricing moves alleges that Amazon is losing $1 billion a year on streaming video. (My reaction was, “That number seems low.” The reference is at Netflix CEO: Amazon Losing Up to $1 Billion a Year on Streaming Video
- Apple’s stock continues to decline. some folks think there are worms in the cook’s Thanksgiving pie. See Apple’s Stock Price Falls to Lowest Point in Six months
SharePoint 2013 Walk Through from Search Technologies
November 16, 2012
With the recent release of SharePoint 2013 to manufacturing clients as well as volume licensing customers, people are struggling to find information about the product to prepare for the transition.
New information is available about SharePoint 2013’s search capabilities in a recent blog post from Search Technologies. The post, “Search for SharePoint 2013,” provides a high-level summary and a functional walk-through of the capabilities, including crawling, content and analytics processing, and query processing.
The article also breaks down the main headlines about the release:
“The FAST search technology, acquired by Microsoft in 2008, is at the heart of SharePoint 2013
Technologies and ideas from Bing and elsewhere have been added to the mix to provide a comprehensive set of enterprise search capabilities, with plenty of room for customization
It includes a rules-based query parsing framework
Pricing has not yet been formally announced, but it is generally assumed that this search functionality will be a standard part of SharePoint 2013.”
We found the information on SharePoint which is available at this site to be informative and easy to digest. Browsing the blog brought up numerous other points of specialties in the IT services and search engine field of expertise. Other articles can be found at http://www.searchtechnologies.com/blog.html. We recommend adding this blog to your must-read list.
Andrea Hayden, November 16, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com
Azaleos Survey Reveals Increased SharePoint Adoption but also Challenges
November 16, 2012
SharePoint adoption continues to grow and remain high according to an Azaleos Corporation and Osterman Research survey. The survey also revealed some inhibitors to greater SharePoint growth, including lack of administrative skills, training, and knowledge for current staff members. HeraldOnline weighs in on the findings in the article, “SharePoint Cost of Ownership Jumped 16 Percent in 2012 Finds Osterman Research.” This is added about possible challenges:
’According to Osterman Research, SharePoint is still an extremely high growth platform, but soaring management costs, coupled with insufficient staffing levels and training are leading to performance and satisfaction issues. This is threatening its momentum,’ said Scott Gode, vice president of product management and marketing for Azaleos. ‘To derive maximum business value from SharePoint enterprises need to reevaluate current approaches to systems administration and storage management in order to reduce costs. In addition, SharePoint governance should be given a much higher level of priority by both IT and business leadership.’
The author adds that staffing cut backs and poor governance are also challenges for organizations. The article highlights some important SharePoint issues you may want to consider when evaluating your approach to the ubiquitous platform. One approach worth looking at is a cost-effective third party solution to extend SharePoint capabilities, like Mindbreeze. Mindbreeze facilitates the comprehensive incorporation of all electronic data repositories and connects seamlessly with SharePoint. And with an intuitive user interface, users will find can easily adapt.
Philip West, November 16, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
