How Inforbix piles together mobile, big data and cloud

May 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Manufacturing and engineering software are not known as fast paced industries.  Change comes in small, and dare I say, gradual increments. Manufacturing companies are, by and large, conservative.  I’m not saying that’s a good or bad thing.  Simply that by both nature and nurture, manufacturing companies tend not to rush into technology revolutions.  And with regards to manufacturing software, product life-cycles are measured in years.  It is not unusual to see software packages that were written 10-15 years ago still in production environments.

But maybe we are about to witness a significant change in the status quo within the next few years.  There’s a “perfect storm” forming that combines three separate technology tempests: mobile, Big Data, and cloud.  I’ve been reading an interesting article,Where IT is going: Cloud, mobile, and data.  Here are a few quotes I found notable:

Through the lens of next-generation IT, think of cloud computing as being about trends in computer architectures, how applications are loaded onto those systems and made to do useful work, how servers communicate with each other and with the outside world, and how administrators manage and provide access. This trend also encompasses all the infrastructure and “plumbing” that makes it possible to effectively coordinate data centers full of systems increasingly working as a unified compute resource as opposed to islands of specialized capacity.

Mobility is also behind many of the changes in how applications are being developed — although, especially within enterprises, there’s a huge inertia to both existing software and its associated development and maintenance processes. That said, the consumer Web has created pervasive new expectations for software ease-of-use and interactivity just as public cloud services such as Amazon Web Services have created expectations of how much computing should cost. 

So how does this relate to Inforbix?  We believe there’s a significant “rethink” of how people are interacting and working with data in manufacturing companies.  The data management and data access paradigm is shifting away from ponderous software packages to nimble and simple apps and tools which leverage the cloud and mobile to create new ways to access and interact with data of all types (Big, structured, unstructured, etc).  This comes at very timely moment when companies are doing a bit of IT soul-searching.  Inforbix deploys cloud technology to deliver effective solutions that require no maintenance and are easy to use by anyone.  Moreover, by incorporating a mobile strategy, data becomes accessible to everyone in the company.

Conclusion. Inforbix is rethinking data access and product data management.  This fits well with the mobile, big data, and cloud perfect storm that is brewing in the industry. Manufacturing companies will be able to make interesting technology choices that break from the traditional software paradigm.  We think Inforbix is coming at the right time.  Give it a try and tell us what you think.  How is the cloud, mobile, and big data impacting the thinking in your company?  Let us know.

Best, Oleg

Image credit rajcreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

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Inforbix and the power of simplification

May 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I remember a time when complexity was synonymous with robust.  A “robust” software solution was by necessity “complex”.  That’s because companies wanted solutions that mirrored the complexity of their business processes, work-flows, and tasks.  Big problems required complex solutions; everything had to be integrated and somehow come together and work as “one”.  The more features and functions supported in a single solution, the better.  It was understood by customers that complexity came at a price.  And time and resources.  It wasn’t unusual to see technology deployments last years.  But things are changing.  The technology revolution happening in consumer markets has made it’s way to the enterprise.  This means that complexity is giving way to simplicity.

I was reading an interesting post on the Export Blog authored by Aaron Levie, The Simplicity Thesis.  Aaron is talking about how simplicity is a growing trend.  I found this passage interesting:

In the ’90s and into the 2000s, an early wave of Internet services focused on simplicity through disintermediation: Amazon for shopping, eBay for selling, Google for searching. But these nascent players were limited in their approach. Sure, self-serve Internet services inevitably required some level of simplicity, but everything was just so damn new that experience didn’t meaningfully help companies differentiate. At least at first. But then companies like Yahoo and Microsoft grew into monstrosities, producing bloated technology empires.

Today, things are different. Putting up a website is no longer novel. A clunky consumer device simply won’t be adopted when alternatives from Apple exist. And as more and more of the hard work of building infrastructure, managing computing, and installing and monetizing applications is abstracted from what necessarily goes into launching a company today, differentiation is going to come from solutions that create the best (read: simplest) experience.

The preceding quote resonated with Inforbix.  We think simplicity is a virtue that provides value.  We have tried to make every aspect of Inforbix simple.  From making it simple and easy to deploy to creating a simple user interface that can be used by anyone of any skill level.  Here’s a screen shot of the Inforbix Home Page:

Here’s another screen shot, this time of My Stuff.  Note the familiar and intuitive interface:

Conclusion: Inforbix embraces simplicity without sacrificing value. We have thought of ways of providing product data apps that address specific tasks in simple and direct ways. One size doesn’t fit all, so we avoided trying to do just that. Rather, we think that providing simple and straight-forward tools and apps that address your product data challenges (e.g. finding, accessing, reusing, sharing, etc) is the way to go. Let us know what you think. Share your thoughts and while you’re at it, give Inforbix a test-drive.

