HP’s First Autonomy Product Since Takeover

HP has announced the first product from Autonomy since it acquired the company earlier this year. The Idol 10 analytics platform, launched at HP Discover in Vienna, manages unstructured data for businesses.

Idol 10, put together conjunction with technology from another HP acquisition, Vertica, will be  “the first time that one building block can handle 100 percent of information,” said HP.

Structured and Unstructured

The new platform will be able to understand unstructured data by looking for context, not keywords, and will be able to analyse data in real time. Combined with Vertica’s technology, which is designed to handle “extreme” data, structured and unstructured data can be processed in one repository.

Mike Lynch, founder of Autonomy, stressed the difference between these two types of data. Autonomy works with “human data” from sources such as social media and emails, while Vertica worked on raw information which humans cannot understand, he said.

The growth of data means that the automation of this task is necessary, said Lynch, claiming that this was a key step in IT, because – he said – this marked first time that the ‘I’ in IT had changed.

Instant On

The software forms part of HP’s new “Instant On” strategy and reflects the company’s recent shift towards services. According to HP, 48 percent of businesses do not have an effective information strategy in place, while just two percent are able to deliver the right data at the right time.

The two companies claim that the marriage of Autonomy’s technology and HP’s service programmes is a perfect one with Lynch adding that Autonomy had always had great software, but no access to hardware. The takeover meant Autonomy finally has services such as servers, storage and performance software, said Lynch,  citing the importance of cooperation.

Asked how  such an ambitious product could be delivered so quickly after the purchase of Autonomy, Lynch said that much thought had gone into the process and that when Autonomy had purchased businesses itself, it had integrated them rapidly.

HP has experienced a turbulent few months, announcing plans to sell off its WebOS mobile operating system and spinning off its PC operations as part of a new strategy focussed on services and software. However since former CEO Leo Apotheker departed the company, HP has reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings and it has been speculated that it may still keep its PC division.