Corp Blog – Page 2

For Many Companies, Migration to a New Search Engine is Inevitable

HADLEY, MA– March 12, 2012

In the world of Enterprise Search, everything is changing. Companies who have been using Microsoft’s internal search engine, FAST Enterprise Search Platform, will be forced to make a change as Microsoft discontinues support for the search platform for companies using Linux as their operating system. Anticipating the need for a solution, local technology consultants TNR Global is pleased to announce the release of a White Paper for migrating off FAST ESP to a new search engine, Solr. The paper is titled Bridging the Gap: A Migration Path from Fast ESP to Apache Solr.

This effort began last October when TNR Global presented on the subject of migration from FAST to Solr at the open source conference, Apache Lucene Eurocon in Barcelona, Spain. The paper contains a case study with architecture overview, loading millions of documents into Solr indexes, evaluation and recommendation of tools to bridge the feature gap, migrating custom pipeline code, and the vastly improved ROI after implementation. “It’s basically a road map for companies looking at options for migration, and we outline Solr as a very good option” said Karen E. Lynn, Director of Business Development.

“We have spent over 9 years working with the FAST ESP product and we understand the nuances of what customers have come to expect from the technology. We’ve identified Solr as a top choice for migrating off FAST as support for the product drops off” said Michael McIntosh, VP of Search Technologies and lead author of the paper. “Solr is an open source technology that has matured and is certainly stable enough for commercial use” said Chris Miles, Senior Software Engineer and contributor to the paper. “We’re excited about this migration option for our customers, and we believe over the long run, it will save them a lot of money and give them greater control over their search engine.”

This heavily anticipated paper will assist companies and organizations in planning their own FAST ESP to Apache Solr migrations and alert them to tools and techniques that can help them achieve a relatively painless process. Several large blue chip companies have expressed interest in the paper. “We’ve had a healthy response to the paper” said Lynn.

Internal search engines differ from public search engines like Google or Bing, in that an internal search engine only searches for content inside the company’s firewall. Google cannot access internal content, therefore companies use search technology to make their content ‘findable.’ “Companies want to keep internal information safe and private. But they still need to find it” explained Lynn. “That’s why they need search technology integrated into their organization’s system.”

For more information on search engines, product search, web portals and search engine migration, visit TNR’s main website. To receive a free copy of the white paper, click here.

TNR Global www.tnrglobal.com, is a systems design and integration company focused on enterprise search and cloud computing solutions for publishing companies, news sites, web directories, academia, enterprise, and SaaS companies. TNR’s past clients include the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Mass Art & Culture, InterNano, Innovara, and the Allegis Group. TNR Global is located at 245 Russell Street, Suite 10 in Hadley, Massachusetts. TNR Global serves clients throughout New England, nationally, and world-wide. Its offices are in Hadley and Greenfield, Massachusetts.

UK Software Company TwigKit Partners with TNR Global to Deliver Search Solutions for FAST and Solr

Hadley, MA–November 28, 2011–TNR Global announced today that they have entered into a strategic partnership with London, UK software company TwigKit.

“Our companies have a number of qualities in common that allow us to combine forces and service clients with a very complete solution” says Karen Lynn, TNR Global’s Director of Business Development. “TwigKit has a very appealing user interface for users across several platforms, and TNR’s strength is on creating a powerful back end search application. Combined, it’s a powerful solution for companies needing a strong search function with an easy to use interface.”

Representatives from the two companies have been in friendly talks for over a year now, meeting periodically at industry conferences. Both companies were in attendance at the Apache Lucene EuroCon conference in Barcelona last October, where the partnership was formalized. Both presentations from TwigKit and TNR can be viewed here.

“TNR’s focus on implementing and servicing enterprise search solutions across a number of platforms is an excellent fit for TwigKit,” says Stefan Olafsson, TwigKit’s co-founder and chief architect. “Our software enables polished user interfaces for search-based applications, provides a rapid development framework, and works across a number of enterprise search platforms including Microsoft FAST and Apache Solr. We’re excited about working with TNR to produce search solutions that boast both a superb user experience and an outstanding technical implementation.”

TwigKit powers enterprise search applications in government and blue-chip organizations. Encapsulating search best practices into configurable components, TwigKit establishes a platform-independent standard compatible with most search technologies including Microsoft FAST, Google Search Appliance, and Apache Solr. Started in London in 2009, TwigKit’s founders organize the 350-member Enterprise Search London meetup, regularly speak at conferences, and write about search and user experience for publications including A List Apart, Boxes & Arrows, and UX Magazine.

TNR Global (TNR) is a systems design and integration company focused on enterprise search and cloud computing solutions. TNR develops scalable web-based search solutions built on the open source LAMP stack. TNR has over 10 years of hands-on experience in web systems and enterprise search implementations, both proprietary and open source search technologies, specializing in FAST and Lucene Solr search applications. Specifically TNR works with content intensive websites for companies and organizations in the following industries: News Sites, Publishing, Web Directories, Information Portals, Web Catalogs, Education, Manufacturing and Distribution, Customer Service, and Life Sciences. TNR Global has offices in western Massachusetts.