Best, Oleg

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How Inforbix addresses Disambiguation without icebergs

May 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A part is not a part is not a part.  Want proof?  Ask a designer, a mechanical engineer, a manufacturing engineer, and a production manager to describe how they define a “part”.  In very data rich environments, accessing the “right” or desired data is important.  But that is not always an easy task when there’s a certain built-in level of name or attribute ambiguity and name variation within the data-sets used.  Disambiguation, in case you’re not familiar with this term, is simply the process of eliminating ambiguity and variation within sets of data. Wikipedia says this about disambiguation.

I was recently reading a TopQuadrant blog post, Can semantic technology melt process industry’s icebergs of information?.  The process industry has, what I believe, some very interesting data challenges that also apply to discreet manufacturing: lot’s of complex data. Here’s an interesting passage and picture from the post:

Increasing regulatory and competitive demands on the business are forcing decision making to be more timely, and to be more integrated across the traditional business boundaries. However these icebergs are getting in the way of effective decision making.  One way to make any or all of this information available to consumers is to create the bigger iceberg. ‘Simply’ create the relational database schema that covers every past, current, and future business need, and build adapters to populate this database from the operational data stores. Unfortunately this mega-store can only get more complex as it has to keep up with an expanding scope of information required to support the decision making processes.

Inforbix takes a semantic technology approach that links and connects disparate sources of data together, inferring useful relationships as applicable AND filtering tools to address the disambiguation of data within manufacturing companies.  It does so without creating another iceberg of data.  It leaves data in its original location and uses product data crawlers to scan data in-situ and uses product data apps to do something useful with the data.  It’s my opinion that by applying semantic technology with a web-like user interface to browse and navigate through data, disambiguation can be practically addressed in manufacturing companies wanting access to the the right data (e.g. the right BOM list, or the latest contents of a parts list, etc.).  Here’s a video we recently produced that gives a few examples of how Inforbix helps people locate the data they need:

Conclusion.  Disambiguation is as much a technology challenge as it is a human challenge.  Attaching meaning consistently across an organization is not always possible or practical.  Especially when there are lots of existing “icebergs” of existing legacy data. Inforbix provides tools that give people of any skill levels the ability to browse and navigate semantically connected data by linking all data icebergs together.  It can’t prevent people from using the wrong data, because people will be people.  However, it can ensure that complex data sourced in CAD, excel, PDM, PLM, and other disparate systems can be virtually aggregated and used in a meaningful and useful way.  Try our test-drive demo and see for yourself.

Best, Oleg

Filed Under: Product Data Stories Tagged With: , , ,

Inforbix and Aras Interplay

April 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Integrating information from various sources is an important goal for anyone working in today’s complicated data environments.  Engineering departments will generate, source, and use data in different ways than people in production and manufacturing.  Yet much of this data within a company is related or linked in one way or another.  Take for example, BOMs.  Access to BOMs with current information by different departments coud be a  useful thing.

Inforbix continues to look at ways of leveraging the cloud to provide data integration across different departments, data sources, and applications.  The following video shows an experiment we’ve done using Aras PLM whereby Inforbix makes CAD drawing and CAD Bill of Materials from various sources within a company, available inside of Aras PLM.  Watch the video and see how data from a drawing BOM is seamlessly made available within Aras PLM.


 

Conclusion.  Inforbix can be a way of rethinking the CAD integration paradigm.  It starts by simplifying data integration using existing applications with existing data sourced from many locations and file types within a company.  Using cloud technology, Inforbix makes data access and integration easy and reliable without touching, moving, or migrating data from its original location.  And stay tuned for more updates regarding the Aras PLM and Inforbix interplay.  In the meantime, give Inforbix a test-drive and see for yourself how Inforbix makes data access possible.

 

Best, Oleg
Filed Under: Applications, News Tagged With: , ,

Inforbix and the many personalities of PDM

April 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment


Product Data Management, aka PDM.  Ask most people in manufacturing companies what PDM means and chances are you’ll get many different answers. Wikipedia gives PDM a standard description I think most people would agree too, but only in principle.  In practice, PDM means different things to different people depending on their role and responsibilities.  Engineers are mostly interested in CAD version control. Manufacturing people need PDM to provide them reliable BOM and parts lists. Moreover, who has access to data within PDM is one of those topics that causes no small measure of strong language amongst people on both sides of the “who has access” divide.  Ultimately I think the real point behind PDM is about access to current data by anyone in a company that needs it to accomplish some task or job.

I was recently reading an interesting blog post by Chad Jackson, The Many Faces of Product Data Management.  Chad starts the article with what I think is a great quote, “As I’ve said before and I’m sure I’ll say again, terminology in this industry can be a source of confusion.” I agree.  Here’s a passage from Chad’s post I felt nailed my own sentiment:

Now of course, Product Data Management (PDM) isn’t just about managing stuff within the engineering organization It’s about the enterprise too. However, there are two progressive ways in which it can be used.

