Chiliad: Virtual Information Sharing
February 14, 2012
In 1999, Christine Maxwell, who created the “Magellan” search engine, Paul McOwen, co-founder of the National Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval for the National Science Foundation, and Howard Turtle, former chief scientist at West Publishing, formed Chiliad with the intention of creating a business-to-consumer shopping site with a natural language search engine.
And then September 11, 2001, happened. Chiliad turned its attention to the intelligence community. In 2007, with the FBI as its largest client, the company received $1.6 million in funding from a joint development project with various intelligence and military agencies to enhance Chiliad’s cross-agency knowledge fusion capability by tightly integrating cross-domain “trusted guard” capabilities to support distributed multi-level-security and by enhancing collaboration tools. For the past several years, every time someone at the FBI wanted to search for a name in its Investigative Data Warehouse, technology from Chiliad was working in the background.
Another outfit which connects dots. But Chiliad connects all the dots. Hmm. A categorical affirmative, and I don’t think this is possible.
Chiliad has solved two challenging problems. The first is the ability to rapidly search data collections at greater scale than any other offering in the market. The second is to allow search formulation and analysis in natural language. It offers Chiliad Discovery/Alert, a platform for search and knowledge discovery to operate in parallel across distributed repositories of unstructured and structured data; Peer-to-Peer Architecture, which allows organizations to distribute instances of the search, indexing, and analysis engine in a network of cooperating nodes in local or remote distributed networks; Distributed Search, which provides a search capability that works seamlessly in amounts of structured and unstructured data; Filtering and Alerting Service for tracking and receiving alerts about new data in real time; Discover Knowledge service, an integral component of the Discovery/Alert platform used for navigation and discovery; Discovery/Alert Geospatial Service, an organizing concept for information; and Global Knowledge Discovery technology. Rather than moving data across the network to a central indexing system, Chiliad’s technology allows organizations to put a Discovery/Alert node wherever information is managed. Each node is part of a secure peer-to-peer network that allows a query to be executed in parallel across all locations.
The company serves investigative analysis, information security, and research and development applications; and government and intelligence, insurance, law enforcement, and life sciences healthcare industries. Because Chiliad’s product is a platform, it faces competition in the enterprise market from large, better known vendors, such as Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and SAP.
Stephen E Arnold, February 14, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Enterprise Search: Details and Substance Required
February 13, 2012
A quick look at how to implement enterprise search appeared in CIO. You will want to take a gander if you are struggling as many are with failed enterprise search implementations. “How to Evaluate Enterprise Search Options” is a compendium of quotes.
However, if you want a meatier analysis your will want to get a copy of Martin White’s and Stephen E Arnold’s Successful Enterprise Search Management. The groundbreaking book appeared a couple of years ago, but it provides detail, recommendations, a glossary for anyone wrestling with search technology, specification, selection, implementation, and management of a new or refurbed findability system. The book description informs us:
The authors, Stephen Arnold and Martin White, each have over two decades of experience in computer-based information retrieval and in this book share both their practical experience gained through client assignments around the world and their deep understanding of the technology and business of enterprise search. This book will be of value to any organization seeking to get the best out of its current search implementation, considering whether to upgrade the implementation, or starting the process of specifying and selecting enterprise search software.
Yep, everything you need to know about evaluating enterprise search options, including a comment about desktop search. Check it out.
Cynthia Murrell, February 13, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Inforbix Cracks Next Generation Search for SolidWorks Users
February 13, 2012
Search means advertising to most Google users. In an enterprise—according to the LinkedIn discussions about enterprise search—the approach is anchored in the 1990s. The problem is that finding information requires a system which can handle content types that are of little interest to lawyers, accountants, and MBAs running a business today.
Without efficient access to such content as engineering drawings, specifications, quality control reports, and run-of-the-mill office information—costs go up. What’s worse is that more time is needed to locate a prior version of a component or locate the supplier who delivered on time and on budget work to the specification. So expensive professionals end up performing what I call Easter egg hunt research. The approach involves looking for colleagues, paging through lists of file names, and the “open, browse, close” approach to information retrieval.
