Archive for the ‘OEM Search Software’ Category

01: What the SAP Agreement Means for ISYS

Well, quite a bit has been written in recent weeks about the global OEM agreement that ISYS secured with software giant SAP. Much of the comment has understandably been technical in nature, as well as what it means for the SAP products that are embedding ISYS Document Filters and Big Data as a driving force in Text Analytics.

But what I’d like to touch on here is just what the agreement means for ISYS as a company, in validating our medium term strategy of becoming the pre-eminent player in “Embedded Search”. In effect, decoupling our solutions (like Document Filters and Integration Kit) and using these as the dedicated search components powering a range of broader, search-enabled solutions.

In pursuing  this strategy, we now not only have major vendors like SAP, Sybase and MarkLogic; but through them and other larger Partners (such as HP, EMC, Proofpoint and Detica) also provide embedded ISYS solutions to many top Fortune 500 companies in business-critical application areas like Text Analytics, Enterprise Content Management, Email Archiving, eDiscovery and Data Loss Prevention.

Today, this means there is a high likelihood that your business is utilizing some form of search-enabled application powered by ISYS – along with 16,000 other organizations that use ISYS technology to help grow their business.

It also means that we have grown quite a bit as a company, based on delivering superior technology, backed up by great service and support. Indeed, those were essentially the reasons why SAP chose ISYS to help power its new generation of enterprise software solutions. We worked closely with SAP over 18 months and were able to leverage our existing relationship with Sybase, itself an SAP Company.

ISYS has very definitely arrived. Small wonder that many ISVs are now looking to us and our class-leading Document Filters technology to help them and their own customers extract greater business value in the world of Big Data.

02: Charting the HP – Autonomy Deal

If you have been following the coverage of HP’s proposed acquisition of Autonomy, then you’ve likely picked up on a handful of repeated phrases, including “big data” “data science” and “information management.” Some terms are new, some are old, but each describes what enterprises are increasingly wrestling to control and leverage – namely, unstructured information. As HP looks to its software future while shedding its hardware past, it’s clear it views Autonomy as the first piece in addressing the big data problem.

From our perspective, we see the acquisition as validation of ISYS’s strategy of helping enterprises and technology partners manage and exploit their unstructured content assets. Further supporting this is the significant growth we have seen in our ISYS Document Filters technology, which is helping technology partners like MarkLogic, Sybase and Attensity account for unstructured information in their content applications. Below you will find a handful of perspectives on this deal, from analysts to subject matter experts. Leslie Owens of Forrester offers a thorough analysis and a view on some of the challenges ahead.

• What is Autonomy Without its Marketing? (Leslie Owens, Forrester)
• HP Rumored to be Buying UK’s Autonomy for 10b (Dave Kellogg, Kellblog)
• Autonomy Marketing, Meet HP (Miles Kehoe, Enterprise Search Blog)

03: Welcome Michael Neiswender

ISYS is delighted to welcome Michael Neiswender to our expanding technology partner Sales team.  Michael will be instrumental in building on the commercial success we have already achieved with our proprietary Document Filters technology.  Previously with Autonomy and a true industry veteran, Michael brings a wealth of experience and relationships to the business as we embark on an exciting period in our history.  We will continue to focus on delivering high-performance enterprise search solutions based on true innovation and world-class IP – free from any wider distractions.  Our customers and prospects would expect nothing less.

04: More Taste With Half the Calories

The genius minds who invented such great products as minute rice would be proud of us for bringing you the “30-Minute Webinar.”  We’re big proponents of the old adage “If you can say it in fewer words, then do it.”  So we did.  Or … we will.  Later this week in fact.  Read on!

30-Minute Webinar #1:  A single view of corporate data

Hosted by our Asia Pacific team, this session will appeal to those desperately trying to avoid another expensive data migration project and instead enable a universal view of corporate knowledge no matter where the content resides (no data exodus required).  Virtual data aggregation has become  a must-have capability in an age where instant access is driven by risk mitigation, compliance and reliable decision making.  The session will kick off at 10 a.m. Sydney Time (AEDT), this Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010.

Please join us by registering today.

30-Minute Webinar The Sequel:  Knowledge-Rich Solutions for Unstructured Data

ISYS customer Janya highlights the growing push for semantic analysis around unstructured content and how they are tackling it today.  Janya VP of Product Strategy, Dave Schubmehl, is the real deal when it comes to this topic, having previously served as VP for search and discovery products over at OpenText.  The session begins at High Noon, Eastern Time, on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010.

Join us, won’t you?

05: NEW: ISYS Document Filters 2010

The momentum we’ve built up over the last several weeks culminates tomorrow in the release of ISYS Document Filters 2010 – the newest version of our embedded solution for text extraction, printing and high-definition viewing.  This latest release of ISYS Document Filters is especially noteworthy, as it adds the critical fidelity components of printing and high-definition viewing.  These capabilities have become high-demand capabilities from enterprises, OEMs and ISVs who are either looking to fill a gap or replace existing technology from Oracle or Autonomy. 

The addition of printing and high-definition viewing was developed completely by the ISYS R&D team; these new capabilities are the most significant pieces of IP we’ve developed since the original release of ISYS Document Filters in March 2009 (formerly known as ISYS File Readers).  As you will recall, we’ve gained several new OEM customers in recent weeks, including Sybase and Janya, while continuing to expand our traditional embedded search deals, which recently includes Bridgeline Digital.

We’re taking the show on the road to Interop New York, where we’ll be in town on Wednesday to get the word out.  Look for the ISYS Street Team handing out branded canvas bags to the masses attending the event.

