Interesting interview (article from Nov. 2011) with the Director of Microsoft’s Enterprise Search Group, Bjørn Olstad via http://www.tu.no. Below is an English summary of the main points, along with some elbaorations.
Photo: Teknisk Ukeblad
Dr. Olstad speaks on how Norway is a hotbed for search technology development and this search ecosystem has it’s source at NTNU in Trondheim, which have been a feeder university to search giants like Yahoo, Google and Microsoft.
With the tidal growth of data (particularly unstructured) in the past decade, it is no surprise that enterprise search has seen impressive increases in levels of demand. Hence, says Dr. Olstad, the competition for bright young knowledge management or search graduates has intensified. He also points out that several search start-ups have risen out of Norway, benefitting from the knowledge and experience in the local search ecosystem.
One example of these Norwegian search start-ups is Comperio, which has matured to being 50 employees strong with offices in Oslo, Stockholm, London and Boston. Comperio is a Systems Integrator (SI) focused on implementing FAST Search projects for enterprise customers. These search solutions, more recently developed on the FAST Search for SharePoint platform, offer an alternative to traditional integration between IT systems. ‘Today, a lot of IT budgets devoted to integrating old and new solutions. It costs time and money. We rather use search technology’, says Comperio founder and CEO Jørn Ellefsen.
Comperio has developed search solutions in Norway for such recognisable names as, Sintef, Posten, DSS, DNV and Innovation Norway. Outside of Norway, Comperio has delivered large projects for the likes of UBS and Shell. ‘The search-based technology we are developing is largely generic, and it allows us to reuse the solutions from previous projects with new customers. This means that it is both cheaper and better for everyone. This market is starting to wake up in earnest and will grow quickly when you discover how effective the technology is. I think the market for our services will increase tenfold over the next three years’, added Ellefsen.
Comperio are currently hiring for their Oslo and London offices. See the open positions @ http://www.comperiosearch.com/about-comperio/work-for-us/.
Original article from http://www.tu.no/it/article292738.ece.
[...] Web site ran an interesting interview with a former Fast Search wizard, Bjørn Olstad in “Hard Job Keeping Search Technology in Norway.” The interview summary contained some “search gems,” which I wanted to capture. So, check [...]