Not surprisingly, the so called experts steer clear of pivotal information retrieval problems. Most search systems pick the ripe apples which are close to the ground. This means indexing Word documents, the versions of information in a content management system, or email.
I learned today that Inforbix, a company we have been tracking because it takes search to the next level, has rolled out two new products. These innovations are data apps which seamlessly aggregate product data from different file types, sources, and locations. The new Inforbix apps will help SolidWorks’ users get more out of their product data and become more productive while improving decision-making. Plus, Inforbix said that it would expand the data access to SolidWords EPDM, making it possible for SolidWords customers to get more from data managed by their PDM system.
The two products are Inforbix Charts and Inforbix Dashboard. Both complement Inforbix Tables which was released in October 2011.
Oleg Shilovitsky, founder of Inforbix, told me:
Manufacturing companies are drowning in the growing amount of product data generated and found within different file types, sources, and company data-silos. They are increasingly using a mix of vendor packages and solutions, all which generate, contain, manage, or store product data, creating a hodgepodge of resources to be combed through. Product data generated in a typical manufacturing company can be both unstructured (valuable BOM and assembly information spread out across different CAD drawings) and structured (CAD drawings within a PDM or PLM system). Our apps are tools that address specific product data tasks such as finding, re-using, and sharing product data. Inforbix can access product data within PDM systems such as ENOVIA SmarTeam and Autodesk Vault and make it available in meaningful ways to CAD and non-CAD users.
When I reviewed the system, I noted that Inforbix’s apps utilize product data semantic technology that automatically infer relationships between disparate sources of data. For example, Inforbix can semantically connect or link a SolidWorks CAD assembly found within EPDM with a related Excel file containing a BOM table stored on a file server in another department.
Inforbix Charts visualizes and presents data saved from Inforbix Tables. The product data is presented in charts that include information to help engineers better manage and run processes by identifying trends and patterns and improving data control. For example, Inforbix Charts visually presents the approval statuses of CAD and ECO documents by author, date approved, last modified date, etc.
Inforbix Dashboard dynamically collects and presents important statistics about engineering and manufacturing data and processes, such as how many versions of a particular CAD drawing currently exist, how many design revisions did it take to complete a CAD drawing, or the number of ECOs processed on time. Easy and intuitive to use, Inforbix Dashboard is an ideal tool for project managers.
SolidWords users can access Inforbix apps and their product data online. Current Inforbix customers can immediately begin using the Inforbix iPad app, available for free on the Apple App Store at http://www.inforbix.com/inforbix-mobile-search-for-cad-and-product-data-on-the-ipad/. Account access taps existing Inforbix credentials. New users are encouraged to register with Inforbix to enable the iPad app to access product data within their company. The apps soon will be available on Android devices.
A video preview of the iPad app is posted at http://www.inforbix.com/inforbix-ipad-app-first-preview/. For more information on Inforbix apps, visit http://www.inforbix.com.
Inforbix is a company on the move.
Stephen E Arnold, February 13, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Inteltrax: Top Stories, February 6 to February 10
February 13, 2012
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, specifically, how Asia is taking on a bigger role in all things analytics.
We began this search with the story, “Asian Analytics Market a Powerhouse” which provided a general overview of countries like Malaysia that are making an impact with Teradata.
More specifically, “India Up and Coming in Big Data” proved that one of the tech industries most important new players is India, with its analytics-savvy workforce.
To no surprise, we also covered China with “China Getting Big Data Attention” showed us how this industrial powerhouse is beginning to convert to the tech industry with analytics.
Analytics has been a global concern from the get-go. However, the sheer volume of talent and opportunity in Asia makes it seem logical that it will become to big data what Detroit once was to automobiles. We’ll be sure to keep an eye as this continental analytics trend moves forward.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting www.inteltrax.com
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax.
