Author Archives: X1

April 9, 2015 · 8:56 AM

Gartner Names X1 A Cool Vendor In Endpoint Computing, 2015

It is always gratifying to receive market recognition for your products.  At X1, there is major momentum around the X1 Search Virtual product that enables desktop search in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), without the need for Windows indexing (which chews up a lot of VDI resources).  Gartner_cool_venderBecause the user experience is key to broader VDI adoption, the X1 Search capabilities complement VDI technology very well.

At X1, we are extremely proud to be included in the list of “Cool Vendors” in the EndPoint Computing 2015 report by Gartner.  According to Gartner’s report, “endpoint computing vendors are trying to innovate with products that address old problems as well as products that address shortcomings of new technologies.” Platforms like VDI and DaaS hold great promise, but the user experience with VDI is often suboptimal, thereby hindering widespread adoption

Gartner makes remarks about X1 in the Key Findings and Recommendations section of the report. It is extremely gratifying to get this kind of recognition from the respected analysts at Gartner. Please read the full report to learn what Gartner has to say.

The market recognition is coming from customers, too.  Check out the compelling case study of a large Federal government DoD agency deploying X1 Search Virtual to provide users with a superior search experience.  It’s a great example of customers realizing that end-users need to be satisfied with technology in order to adopt it.

X1 Search provides users the ability to search a single, unified interface for content that may live in diverse locations – email, files, network file shares, email archives, Box and SharePoint. With X1’s single-pane-of-glass view of this content, workers can very quickly find the information no matter where it lives.

For a complimentary copy of the Cool Vendors in Endpoint Computing, 2015 report, please click here.

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March 16, 2015 · 5:59 PM

X1 Changes the Game in Hybrid Cloud Search with Box Connector

by Barry Murphy

The Enterprise File Sync and Share (EFSS) category is hot right now.  This is not a surprising fact.  In the research document Parting Enterprise Users From Consumer EFSS Solutions Will Be a Challenge, Gartner estimates that, “by 2018, 50% of an enterprise’s data will reside external to the data center.”  EFSS vendors provide enterprises with more structured ways to collaborate and share information both on-premise and in the cloud.  The Gartner document goes on to state that, “an off-premises public cloud implementation of EFSS can help an organization isolate data from its data center and simplify easy sharing of information assets to individuals outside the firewall and located across multiple regions.”  For these reasons, EFSS vendors like Box are growing rapidly and gaining large enterprise customers.

Obviously, if half of an enterprise’s data will reside external to the data center, then half will still live within the data center or locally on users’ machines.  No matter where data is being stored, though, the fact remains that the ability to search that data will be critically important.  Workers still demand unified access to their most important information assets, and they want a highly intuitive search experience with fast-as-you-type search results regardless of where the data lives.  In other words, users require business productivity search.  X1, with the Box connector, provides just that in a way that not only pleases users, but also gives IT a lot of flexibility.

With X1’s Box Connector, users can now add Box accounts as data sources, and search emails, files, SharePoint, and now Box content in a single-pane-of-glass.

Box screenshot

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Not only do users get a single interface in which they can search across all of their critical content, but they also get all of the benefits that simply come with X1 – fast-as-you-type search results, full-fidelity document preview, and post-search actions (PSAs).  In the case of Box content, the PSAs are valuable because they are specific to things users would normally do within Box.  For example, directly in the X1 interface, users can elect to send a document as an attachment or as a link.

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In addition, users can integrate Box more directly into their personal workflows because X1 will allow a PSA on content from other data sources (e.g. SharePoint) to Box.

This is important, as IT organizations like the flexibility that X1 provides in terms of how users can search Box content.  There is an option to index Box documents and store them in the users local index.  The content is not stored locally, but the index is, so users get immediate results.  Of course, it may not be feasible to have an index stored locally for a variety of reasons, so there is also an option for users to remotely query their Box account without the need to store each item in the local index.  IT also has fine-grained control over how indexing takes place.

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Any solution that makes both end-users and IT happy is a promising one.  In this way, X1’s hybrid cloud search capability is a game-changer. As more and more organizations systematically use EFSS vendors like Box, this federated search capability will become even more important.  And, the great news is – it’s available right now from X1.

So far, beta customers are extremely enthusiastic about the search experience that X1 provides for content in Box.  In fact, we strongly believe that no other solution provides this kind of search experience across local and Box content.  Customers tell us that they can search and filter through Box content faster than ever before.  At X1, we would respectfully challenge anyone to identify a better solution for this purpose – neither we nor our many joint X1/Box customers are currently aware of one.

