The Gilbane Advisor

Curated for content, computing, data, information, and digital experience professionals

Page 303 of 931

Here and There

Enterprise Search Adopters

May-be it is this everlasting winter of weather events, but I’m ready for some big changes across the gray landscape. Experiencing endless winter has for me become a metaphor for what I observe within some enterprises as serial adoptions of search.

As I work on my forthcoming report, Enterprise Search Markets and Applications: Capitalizing on Emerging Demand, I am interviewing people who are deeply engaged in search technologies. They are presenting a view of search deployment and implementation that reinforces my own observations, complete with benefits and disappointments. However, search in enterprises is like recurring weather events, some big, some small but relentless in the repetitiveness of certain experiences. It seems that early adopters in the early stages of adoption often experience the euphoria of a fresh way to find stuff. Then inertia sets in as some large subset of adopters settles in to becoming routine but faithful users. The rest are like me with winter, looking for a really big change and more; the nitpicking begins as users cast their eyes to better options hyped by the media or by compatriots in other organizations with newer “bells and whistles.” Ah, what fickle beasts we are, as my husband will be very quick to remind me the first hot, humid day of summer when I complain in a desultory sulk.

So, I was delighted to read this article in the New York Times, Tech’s Late Adopters Prefer the Tried and True, by Miguel Helft, on March 12. I particularly loved this comment from the article: “Laggards have a bad rap, but they are crucial in pacing the nature of change, said Paul Saffo, a technology forecaster in Silicon Valley. Innovation requires the push of early adopters and the pull of laypeople asking whether something really works. If this was a world in which only early adopters got to choose, we’d all be using CB radios and quadraphonic stereo.” It helps to put one’s quest for the next big thing into perspective.

It included another quote from David Gans who, from the community of the Well in which people communicate using text-only systems, “Just because you have a nuclear-powered thing that can dry your clothes in five minutes doesn’t mean there isn’t value to hanging your clothes in the backyard and talking to your neighbors while doing it.” As one who has never owned a clothes drier, this validated one of my own conscious decisions.

Seriously though, given all the comments collected from my interviews and my own experiences, it is really time to remind adopters, early and late, to give thought to appropriateness, what benefits us or adversely distracts us in the technologies we implement in our working worlds. (I’ll leave your personal technology use for you to sort out.) Taking time to think about your intentions and “what comes next” after getting that “must have” new search system is something only you can control. Nobody on the selling side of a bakery will ever remind you that you don’t really neeeed another cookie.

And in one more point, if you are in the market for search+, Steve Arnold does a fine job of positioning the appropriateness of each of the 24 systems he reviews in Beyond Search. It might just help you resist the superfluous and take a look some other options instead.

W3C Invites Implementations of XQuery Update Facility 1.0

The XML Query Working Group has published the Candidate Recommendation of “XQuery Update Facility 1.0.” This document defines an update facility that extends the “XML Query language, XQuery.” The XQuery Update Facility provides expressions that can be used to make persistent changes (including node insertion, deletion, modification, and creation) to instances of the XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Data Model. The Working Group also published two additional documents that will become Working Group notes– ” XQuery Update Facility 1.0 Requirements” and “XQuery Update Facility 1.0 Use Cases.” http://www.w3.org/XML/Query/

Quality at the Source: Achieving Efficiency and Consistency with Translation-Oriented Authoring

Consistency and quality are always the goals with product support content such as technical documentation. Shorter product development cycles that result from growing business demands add to the pressure, often thwarting a documentation team’s best efforts. In this global economy, pressure is further heightened by the need to add multiple language outputs to a growing list of multi-channel deliverables.

When documentation creation gets pushed to the end the product lifecycle, with translation following “somewhere” behind it, the risk of mistakes and customer dissatisfaction is high. In fact, inconsistency within source documentation leads to numerous downstream issues and costs in translation. The impact can’t be underestimated as multilingual product documentation becomes more and more critical in international vertical markets.

On April 9, 2008 at 8:00 am PT/11:00 am ET/ 4 pm GMT, the Gilbane Group discusses translation-oriented authoring as a means to stop the “ripple” effects — higher costs, poor quality, and inefficient processes — caused by generating content without considering multilingual delivery requirements. Join us by registering here.

