Text analytics and beyondText analytics and beyond

The term “text analytics” encompasses a broad and heterogeneous group of technologies that can add metadata to unstructured content; identify components such as people, places and events; and convert information to structured form so it can be analyzed by business intelligence (BI) solutions. The technology may employ statistical, linguistic and machine learning approaches to extract meaningful information. It can be used in a wide range of business purposes, from fraud detection to sentiment analysis. The push is increasingly toward more sophisticated interpretation of unstructured content that goes beyond what is currently considered text analytics.

According to Forrester, more than 200 companies are providing text mining or text analytics products, so it is a crowded market. The participating software products offer a variety of approaches to extracting actionable information from content that is generally recognized as accounting for about 80 percent of enterprise content. Those software solutions are becoming more intelligent. Rather than focusing on keyword searches or statistical analyses alone, they are incorporating a deeper understanding of language through greater semantic analysis and machine learning. That trend is moving text analytics well past the traditional approaches into the realm of cognitive computing. 

Broadening the Scope of Mobile Security

Most enterprises, when addressing mobile security, focus on securing applications, such as the devices' operating systems, or preventing the installation of malware. But the cybersecurity experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology say organizations should take a much broader approach to ensuring mobile security.

Referring to the need to address the risks posed by cellular networks and other elements of the mobile infrastructure, NIST Cybersecurity Engineer Joshua Franklin says: "There is this whole other side of a mobile device that has its own complex hardware, firmware, software and network protocols that need to be addressed." Franklin co-authored the recently released draft report, Assessing Threats to Mobile Devices & Infrastructure: the Mobile Threat Catalogue.

US Data Center Construction Update

September turned out to be a big month for big data center construction project announcements in the US. Facebook has finally decided to build in New Mexico, SAP is stepping into Colorado Springs in a big way, and data center providers Data Foundry and TierPoint are expanding their empires in Texas.

Here are the details:

New Mexico Scores $250M Facebook Data Center Build

After a tax-break war with the State of Utah, New Mexico has secured a commitment from Facebook to build its next data center in the Village of Los Lunas.

Is Infor up for sale?

Over the last few weeks investment in ERP software has been increasing. The latest rumour (Source:Reuters) is that Infor is the latest in a line of companies sold or resold. It seems like private equity firms believe that there is money to be made in ERP software. According to Allied market Research the global ERP software market is set to grow 7.2% each year until 2020 when it will reach $41.69 billion.

The last year has seen several deals commence that should complete before the end of 2016. In December 2016 EQT made a bid for IFS, the Swedish ERP software company. While the initial bid saw only 84% snapped up, a revised offer was recently agreed with the hold out investor. This should see IFS taken private within a matter of weeks. Oracle made a bid for NetSuite, valuing the company at $9.3 billion in July. That purchase has since been delayed with one investor, T Rowe Price group saying that the bid is not high enough. In July this year Apax partners sold Epicor to KKR in a deal said to be worth $3.3 billion (Source: Bloomberg).

Official: Cloud computing is now mainstream

Cloud computing is so mainstream these days that maybe it should just be called “computing”. That’s what an IDC survey of 6,100 organisations in 31 countries, released today, indicates, with 68 per cent of respondents using public, private or hybrid cloud in their IT mix. This is a 60 per cent jump from 42 per cent of respondents doing cloud in 2015.

IDC reckons that just three per cent of the organisations have deploying cloud-optimised strategies resulting in "superior business outcomes".

And of this select “cloud-advanced” bunch, Ninety-five per cent have built a hybrid infrastructure that uses “multiple private and public clouds based on economics, location and governance policies”.

Gamification of the aviation sector

Restructuring IT systems in the aviation sector requires cross-disciplinary collaboration between experts from different organisations and countries. This isn't easy. Can help be found in the world of computer games?

The use of games mechanics for purposes other than pure entertainment is called gamification. In recent years the method has been used in different settings to boost user involvement and motivation linked to a variety of activities.
"In its simplest form this may just be hype, such as awarding points for things like filling out your time sheet before the weekend," says SINTEF researcher Erlend Andreas Gjære. "But our focus is on quite a different track," he says.
Together with researchers from Italy and Germany, Gjære and his colleagues at SINTEF are going to find out how aspects of games technology can be applied in a context somewhat out of the ordinary. Specifically – how to achieve the best possible adaptive solutions to changes in information security, safety, economics and organisation in the aviation sector.

Big data analytics and NLP: How health plans can make more money -- and keep it

Natural language processing is an emerging area that can help unlock value from the vast stores of unstructured data that account for as much as 80% of all clinical data. UPMC Health Plan does just that.

Big data analytics in healthcare has largely been about looking at claims, electronic health records (EHR) and other forms of structured data. Natural language processing (NLP) is an emerging area that can help unlock value from the vast amounts of unstructured data that are pervasive in healthcare. In the emerging era of value-based payments, risk adjustments may well determine the difference between profit and loss for the health insurance industry.

UPMC Health Plan, the health insurance arm of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), has deployed NLP-based technology and big data analytics to efficiently process millions of pieces of documentation to accurately identify risk adjustment possibilities and capture incremental revenue.

GERMANY PLANS FACIAL RECOGNITION AT AIRPORTS AND TRAIN STATIONS

Germany is planning to introduce facial recognition software to cameras at transport hubs as part of new anti-terrorism measures, the country’s interior minister has announced.

Thomas de Maiziere told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that the technology would be able to identify suspects following two attacks by Islamist militants in the past month.

“I would like to use this kind of facial recognition technology in video cameras at airports and train stations,” de Maiziere told the paper. “Then, if a suspect appears and is recognized it will show up in the system.”

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De Maiziere also suggested other security measures were being considered, adding: “We will have to get used to increased security measures, such as longer queues, stricter checks or personal entry cards. This is tedious, uncomfortable and costs time but I don’t think it’s a limitation of personal freedom.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been under increased political pressure to introduce stricter measures since the recent attacks, however, privacy advocates have criticized proposals for increased surveillance.

A spokesperson for Germany’s Green Party told DPA news agency that the plan was “half-baked.”

Read More@ http://www.newsweek.com/germany-plans-facial-recognition-airports-train-stations-security-attack-492740

Facial recognition - a powerful ad tool or privacy nightmare?

Whenever the future of advertising is discussed, thoughts often turn to the sci-fi image of a stalked Tom Cruise in Minority Report being recognised and served intrusive, personalised advertising as he tries to escape a futuristic city.

Hence, recent claims by Russian app FindFace that it could identify people in public by their profile picture on a Russian social media site were met with a combination of awe and concern. Such facial recognition could enable digital screens to tailor messages to each individual as they pass, meaning an end to brands wasting budget advertising the wrong products to the wrong people.