We invite you to try for yourself:

X1 Search is available for sale at $49.95 per license for single users (Box connector included), with an annual support fee of $19.95. Buy now >

Silent installation of the X1 Search client and other enterprise deployment options are available for large-scale deployments. For more information about enterprise licensing and purchases, please contact info@x1.com.

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February 9, 2015 · 3:33 PM

What is Time Management?

Sue Becker, Productivity Trainer

Sue Becker, Productivity Coach

Today we are pleased to welcome guest blogger, Sue Becker, Productivity Coach at Spark Productivity. Sue has spent the last 15 years inspiring business people to implement organizational solutions to be more productive and to spend more time enjoying life. 

 

One of the biggest time management mistakes people make is not recognizing that time management is really self management. Instead of looking for external explanations to know why time management is a challenge, I coach people to look internally. I help them to build the self discipline to do what’s important to help them reach their goals and to flex the self discipline to set aside time for unburdened fun as well as for becoming the person they were meant to be.

Once a person accepts that time management is self management, then they eagerly make decisions to break bad habits and to establish new, helpful ones. Two such attractive habits are working in focused, uninterrupted sprints and working priorities top to bottom.

HABIT OF FOCUSING

To establish a habit of focusing, recognize there are external as well as internal interruptions to mitigate. We often interrupt ourselves as frequently as external factors interrupts us. Some people open their emails every time the little ding sounds, thinking, “Surely it’s something more interesting than whatever I’m currently working on.” Other people answer the phone every time it rings or leave their posture open to passersby. Discover your patterns of self interruption, and then determine a system for preventing and/or releasing them.

Set up your own self-management system to stop you from giving in to the temptation of external interruptions. So when someone interrupts you, you can let that person know you’re working on something important and then arrange a later time to speak. Using pre-determined, rehearsed phrases like, “I’d love to talk to you, but I have to finish this by three. May I call you when I’m finished?”

Another strategy is to set aside a fixed amount of time when you don’t allow yourself to be interrupted. This can be an hour a day or an hour a week. It’s intended to make sure you have quality time to focus on important tasks without the threat of being interrupted. It’s critical to select tasks that are worthy of this valuable, uninterrupted time so you don’t squander it.

HABIT OF PRIORITIZING

To establish a habit of prioritizing, use visual cues to create a pattern of working on the most important thing. Place a note somewhere easily seen—in front of your computer or inside your planner—that says something like, “Am I moving closer to my goals?” or, “What’s the most important thing I should be doing right now?” When you’ve discovered your purpose in life and have your goals recorded, driving your behavior gets easier.

TAKING CHARGE

What’s the key? It’s to take charge rather than let your days be dictated to you. It’s also getting comfortable with the knowledge that establishing habits takes time. After all, it took a lifetime to create your current habits, so recognize that you may not change them quickly or easily; yet it will be worth it when you do.

One final way to take charge is to use tools that will help you be more productive. For example, using tools like X1 to speed up your search for items on your computer will free up time so you can get more done. Please join me on February 24 for a complimentary webinar that will show you the power of productivity that X1 makes possible. I look forward to having you on the call.

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January 26, 2015 · 1:06 PM

Social Media More Relevant than Ever — Hundreds of Thousands of Legal Cases Estimated to Address Social Media in 2014

by John Patzakis

Law Journal for webAs part of our ongoing effort to monitor legal developments concerning social media evidence, we again searched online legal databases of state and federal court decisions across the United States — this time to identify the number of cases in 2014 where evidence from social networking sites played a significant role. The initial search returned over 10,000 results. That is far too many to review manually, but through random sampling to eliminate duplicates and de minimis entries — defined as cases with merely cursory or passing mentions of social media sites — we counted over 5,500 cases accessible through Westlaw. This represents a 3x increase over 2013.

And as only a very small number of cases — approximately one percent of all filed cases — involve a published decision or brief that we can access online, it is safe to assume that hundreds of thousands more cases involved social media evidence during this time period. Additionally, many of these published decisions involve fact patterns from as far back as 2009 (that I saw), as they are now just working their way through the discovery motion/appeals process. Finally, these cases do not reflect the presumably many hundreds of thousands of more instances where social media evidence was relevant to a corporate or law enforcement investigation yet did not evolve into actual litigation. Even so, this limited survey is an important data point establishing the ubiquitous nature of social media evidence, its unequivocal and compelling importance, and the necessity of best practices technology to search and collect this data for litigation and compliance requirements.

As succinctly noted by The Florida Bar Association in its publication, Florida Law Journal, “SOCIAL MEDIA EVIDENCE: WHAT YOU CAN’T USE WON’T HELP YOU” (2014) Volume 88, No. 1:

“Social media is everywhere. Nearly everyone uses it. Litigants who understand social media–and its benefits and limitations– can immeasurably help their clients resolve disputes. If not properly researched, preserved, and authenticated, the best social media evidence is worthless.”