SYSTRAN Launches Enterprise Server 6 Solution

SYSTRAN announced the release of SYSTRAN Enterprise Server 6, a solution that meets the full range of enterprise language translation needs. Enterprise Server 6 enables corporate users to understand multilingual information in real-time and to deliver consistent and validated translations enabling them to follow best business practices and communicate across different languages. Available in three editions targeted to the small and midsized businesses and enterprise platforms, Enterprise Server 6 addresses complex translation tasks and provides a workbench for managing translation projects. The solution automatically translates all types of documents and files ranging from manuals, procedures, reports, product and support information, content applications, websites, and all written texts. It translates most file types through a Web-based interface or a SYSTRAN Toolbar available on the user desktop. Corporations can integrate it into enterprise applications to drive multilingual information in and across channels, like the enterprise content management system, portal, search, website, etc. Common uses include adding an online translation service to the corporate intranet, on-demand website translation, localization for document workflows, integration with content management systems, databases, and other enterprise applications. SYSTRAN Enterprise Server 6, Workgroup Edition is designed for the small enterprise Intranet with up to 100 users. Price starts at $15,000. SYSTRAN Enterprise Server 6, Standard Edition is designed for the midsize Intranet or Extranet with up to 2,500 users using the Online Tools and Application Packs. Price starts at $30,000. SYSTRAN Enterprise Server 6, Global Edition is designed for enterprises with advanced translation requirements with unlimited user access. Price starts at $150,000. http://www.systransoft.com/

Bringing Documents to Life: Transform How Information is Shared, Consumed and Utilized with Dynamic Documents

I will be doing a Webinar tomorrow with Jake Sorofman of JustSystems on this topic as part of the AIIM Wednesday Webinars series. Dynamic publishing is a well understood issue for Gilbane readers, but the interesting news here is that the technology continues to evolve and expand in capability. I’ll give some background on the topic and discuss some of our recent thinking, and Jake will provide a snapshot of JustSystems’ solutions in this area.
You can get more information and register here.
UPDATE: If you missed the webinar, you can now view the archive of it online.

X1 Unveils New Enterprise Search Suite for Symantec Enterprise Vault

X1 Technologies, Inc., released a new enterprise search suite for Symantec Enterprise Vault. X1 Search Suite for Symantec Enterprise Vault provides an intuitive graphical interface to find, preview and act upon documents, email and attachments regardless of location. The X1 Search Suite for Symantec Enterprise Vault enhances customer productivity by providing the ability to search both the contents of the Vault and data residing in email applications and files. The X1 Search Suite for Symantec Enterprise Vault consists of three components. The first two consist of the scalable X1 Enterprise Server combined with the X1 Content Connector for Symantec Enterprise Vault that provide true search federation and do not duplicate data. By using native API connectivity, the security of the user’s company security model is preserved and does not facilitate retention policy violations. Lastly, the X1 Suite includes the X1 Enterprise Search Client which provides a single search interface where users can search multiple vaults along with data in 3rd party email packages and in over 400 file formats. Users can then use the X1 client to preview and act upon the search results; including native Symantec Enterprise Vault actions. http://www.x1.com

Near-Time Announces Near-Time Connection for Mobile Collaboration

Near-Time announced the availability of Near-Time Connection, an extension of Near-Time’s collaboration and publishing capabilities for mobile devices and other Web platforms. Near-Time Connection packages the functionality of Near-Time into a Widget, providing a flexible way to access content and interact with users associated with Near-Time spaces from smart phones, blogs or personalized homepage portals like iGoogle. Near-Time Connection is free to Near-Time users. Near-Time Connection gives users an interactive platform that lets them stay plugged into their Near-Time community no matter how they choose to view their content. The authoring environment, similar to that of Near-Time’s desktop offerings, enables users to remain active in their Near-Time communities when on the road or using a homepage portal. Users can embed other Near-Time Widgets, tag content for better search capabilities, and follow comment summaries, threads and Near-Time picks. http://www.near-time.com/

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 The Gilbane Advisor

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