The first is all about access. A prevailing concept is that many other stakeholders in the enterprise would greatly benefit by having access to the information generated within engineering. If they could, they would make better decisions in their domains. Procurement agents could source functionally equivalent but cheaper parts. Service planners could start designing their procedures earlier. Marketing managers could start generating their collateral far earlier as well.

But that’s not the whole story. There is also the concept of Enterprise PDM. The basic idea here is that every organization in the company uses the same PDM system to manage all of their artifacts and deliverables, creating some type of interdependency or linkage between related documents. When one changes, the owner of dependent documents get a notification to update it. Of course, that leads to a discussion about how feasible Enterprise PDM truly is, but that’s a topic for another post.

Inforbix provides a way for people of any skill-level in a manufacturing company to access product data from disparate sources and locations within their company.  Inforbix can track and monitor CAD docs without the need of a PDM system.  It can even access data within legacy PDM systems and make that available to anyone in the company.  Here’s a short video we produced some months ago that demonstrates a typical PDM like task without the use of PDM.

Conclusion.  Inforbix is a new way of aggregating, accessing, and monitoring data.  It deploys product data crawlers that scan on-premise data and process meta-data on the cloud to provide PDM like data access to anyone in a manufacturing company.  Learn more about our cloud based product data apps and when ready, give Inforbix a test-drive.

Best, Oleg

 

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How to start using Inforbix Apps in 3 easy steps

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment
When we first started out developing Inforbix, an important guiding principle was to make the installation of the product easy for anyone of any skill to perform.  We want people to quickly get the benefits of Inforbix without going through a long deployment and installation process. In today’s fast paced world of meeting deadlines and focusing on the task at hand, we think people appreciate spending less time deploying software products and more time using them. This is especially true of any product that focuses on data. Traditionally, the mere mention of a data product meant disruptions, time, and effort just getting the data ready for the new tool or product.

Inforbix has taken a different approach to data access and management.  We deploy web and cloud technology to work with the data in it’s original location and require no migration or manipulation of data to get started.  Let me show you how easy it is to install Inforbix in three steps.

1. You download an Installation Wizard that installs product data crawlers that scan files from any source or location in your company.

2. After following a few simple steps which involve entering credentials and the location you want the product data crawlers installed, you select the directories you want Inforbix to scan (you have 100% control of what files are scanned):

3. Finally, after selecting the directories you want to scan and once the scanning process is complete (from as little as 20 minutes to a few days depending on the number files scanned), you are ready to start using Inforbix with any standard web-browser:

Keep in mind that during the scanning process, there are no disruptions to any ongoing work.  Inforbix provides you with monitoring tools that monitor the scanning process and lets you know when scanning is complete.

Conclusion.  Inforbix is a cloud solution that aggregates and exposes on-premise product data from multiple locations without actually touching, moving, or migrating files to the cloud. Users access Inforbix with any standard web browser. Installing Inforbix takes just a few easy steps.  Find more details on our Technology page. And when ready, try Inforbix on your own data.  Register today to use Inforbix for free.

Best, Oleg

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Inforbix, Big Data and Product Lifecycle

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A week ago we attended COFES 2012. One of the discussion that caught our attention was a discussion about Big Data and Product Lifecycle. Tony Bayer nicely summarized his thoughts after this discussion on his blog.  It’s worth reading. One of the most interesting passages that grabbed my attention was this:

Some credit to host Brad Holtz who deciphered that there really was a link between our diverging interests: Big Data and meshing software development with the product lifecycle. By the definition of Big Data – volume, variability, velocity, and value – Big Data is nothing new to the product lifecycle. CAD files, models, and simulations are extremely data-intensive and containing a variety of data types encompassing graphical and alphanumeric data. Today, the brass ring for the modeling and simulation world is implementing co-simulations, where models each drive other models (the results of one drives the other).

But is anybody looking at the bigger picture? Modeling has been traditionally silo’ed – for instance, models are not typically shared across product teams, projects, or product families. Yet new technologies could provide the economical storage and processing power to make it possible to analyze and compare the utilization and reliability of different models for different scenarios – with the possible result being metamodels that provide frameworks for optimizing model development and parameters with specific scenarios. All this is highly data-intensive.

What I specially like is this “highly data-intensiveness” as it resonated with everything Inforbix does. Inforbix scans, collects, and aggregates data located in companies. In practice, it’s a re-think of the way we perceive data management today by turning it on it’s head. In other words, rather than move data into files and data bases, Inforbix creates networks of data. Data is exposed and made available from it’s current location.  This approach can make things easier than traditional approaches to data management, from deployment to UX to improving decision making.

