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.

Barcelona_Logo_Shaded

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.
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
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.

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!

Chris Miles Joins TNR Global as Senior Software Engineer

HADLEY, MA–July 18, 2011—TNR Global is pleased to welcome Chris Miles in the role of Senior Software Engineer on TNR’s Search Team. Miles will be responsible for designing and implementing custom enterprise search software for TNR’s clients. Among other projects, Chris will also develop solutions for one of TNR’s largest clients, a publisher of manufacturing parts and vendors. He is proficient in software languages Java, C++, C, Ruby, PHP, and CSS.

Prior to joining TNR Global, Miles was a Senior Systems Analyst at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. He has held consulting roles for CarePaths Inc., and was a Senior Developer for Miller Samuel Inc.

“We’re excited about the addition of Chris to TNR. He brings a wealth software development expertise to our team” said Michael McIntosh, VP of Search Technologies of TNR Global, LLC.

Join us as we extend Chris a warm welcome to the TNR team!

TNR Global to Attend Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston

We’re excited to announce that we’ll be in attendance at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston June 21-23, 2011.  Managing Director Natasha Goncharova and Director of Business Development Karen Lynn will be attending.  If you see us, be sure to say hello!

SolrHQ, Hosted Solr Search

Use the power of Solr search for your website with our search solution SolrHQ, a hosted Solr search solution that is easy to set up and scales with your growth.  my_Logo-SolrHQ1

We offer plans to meet the needs of any sized organization. We offer free tech support and free set up when you sign up for SolrHQ. Our new service SolrHQ is an expandable cloud hosted Apache Solr solution, making Enterprise Search possible for everybody.  Read more…

Resilient Businesses Summit

The Resilient Business Summit, held on November 13, 2010, was spear-headed by Rich Roth, CEO of TNR Global. Hidden Tech and TNR Global co-sponsored the summit. Small business owners attended the summit and participate din pro-active dialogue on topics ranging from economic stability, current and future policies, best practices, and program support, all based around the theme of creating and sustaining Resilient Small Businesses.

TNR Global is co-organizing CloudCamp Western Massachusetts

 width= TNR Global is co-organizing and sponsoring  CloudCamp Western Massachusetts that will take place on  April 20, 2010, 2:30pm-7pm, at the National Science Foundation funded National Center for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT Center) at Springfield Technical Community College (1 Federal St, ICT Center, STCC, Springfield, MA 01105).   This event is co-organized by CloudCamp co-founder Dave Nielsen and the ICT Center.

Developers, decision makers, end users, and vendors from MA, CT, VT, and surrounding states are invited to participate: attend, present, and/or sponsor.   CloudCamp Western Massachusetts will provide a central point for bringing together local academia and businesses. The ICT Center will stream live video of the event to other technology community colleges around the nation.   http://www.cloudcamp.org/westernmass

For more info, please contact Natasha Goncharova at corp@tnrglobal.com