Blog posts by Matt Mullen

Matt Mullen

Dark Data provides Lucid moment as Big Data turf war heats up

Added By Matt Mullen on 10-May-2012

WARNING: If you're already getting "Big Data" buzzword sickness, look away now, as Lucid Imagination -- the professional open source distributor of the Apache Lucene/Solr search platform -- has announced a beta program for its formal entry into the "Big Data" turf war. It's called, predictably, ... Continue Reading

Matt Mullen

Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width - Big Data's emerging problem

Added By Matt Mullen on 8-May-2012

Big Data is may be a buzzword, yet it's certainly generating interesting discussions. Over the last month or two, I been party to a number of really interesting sessions - such as the CW500 event I mentioned previously - and with recent acquisitions in this space, the question is becoming less about whether Big Data is possible, and more about how it can be applied in the enterprise.

For me this raises the question of quality ... Continue Reading

Matt Mullen

Revival of the fattest? Addressing new threats to site performance

Added By Matt Mullen on 1-May-2012

I've just written an advisory briefing for our subscribers, "Address Emerging Threats to Website Performance", which reviews some web development trends that are increasingly having a negative effect upon website user experience ... Continue Reading

Matt Mullen

IBM and Vivisimo - Long live the federation?

Added By Matt Mullen on 25-Apr-2012

Today IBM announced that it was acquiring search vendor Vivisimo for an undisclosed amount, purportedly to boost Big Blue's capabilities in Big Data ... Continue Reading

Matt Mullen

APIs Are Not Lego

Added By Matt Mullen on 23-Apr-2012

As a child I loved Lego. And when I say "as a child", I really mean "I still love Lego, but don't want to admit it". Recently a large new shopping complex opened not far from where I live, bringing with it a new Lego shop. In the centre of the shop are large perspex bins containing all the requisite parts to construct your own, bespoke "minifig" (or as non Lego fans might prefer "Lego people"). There's an hour of my life that I'm not going to get back ... Continue Reading

Matt Mullen

2012 Enterprise Search Market Analysis - Do we now live in a Solr-system?

Added By Matt Mullen on 11-Apr-2012

We've recently published our "2012 Enterprise Search Market Analysis." After 2011's raft of acquisitions, this year promises to be another interesting one for search customers: ... Continue Reading

Matt Mullen

Are you an Intelligent Customer? Lessons from HMRC

Added By Matt Mullen on 3-Apr-2012

This month's CW500 presentation in London was delivered by Phil Pavitt, CIO at HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, the UK tax man), who described a programme within his department to drive cost savings within IT. To provide some perspective on the IT estate that exists within HMRC: it is the largest in Europe and the 15th largest globally, controlling in excess of 1b transactions, totalling more that £1.2t in payments through the government banking system. (This is apparently larger than HSBC performs, globally.)

Historically IT in UK government doesn't have the greatest of reputations ... Continue Reading

Matt Mullen

Big Data: Does Variety, Volume, and Velocity really deliver Veracity?

Added By Matt Mullen on 12-Mar-2012

Having been rather cynical on the subject of Big Data, it was reassuring to see a full-house at a recent Computer Weekly "CW500 Club" gathering dedicated to the subject.  Nevertheless, I came away with more questions than answers about the value of this topic right now for business users. ... Continue Reading

Matt Mullen

Media to the Core? CoreMedia tries to take on Escenic and Atex in their own backyard

Added By Matt Mullen on 2-Mar-2012

CoreMedia's recent announcement that are targeting Media and Entertainment customers with set of specific -- albeit somewhat vague -- new functionalities for that segment raises an interesting question ... Continue Reading

Matt Mullen

Big Data plus Enterprise Search equals Big Enterprise Disappointment?

Added By Matt Mullen on 20-Feb-2012

This week, whilst I sat on one of London's First Capital Connect's delightful 1950's railway carriages traveling to the RSG UK office, I imagined a conversation a decade or so hence....

"So, Uncle Matt, what do you remember most about 2012? Was it the London Olympics?"

"Well my impertinent nephew, 2012 was in fact the year we learned about 'Big Data'." ... Continue Reading