February 13, 2012
SharePoint 2010 Solutions for Incremental Crawl Problems
February 13, 2012
The blogosphere is full of fixes and solutions for SharePoint 2010 quirks and problems. Unfortunately, we know that many of these solutions come from the pain and suffering of others – others who have had to figure these things out because of something that SharePoint failed to do. The article, “Scheduled Incremental Crawls Suddenly Stopped Due to a Stale Timer Service in SharePoint 2010” is a perfect example.
The author describes the issue he had with the SharePoint 2010 timer service:
It is always fun to get back on site after a couple of days off work. SharePoint 2010 is like an annoying little critter, if you’re not there to cuddle with it, it will do the most strange things. I currently have a support case open regarding some issues with crawled properties (I hope that will be another story to tell another day) and went into the Search Service Application admin pages in Central Admin to check some things. When poking around I noticed that the incremental crawl hasn’t been run for a few days . . . I fired up an incremental crawl manually and that worked, waited for the next incremental crawl to start – and it didn’t. Also tried a full crawl manually – which worked fine, but the scheduled crawls never started.
Ultimately, the author found a solution and was able to get everything back up and running. We know that SharePoint is a strange beast (or annoying little critter as the author stated) and these types of issues are common. However, many organizations are turning to third party solutions to either improve their SharePoint installation or replace it completely. Many find that these third party solutions are more tailored to the end user and save frustration on the part of the SharePoint administrator. One solution receiving accolades is Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
When the solution won KM World Trendsetting Product of the Year for 2011, KM World had the following to say about the easy and efficiency of the solution:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance as a pre-packaged solution (hardware and software) offers a quick and easy way to enjoy a high-end enterprise search solution out-of-the-box. The product is ready to use within in a very short timeframe.
If you are tired of troubleshooting SharePoint issues on a micro level, explore the other third party solutions available, paying particular attention to Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 13, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Hadoop Vendors On the Rise
February 13, 2012
Information Week offers the interesting article “12 Hadoop Vendors to Watch In 2012.” Hadoop is a favorite in the business intelligence world “thanks to its combination of low cost, scalability, and flexibility to handle any data without building predefined schemas.”
Business intelligence vendors are counting on Hadoop to help with not only data processing but also with data analysis. The article mentions several notable companies. Cloudera is not surprising it is “the oldest and largest Hadoop software and services provider.”
Other vendors such as EMC and Microsoft are two surprising vendors noted in the article with Hadoop connections. Datameer is another notable vendor building steam and you can read more about them here. An interesting list however it comes as a big surprise that Digital Reasoning was left off of the list which is a huge oversight for so many reasons in my opinion. The list of vendors couldn’t be more different but data analytics bridges the gap. It’s definitely “the next big thing.”
Stephen E Arnold, February 13, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Politicians Try to Surf on Social Media
February 12, 2012
Is this a new type of polling or is it social trolling? Attensity’s blog reports, “Politico Uses Attensity to Analyze SOPA Sentiment.” Attensity took on Politico’s challenge to mine social media for attitudes on the Stop Online Piracy Act. It turns out that people who spend a lot of time online skew heavily against the law. Go figure.
Author James Purchase writes:
If I had to directly summarize this analysis, I would say that the SOPA-opposition is significantly more organized and vocal in using Social Media to make their point. Whether or not the social media outcry affects the outcome of the legislation remains to be seen.
Perhaps, though I hope the uproar against the law has reached the ears of even the most tech-adverse legislators. They have interns, right? Some are awkward too. Wipe out!
Cynthia Murrell, February 12, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
When Disaster Strikes – Loss of a SharePoint Farm
February 10, 2012
Most SharePoint developers and administrators have nightmares about losing their content. Any number of things can go wrong when one deals with fragile electronic data storage and retrieval. Quite frankly, it is a miracle that data disasters do not strike more often. Our blog author, Paul, describes his terrifying account in “Five Things I Learned From Losing My SharePoint Farm.”