Conclusion. Inforbix uses intelligent technology that combine simple and cool applications that leapfrog traditional data management systems.  This facilitates the way people perform data-intensive work and help improve decision making .  It scales from simple tasks such as finding and sharing information up to complex decision making lifecycle processes.  Register with Inforbix to experience tomorrow’s data access technology today.

Best, Oleg

picture credit renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Inforbix and working with PDFs

April 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Most people are familiar with PDFs.  It’s the one file format most companies use to share and communicate documents without the need of the native app or special viewers.  The thing is, over time, companies collect huge amounts of PDFs stored in many different places and organizations, each with their own system of filing documents.  The key challenge then becomes accessing these PDFs.  Over time, it’s hard to keep track of particular PDFs that might contain useful or essential information for completing a task or meeting a deadline.

We’ve produced a video that demonstrates how Inforbix can help people access PDFs in a company regardless of where they might be located.  What’s more, Inforbix links and connects to other document types that are related to a particular PDF, providing additional information that might prove useful or helpful.

Conclusion.  PDFs are among the most common file types used in manufacturing companies.  Inforbix helps you take advantage of all the PDFs in your company along with many other file types.  Try Inforbix using our data set on our test drive demo.

Best, Oleg

Filed Under: Product Data Stories Tagged With: , ,

Inforbix and solving the problem of complexity

April 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Complexity is one of those problems we struggle with these days. One of the things that inspired us at Inforbix is the possibility of creating something simple in place of high level complexity. To quote Jack Dorsey, creator of Twitter, “It’s really complex to make something simple.”  In manufacturing companies engineers struggle to keep up with the high level of complexity caused by advanced software tools and multiple silos of complex data located and sourced throughout the company.  Meeting deadlines is not getting easier.


Engineers and other people in manufacturing organizations seem to be resigned to live with this growing complexity.   However, I see hope ahead: solving the problem of complexity is gaining greater awareness lately.  I was reading the WSJ blog - CIO Journal titled, As Technology Becomes More Complex, Design Becomes More Important. The following passage made me think of the challenges complexity poses to manufacturing companies and the urge to address them:

There is a continuing struggle between complexity and robustness in both evolution and human design.  A kind of survival imperative, whether in biology or engineering, requires that simple, fragile systems become more robust, that is, be able to continue operating under lots of different conditions, including the failures of individual components.  But the mechanisms to increase robustness will in turn make the system considerably more complex.  Furthermore, that additional complexity brings with it its own unanticipated failure modes, which are corrected over time with additional robust mechanisms, which then further add to the complexity of the system, and so on.  This balancing act between complexity and robustness is never done. Critical to designing flexible, adaptable complex systems is the use of platforms based on open standards, as well as an extensive industry ecosystem to generate complementary products and services.  This results in a much greater potential for innovation, growth and robustness than could be generated by a single product from a single company.

When it comes to thinking about reducing complexity, here are the three principles Inforbix is guided by: open standards, a simple user experience, and data acquisition.  We think of Inforbix as a system built around open standards relating to the Semantic Web and Linked Data.  These standards create and promote a significant and critical level of openness that buttresses the foundation of Inforbix’s system architecture.  Moreover, we worked hard to implement the simplest possible UX (a.k.a. user experience) even when dealing with the most complex product data.  Finally, we designed simplicity into how Inforbix aggregates on premise data and exposes it via the the cloud without touching, moving, or migrating any of it.  It literally requires no effort to start using Inforbix with your data set.  Find out for yourself.  Give Inforbix is try by registering or trying our test drive demo.

Best, Oleg

picture credit winstonlawrence.com

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Inforbix Search Tips Video

April 18, 2012 By 2 Comments

Over the past few weeks we’ve noticed an increase in the number and types of searches our users are performing using Inforbix.  Some of our users have called us with some great questions regarding how to optimize their search results. Keep in mind that in some cases, we’re talking about searches that involve several hundred thousand files of different types (e.g. CAD, PDF, Excel, etc).  Because each company has a different way of naming files and attributes associated with product data, Inforbix gives users sufficient flexibility to search and filter results (which can number in the thousands) to just the few desired data elements.

We’ve produced a video that give our users what we hope are helpful tips for searching and finding the data they need.  If you’re not an Inforbix user, the video gives you an idea of how Inforbix help users in manufacturing companies access and expose data.

Take a look and let us know if you find the search tips helpful.  We are always happy to talk to our users and learn what kinds of searches are really important to them. Share yours with us and let us know how we can help you get more out of Inforbix.  If you’re not yet an Inforbix user, then I suggest you try our test drive demo and try some searches with our own data set.  And when ready, register to use Inforbix on your product data.  Either way, you’ll like the results.

Best, Oleg

picture credit Keattikorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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