TNR Global Attends KMWorld’s Enterprise Search Summit Fall 2011

A proof of concept and rapid integration are essential for search customers–they cannot visualize what a search solution will look like without some help from the search professional.

Last week TNR Global attended the Enterprise Search Summit organized by KMWorld in Washington, DC. VP of Search Technologies Michael McIntosh and Director of Business Development Karen E. Lynn attended the three day conference and Enterprise Solutions Showcase at the Marriott Wardman Park. Several companies were in attendance, and some common themes emerged. Among these were designing for users, dealing with unstrcutured content, the need for better search and content analytics to facilitate better search results, as well as tagging content as part of a best practice in workflow. Also discussed was the need for search vendors to demonstrate to search customers was “right looks like” in a search solution. A proof of concept and rapid integration are essential for search customers–they cannot visualize what a search solution will look like without some help from the search professional.

An unexpected surprise came when the speaker on open source search was unable to attend at the last moment, our own Michael McIntosh was asked to step in and present on the subject. Fortunately, he was fresh from his presentation at Apache Lucene EuroCon and already had his presentation loaded on his machine. Michael discussed Solr and made general points on migrating from a commercial search engine like FAST ESP to a open source platform like Lucene Solr.

Overall it was a great conference with lots of informative talks and friendly search professionals. We’re looking forward to the next Enterprise Search Summit in Spring, 2012.

We’re at Apache Lucene EuroCon in Barcelona 2011

“We’re certain that the urgency to migrate off FAST ESP will be ramping up significantly.”

We’re very excited to be in attendance at the Apache Lucene EuroCon in Barcelona October 17, 18, 19, and 20th, 2011. Our own Michael McIntosh, VP of Search Technologies will be presenting a talk on October 19th, Enterprise Search: FAST ESP to Lucene Solr. The good folks at Lucid Imagination are presenting the conference and will be video recording his talk for future broadcast.

After the conference, Michael will author a White Paper on migrating from FAST ESP to Lucene Solr, expected in November 2011. For a free copy of the White Paper, email us expressing your interest at fast2solr@tnrglobal.com. We believe that those businesses operating on a Linux system will be seeking out the power of Lucene Solr as their licenses expire and support for FAST ESP dries up. We’ve worked with FAST ESP for 7 years and understand it’s strengths and weaknesses. We know businesses who are used to the power of FAST ESP will need something just as powerful, and Lucene Solr is a very nice fit. “It’s a robust platform, capable of a lot that FAST ESP covers,” said Michael. “We’re certain that the urgency to migrate off FAST ESP will be ramping up significantly.”

How to carry Steve Jobs’ spirit & vision forward with us

“He helped show us what beauty can be found at the heart of even our most technologically advanced offerings if we can just *imagine* the possibilities.”

I mourn Steve’s passing and feel the tremendous void of his absence. At the same time I rejoice and revel in his accomplishments, his amazing impact on this world and the people around him.

Steve and the people he inspired have had a tremendous direct impact on the quality of my professional life as a software engineer and tinkerer. He helped provide and inspire the creation of amazing tools that are a joy to use and work with. He helped show us what beauty can be found at the heart of even our most technologically advanced offerings if we can just imagine the possibilities.

If we wish to preserve the spirit of his vision and carry his way of looking at the world and technology products forward, we should also look at the people who came before that inspired Steve himself. An individual who was a great inspiration to Steve was a man named Edwin H. Land, a scientist and inventor of instant photography as well as co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. Edwin H. Land came about as close as the equivalent of being a rock star to the general public as any scientist has for his time. There is a great article discussing the impact Edwin Land had on Steve Jobs that is well worth a read.

There is a great presentation called 12 Lessons Steve Jobs Taught Guy Kawasaki by Guy Kawasaki, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, bestselling author, and one of the Apple employees originally responsible for marketing the Macintosh in 1984. He outlines the principles that guided Steve’s outlook in regard to business and product development that can be applied to all of our efforts.

If we wish to preserve Steve Jobs’ spirit and way of thinking in our world despite his absence, we would do well to look closely at his life, those who inspired him and the people he inspired and surrounded himself with. No innovator succeeds purely on their own, and while Steve Jobs is no exception, his vision, tenacity and leadership clearly has had broad and long reaching impact on our world.

Thank you for your contributions to our world Steve, you will be greatly missed.

-Michael McIntosh, VP of Search Technologies, TNR Global, LLC

A Visionary Passes: Steve Jobs Remembered

On October 5, 2011 at age 56, Steve Jobs passed away peacefully surrounded by his family. He had been battling a rare form of pancreatic cancer for 7 years.