He recounts his thoughts and actions immediately after the loss:
I went home and made the first sensible decision of the evening. I went to bed. Partly I thought I should stay up and work on the problem but I was shattered and I wasn’t going to solve anything in the state I was in. When I woke up – at 5:00AM, screaming – I got to work and thankfully by midday I had the farm back in a working state and all the data accessible. During those painful hours I learned 5 valuable lessons that I thought were worth sharing for relative newcomers – like me – to SharePoint.
Paul goes on to suggest some practical solutions so that others do not suffer his same loss. Ideas include regular SQL backups and details documentation that is stored outside of the SharePoint installation itself, outside being the operative word there.
Many organizations are turning to smart third party solutions to help make the backup and restore process much simpler. Add automatic backup to the features of the Cloud and SharePoint administrator nightmares could be greatly reduce in frequency and severity.
One alternative that many organizations are turning to is Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Their comprehensive suite of solutions can stand alone or compliment an existing SharePoint infrastructure. Particular attention is given to their backup and restore options here.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 10, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Enterprise Search Meets the Cloud in 2012
February 9, 2012
In “2012 – Ready or Not,” Mike Alsup, Senior Vice President at Gimmal Group, lays out a summary of 2011 and speculates on 2012 in the world of SharePoint and content management. Of course, 2011 was another growth year for the ubiquitous SharePoint platform. One estimate puts SharePoint users at 125,000,000 and counting. Although, Alsup says, many of these SharePoint sites are collaboration sites, intranet, and other lightweight knowledge management, meaning lots of room to grow and innovate among the users.
Otherwise, 2011 is noted for lots of infrastructure consolidation and lots of waiting to see what happens with SharePoint Records Management. And for 2012? Alsup gives somewhat lengthy explanations on Records Management 2.0 and content enabled vertical applications. Of course, 2012 speculations are not complete without mention of the Cloud. Here’s what Alsup says,
In the world of SharePoint, the product is different in the cloud and on premise because of limitations on what can be deployed in the cloud and how it needs to be deployed. There are many SharePoint applications that provide great value that can’t be deployed in the Microsoft Clouds (Microsoft private cloud solutions, Windows Azure, Office 365) because of product limitations. If Microsoft enabled these applications to be more easily deployed in their clouds, and their customers could deploy their SharePoint applications similarly in each of the three environments, then the decisions on how and where to host would be based on economics and deployment strategy instead of the limitations of SharePoint in the clouds.
While SharePoint is a powerful and complex system, we know there are limitations when the Cloud is introduced. For a Cloud solution in your SharePoint environment, check out Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Here you can read about the power of information pairing.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze . . .
smoothly integrates itself into your website so that the user doesn’t even realize that Cloud services are working in the background. Furthermore, InSite always knows what a user is interested in. Navigation behavior on the website serves as the basis for recognizing their interests. If the user finds themselves on one of your sub-pages on the topic mobility, for example, even at this level Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite still displays further information such as blogs, news, Wikipedia etc. on the relevant topic.
Check out the full suite of solutions at Mindbreeze to see what works for you.
Philip West, February 9, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Linguamatics Embraces Informatics
February 9, 2012
Fierce Biotech IT announces, “EU Program Backs Linguamatics and ChemAxon’s Informatics Work.” The European Union’s Eurostars Program grants research and development funding to small and medium companies.
The project being funded is, according to the companies, the first interactive text-mining system specifically for chemistry research. Writer Ryan McBride elaborates:
The companies say that pharma and biotech outfits are expected to be the main customers for the technology. With this tool, ChemAxon and Linguamatics want drug companies or other users to be able to do chemical evaluations, hunt for new chemicals, get structure visualizations in searches and ‘explore image to structure conversion,’ according to the companies’ press release.
More personalized medical research is expected to be one application of the system. That sounds promising.
ChemAxon serves the biotechnology and pharmaceutical fields worldwide, providing chemical software development platforms as well as desktop applications.
Linguamatics bases its data management solutions on natural language processing technology. I2E is the company’s flagship text mining software, also available in the cloud as I2E OnDemand.
Cynthia Murrell, February 9, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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