Two excellent postings by executives in the search industry give depth to the importance of Dassault Système’s acquisition of Exalead. If this were simply a ho-hum failure in a very crowded marketplace, Dave Kellogg of Mark Logic Corporation and Jean Ferré of Sinequa would not care.
Instead they are picking up important signals. Industry segments as important as search evolve and its appropriate applications in enterprises are still being discovered and proven. Search may change, as could the label, but whatever it is called it is still something that will be done in enterprises.
This analyst has praise for the industry players who continue to persevere, working to get the packaging, usability, usefulness and business purposes positioned effectively. Jean Ferré is absolutely correct; the nature of the deal underscores the importance of the industry and the vision of the acquirers.
As we segue from a number of conferences featuring search (Search Engines, Enterprise Search Summit, Gilbane) to broader enterprise technologies (Enterprise 2.0) and semantic technologies (SemTech), it is important for enterprises to examine the interplay among product offerings. Getting the mix of software tools just right is probably more important than any one industry-labeled class of software, or any one product. Everybody’s software has to play nice in the sandbox to get us to the next level of adoption and productivity.
Here is one analyst cheering the champions of search and looking for continued growth in the industry…but not so big it fails.
Great post Lynda and thanks a lot for your positive feedback. A lot of people I talk to are amazed by the price paid but I think it is precisely the point : I remember having breakfast with Steve Ballmer 5 years ago. He said the market was worth 30 Billions. I think it is worth around that much, and the value generated by search or whatever it is called, you’re right, is only starting to emerge in enterprises. Everybody also shouted it was too pricey when Microsoft bought FAST, and yet, (I) don’t think Microsoft regrets that moves, do they?