And:

“Social networking sites have grown from a few thousand users to more than a billion. These sites have become a preferred form of electronic communication, surpassing email in 2009. As of March 31, 2011, 9,370,620 Floridians had registered for a Facebook account, which is approximately half of the state’s population. Based on these statistics, it is inevitable that the social media accounts of at least one person involved in a dispute will have potentially relevant and discoverable information.”

This is why several other Bar Associations have now weighed in to assert that a lawyer’s duty of competence requires addressing social media evidence. New Hampshire Bar Association published Opinion 2012-13/05 providing that lawyers “have a general duty to be aware of social media as a source of potentially useful information in litigation, to be competent to obtain that information directly or through an agent, and to know how to make effective use of that information in litigation.” The Pennsylvania Bar weighed in with a similar opinion, and the ABA recently published Comment [8] to Model Rule 1.1, which provides that a lawyer “should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology.”

And we are of course seeing this explosive trend in the adaptation of X1 Social Discovery. Over 250 eDiscovery and computer forensics services firms have at least one paid copy of X1 Social Discovery. I can think of no greater validation of a software or process than this mass and widespread adaption by these early adopters, who are of course the experts on best practices and litigation technology trends.

After the adoption by eDiscovery consultants comes law firms, and we count over 100 as paid customers, ranging from several dozen AMLaw 100 firms to small five attorney operations. And the strong adoption of law enforcement and government regulatory agencies is also a compelling indicator, where we count over 120 such agencies worldwide as customers.

But clearly the results from our Westlaw survey and the opinions of the Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations speak for themselves. And, if that is not enough, you can see from an earlier blog post just how costly it can be to manually collect, preserve, and review social media evidence.  So, if you are one of the soon to become minority of digital investigative or eDiscovery professionals who have not adopted X1 Social Discovery, please contact us for a demo today.

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January 12, 2015 · 12:31 PM

In 2015, What Should We Expect From Search?

ROIIt’s that time again: time to prognosticate about what the coming year will bring in our search software market. Lest anyone think search is a stale market, there are foundational deals now in place that illuminate how this market will evolve in an exciting way. This evolution will usher in a new era in the search market – one in which enterprises achieve positive ROI on search projects and actually love the technology. In 2015, companies will be able to deploy enterprise search and enable employees to actually find the information they are looking for.

The key to this enterprise search evolution is the recognition that success lies with an optimal end-user experience.  Over the past six months at X1, we have been educating the market on how to put end-users first with our whitepaper on why traditional enterprise search failed and our webinar on business productivity search.  How do we know that this end-user experience factor is the key to successful enterprise search initiatives?  Because we are seeing it play out in some exciting new deals over the last few months.

  • A large global technology firm purchased 15K+ seats of X1 SearchTM so that employees can quickly find the information they need to do their jobs.  This firm actually has set up its IT function to serve employees the way a consumer technology company would serve its customers.  The IT department creates a set of applications that employees can pull from based on their role.  X1 is a critically important application in each toolbox.
  • A large Government Agency within the Department of Defense purchased 10K+ seats of X1 Search and the Symantec Enterprise Vault Connector in addition to X1 Rapid DiscoveryTM so that employees would have a single-pane-of-glass view across information regardless of where it is stored.  This is a compelling example of how end-user requirements to have a single interface, in which to search across active and archived emails, drove a broader enterprise search initiative.
  • Another large Government Agency purchased over 20,000 seats of X1 Search Virtual Edition and X1 Rapid Discovery amounting to a $1 million deal.   This deal enables the agency to roll out its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) more broadly and meet several security requirements while ensuring that high-value employees have critical knowledge at their fingertips via X1.  Not only does this agency get the excellent X1 search experience, but it is able to fully leverage its VDI technology because of the complementary nature of X1 Search 8, Virtual Edition.
  • In addition, we have seen several enterprise-wide purchases and rollouts of X1 Search by professional services and financial institutions ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 seats.  These organizations understand that employee knowledge is the fuel upon which the business runs.  Giving users an easy way to find what they need to stay productive is key to maintaining profitability.

These deals show that the evolution to business productivity search as the dominant use-case for enterprise search is well underway.  X1 offers the best end-user search experience in the market.  Customer surveys (run by the customers, not X1) routinely show that 85%+ of Search 8 users truly like the product.  Most enterprise software approval ratings hover in the 20% range (based on my experience as an analyst at Forrester Research).  As we close the books on a banner 2014 at X1, we are extremely excited to continue this evolution in 2015.

We invite you to register for our next webinar on Feb 24 – Return on Investment: Attaining Business Productivity Through Search >

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