Steve Jobs with revolutionary tablet computer, the iPad.

Apple’s board of directors wrote:

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

Steve’s brilliance, passion, and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.”

In 1976, our CEO Rich Roth was a novice engineer and member of the (in)famous Homebrew Club.
Rich’s wife Sharon worked at the Byte Shop in Palo Alto where one of her responsibilities was to take
orders for the ‘new’ Apple I — and then go to Steve’s garage and pick up ordered computers and
deliver them to the other computer stores in the Bay area.

Steve Jobs with the Apple 1, 1976, Computer Show

Rich had the following to say about Jobs’ death:

“It’s been a long and interesting ride, Steve. We and the world will miss you.”

We sure will.

UMASS STEM Career Fair Report

TNR Global attended the UMASS Career Fair for Engineering, Natural Sciences, and Technology at the flagship campus in Amherst. The fair was extremely well attended, with undergraduates, graduate students, and recent grads present.

Career Services places STEM majors with employers.

“It was very well organized” said Managing Director Natasha Goncharova. “We spoke to a number of very well qualified students for software development positions.”

Students registering for the Career Fair, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

There were more than 80 companies recruiting at the fair in the fields of software development, manufacturing, and engineering. “We are extremely lucky to have such a highly rated University for Computer Science right in our backyard” said Karen Lynn, Director of Business Development. The Computer Science department is in the top 20 of Computer Science departments in the country according to US News and World Report. The TNR Global office is located in Hadley, less than 5 miles from campus.

TNR Global held an iPod Raffle while collecting resumes. Resumes will be collected throughout the weekend online, and two winners will be announced on Monday, October 3rd. Winners will be contacted directly. To participate in the iPod Raffle, applicants can submit resumes digitally by emailing them to jobs@tnrglobal.com.

TNR Global, LLC is a systems design and integration company focused on enterprise search and cloud computing solutions for publishing companies, news sites, web directories, academia, enterprise, and SaaS companies.

iPod Giveaway at the UMASS Career Fair September 28

TNR Global will be attending the UMASS Career Fair on Wednesday, September 28, 2011. Drop off a copy of your physical resume and you will have a chance to win an iPod Shuffle. We will be at table #29 from 10:00AM-3:00PM.

cheap-apple-ipods-2-465x248

Email us a cover letter and resume and you will have a chance to win a second iPod Shuffle.

Stop by and chat with alumnus Managing Director Natasha Goncharova, ’03 or Director of Business Development Karen Lynn, ’92 about internships and an opportunity for a career in Enterprise Search Technology at TNR Global, LLC.

“The fine print….”

Send resume and cover letter to jobs@tnrglobal.com with the subject heading “UMASS Career Fair.” All entries will be entered into the raffle and chosen at random to win an iPod Shuffle 2GB, Please email resumes as simple text email or as web URLs.

ELIGIBILITY: VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. The Raffle is open to everyone worldwide who is at least 18 years of age. Employees, officers, directors, representatives, and immediate family members of TNR Global, LLC and their respective parent companies, affiliates and subsidiaries are not eligible to participate in this Raffle.

TNR Global to Attend UMASS Career Fair in September 2011

TNR Global has reserved space at UMASS/Amherst’s Career Fair for Engineering, Natural Sciences & Technology students. “The University of Massachusetts offers a comprehensive Computer Science program where students emerge as strong candidates for the kind of technical work required of TNR software developers,” said Michael McIntosh, VP of Search Technologies for TNR. UMASS/Amherst’s Computer Science Major is ranked in the top 20 Universities for Computer Science by US News & World Report. The fair will take place on September 28th, 2011 from 10-3:00PM in the Campus Center Auditorium. Alumni Karen Lynn and Natasha Goncharova will be representing TNR Global. Stop by and say hello!

TNR Global to present at Apache Lucene Eurocon 2011 in Barcelona

We are happy to announce that TNR Global’s own Michael McIntosh will be presenting at the Apache Lucene Eurocon 2011 in Barcelona this October. Michael’s talk is titled “Enterprise Search: FAST ESP to Lucene Solr.” His presentation will discuss migration from the FAST ESP platform to a Lucene Solr search platform. There are many reasons an IT department with a large scale search installation would want to move from a proprietary platform to Lucene Solr. In the case of FAST Search, the company’s purchase by Microsoft and discontinuation of the Linux platform has created an urgency for FAST users. Illustrated through actual case studies, the presentation will include challenges and concerns, present solutions and work-arounds to overcome migration issues.

Michael has more than 16 years of experience in large scale systems design and operation, online consumer product development, high volume transaction processing and engineering management. He has extensive experience developing, integrating and maintaining search technology solutions for companies such as FAST Search and Lycos.

We’re excited that Michael will be presenting in Barcelona this fall. Please introduce yourself if you’re able to go!