06: Sybase Taps ISYS Document Filters

As Gartner prepares to release its upcoming “State of the Union” on enterprise search, what’s clear from our perspective is that future market growth will be driven by innovations in text analytics and federated analysis of content stores.  No, this isn’t breaking news, and it doesn’t mean that commodity enterprise search goes away.  But if our customer base is any indication, today’s requirements have almost exclusively moved away from “search as convenience” to the “mandate of instant insight.”

Sybase is one of the driving forces behind text analytics today, and ISYS is pleased that it’s pioneering work in text analytics is playing a key role in the latest release of Sybase IQ.  At the TDWI conference last month in San Diego, Sybase announced its intention to enter into an agreement with ISYS under which Sybase will resell ISYS Document Filters as a key component for text analytics in Sybase IQ. 

Since the introduction of ISYS Document Filters in 2009, we’ve learned a great deal from implementations that are serving broad applications and use cases.  In fact, the innovations we’re actively infusing into our text extraction capabilities are being shaped by those experiences.  The applications that ISYS Document Filters help drive give us just a glimpse of how text analytics is evolving and how today’s innovators are approaching the “mandate of instant insight” challenge.

07: Webinar: Document Filters and Search-Enabled Applications

It is a little known fact that document filters serve as a key first step in driving search-enabled applications. Due to the critical importance of document filters, many software vendors license this technology from one of only three commercial providers, of which ISYS Search Software is one.

To help attendees better understand document filters and the commercial and open-source options available, ISYS is hosting a 30-minute webinar in conjunction with experts from Lucid Imagination and New Idea Engineering on Wednesday, July 28, at 1 p.m. Eastern. Titled, “The Critical Role of Document Filters in Search-Enabled Applications”, the webinar will offer attendees:

• An overview of document filters
• The role they play in search-enabled applications
• Which formats and support levels are key
• A description of commercial and open source options

Presenting during this 30-minute webinar will be Miles Kehoe, President, New Idea Engineering; Eran Yaniv, Solutions Manager, Lucid Imagination; and Dave Haucke, VP Global Marketing, ISYS Search Software.  Register for the webinar today!

08: Ben Franklin and the Evolution of Enterprise Search

Given how prolific he was, Ben Franklin could have very easily invented enterprise search in his day.  That is, if he hadn’t been so busy with everything else.  And even though he had an incredible mind, not even he could have fully appreciated what a game-changer electricity would be.  Today, we only consciously acknowledge electricity when we have none; otherwise it’s primarily an afterthought, despite the fact that harnessing and generating this power remains one of humankind’s greatest achievements.

Reflecting on this brought to mind a conversation I had with Sue Feldman of IDC some years ago.  During our discussion, she made a statement to the effect of, “Some day, search will be analogous to electricity.  When you turn on a light, you don’t think about electricity; you just focus on the fact that something has been illuminated for you.”  Perhaps others have viewed search in a similar fashion, but it’s an analogy that made perfect sense at the time and is even more fitting today.

While I can’t speak for the entire industry, the types of deals ISYS has been doing in recent months are more and more inline with this analogy.  Whether we’re talking about embedded search, or search as an application, slowly but surely search appears to be moving away from just a blank search box and into a world where search is primarily an enabling technology.  In that sense, enterprise search is neither the destination nor the journey … it’s merely the light that enables you to proceed with whatever it is you were doing in the first place.

09: Visit Us at LegalTech New York

I’ve been to New York City more than a dozen times in the last seven years, and it never gets old, even in February.  ISYS, as a company, has been traveling to NYC for the LegalTech event since 1994, which means it has been 16 years since we first started connecting more deeply with law firms and other software vendors looking to round out their technology with embedded search.  If you’ll be in town for the event, please stop by Booth #329 and say hello to the team.

What makes LegalTech pretty unique is the commaraderie of the event.  Maybe it’s because our focus is on connecting with our fellow exhibitors, but we always leave the event smarter than when we arrived.  We’ve never approached it as a hard sales exercise; we’re there to learn as much as the next guy and gal, so from that standpoint it’s refreshing.  For those of you who have direct legal responsibilities, or for those who are on the periphery dealing with corporate compliance and risk issues, I’d love to hear what you’re looking to get out of LegalTech this time around.  From our point of view, we’re still quite focused on embedded search for traditional ISVs/OEMs as well as SaaS providers, but we’re also increasingly engaging in conversations regarding early case assessment with commercial organizations.

For an event of this size to still be highly relevant, it’s clear these issues remain quite acute.  As always, I’m looking forward to it, so we hope to see you next week.  As a reminder, the event is at the Hilton New York, from Feb. 1-3.  I believe the folks at American Lawyer Media are offering a complimentary exhibit hall pass if you want to drop in for an afternoon.

10: ISYS Launches 2009 Enterprise Access Suite

ISYS Search Software today introduced its new 2009 Enterprise Access Suite by officially launching its ISYS Anywhere mobile enterprise search server.  As a whole, the 2009 Enterprise Access Suite is comprised of a core set of embedded search and infrastructure solutions for information access, management and reuse.  ISYS Anywhere specifically addresses the common pain of the mobile workforce … namely all the tools for conducting work remotely EXCEPT for the ability to search and retrieve key data from the field.

ISYS Anywhere is especially signficant as it merges all content repositories (from locally stored information to server data) into a single point of access.  This includes the ability to search email, individual PCs, business applications and more from a Blackberry, iPhone or any browser-enabled device.  Alternate solutions to date have addressed either desktop data or server content, but not both.

The full details of our new suite can be found via our official press release, via EContent Magazine’s coverage or in the technology section of our website.