Tag Archives: virtual

X1 Wins Key Honor at VMworld: 3rd Major Award for 2015

By John Patzakis and Barry Murphy

X1 continues to garner widespread acclaim in 2015 for providing enterprise end-users with the fastest, easiest-to-use, cloud-enabled enterprise search software from any device through X1 Search Virtual. The experts in this domain recognize that X1 is providing a game-changing capability in this new era of enterprise virtualization and mobility, while traditional enterprise search tools are simply not built to support the new paradigm.

Earlier this month, a panel of judges comprised of recognized experts and editors chosen by TechTarget’sSearchServerVirtualization.com, awarded X1 “Best of VMworld 2015Best of VMworld_500Awards Finalist in the Desktop Virtualization and End-User Computing Category. The judges evaluated 153 nominated products on display at VMworld 2015, and based the winners on innovation, value, performance, reliability, and ease of use.

X1 SearchTM Mobile brings X1’s award-winning user interface for desktop search to the mobile device, providing lightning-fast and secure search of email and files while on the go. This means users will no longer settle for the limited, slow and inconsistent “Exchange-only” searches of current smartphones. X1 Search Mobile enables full email (including archived emails) and desktop search from the mobile device, keeping workers productive no matter where they are. Notably, X1 was the only software provider at VMworld 2015 offering enterprise search for virtual environments with real time access from any device. High level discussions with Gartner and other key industry experts and executives confirm that X1 is far ahead of the pack in delivering this unique and disruptive capability.

How disruptive? According to Jack Madden, noted analyst and blogger on enterprise mobility and end-user computing, in a live video interview, “You know what else I like about [X1 Search Mobile] is it can …take the place of enterprise file synch and share products, because that is all your files in the background, and not to mention all your inbox (emails and attachments) and they’re right there, mobile enabled, with a policy around them. There is a lot there.”

This capability is made possible by X1’s virtual “always-on” index enabling access to your files from any device, which is the main use case for Box, Dropbox, and other EFSS tools. But with X1, you also access your emails from the same interface, with built in X1 search and an overall better user experience. And best of, this can all be accomplished through an enterprise’s existing on-premise virtual or private cloud infrastructure.

The 2015 recognition began in April, when Gartner named X1 a Cool Vendor in EndPoint Computing. According to Gartner’s report, “X1 can improve end-user experience on hosted virtual desktops by maintaining Windows and Outlook searches, which are often lost in the transition away from traditional PCs.” Platforms like VDI and DaaS hold great promise, but the user experience with VDI is often sub-optimal, thereby hindering widespread adoption. X1’s recognition by Gartner as a Cool Vendor validates our innovation in cloud and virtual environments, as well as our commitment to provide a stellar end-user experience.

And for the third award, PC Magazine published a very strong product review for X1 Search (version 8).  X1 won the desktop search category with the prestigious “PC Mag Editor’s Choice” designation. Some key takeaway quotes:

  • Basic setup for the program couldn’t be simpler
  • The program’s search capability is impressive, both for its ease of use and its sophisticated features
  • If you can take advantage of X1 Search’s ability to extend its reach to SharePoint or cloud-based email and Box, or make use of its ability to build much more sophisticated search phrases than Lookeen can handle, X1 Search is the obvious choice.

To get three major awards in one year is obviously gratifying and validates that the approach to support enterprise virtualization and mobility through a stellar search experience is a winning strategy to support our customers as they rapidly embrace the next generation desktop. We look forward to continuing to deliver an unmatched search experience across data anywhere, on any device.

Leave a comment

Filed under Enterprise Search, Mobile Search

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.

Leave a comment

Filed under Cloud Data, Desktop Search, VDI

End-User Computing & Search Go Hand-In-Hand

webinar_works_landing

by Barry Murphy

Last week, John Patzakis here at X1 blogged about the VMworld 2014 event and how it has become the Comdex for enterprise IT.  I was at the show and it was very clear that end-users are the future of IT.  The trend has been talked about for quite some time and is commonly called the consumerization of IT.  The heat around that topic has tended to focus on devices and not as much on what is behind information access on those devices.  But, as BYOD takes off and mobility becomes increasingly important, enterprises care more and more about the flow and availability of information.  Why?  Because easy access to information is critical to the end-user acceptance of enterprise IT offerings; when users cannot quickly find what they are looking for, they reject what IT rolls out to them.  Without that end-user acceptance, there is no chance for a positive ROI on any IT project.

End-user experience is so key that VMware has named a division of its company “End User Computing.”  That EUC unit made several major acquisitions in the last year, including Airwatch and Desktone.  This is because technology providers need to win the battle with end-users.  For an example of a company that built its business on the backs of end-users and leveraged those relationships to bully its way into enterprise IT, look no further than Apple.  As VDI users have learned, it is critical to bake search requirements into virtual desktop deployments from the get-go in order to ensure an optimal user experience.  And, as Brian Katz points out in his blog, the same thing will hold true with mobile – usability will be key.  That is why we at X1 are so excited about the future.  X1’s user interface for search is second to none.  And, users actually rave about it.

In my days as an industry analyst, I rarely had technology users raving about the tools they were using.  And, I never ever had an enterprise search user tell me that their solution solved the challenge of finding information quickly.  The rabid users of X1 have been an eye opener for me.  In fact, an X1 customer recently polled its users and virtually every user said that X1 is easy to learn and use (no easy feat for a piece of enterprise software) and over 70% of users described their experience with X1 as very positive or positive.  Those numbers are unheard of in terms of technology satisfaction.

With what I’ve learned from my days as an analyst and in my time here at X1, I’ve come up with some ways to approach enterprise search in a way that is both IT and user-friendly.  We will share the knowledge in a webinar on October 9 at 1pm ET / 10am PT.  We’ve titled it, “Making Enterprise Search Actually Work by Putting User Experience First.”

In this “no-death-by-PowerPoint” webinar, attendees will not only learn, but actually see how to deploy enterprise search solutions in ways that make both end-users and IT departments happy.  This webinar will demonstrate both why and how to put end-user experience first.   Specifically, attendees will learn:

  • Why the human brain is the best analytical engine for business productivity search
  • How federation can save IT time, money, and headaches
  • How to best deploy search solutions in all IT infrastructures
  • How to achieve ROI on enterprise search in ways never seen in the past
  • That search can be like BASF – it can make many other technology deployments better, including VDI, SharePoint, and Enterprise Vault

I will be presenting on this webinar and will be joined by some special guests to be named later.  Come learn why search and end-user computing go hand-in-hand.

Register for the webinar here >

 

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Enterprise Search, Hybrid Search, Information Access, Information Management