Andrew Eick

Exclusive interview featuring thincSoft’s Jim Kowalski

Andrew Eick — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:12:38 -0700

thincSoft Puts Business Intelligence on the Map^TM

Denver, CO (PRWEB) May 8, 2008 – Jim Kowalski, Chief Operating Officer of thincSoft, recently participated in an exclusive interview with Ron Powell and the Business Intelligence Network (www.BeyeNETWORK.com). In this interview, Kowalski describes thincVIew, a Web 2.0 solution that merges geographic data with business intelligence information in a visually intuitive tool for better decision making.

“Recent studies have indicated that over 80% of data maintained by corporations has a location component,” says Jim Kowalski, Chief Operating Officer of thincSoft. "As companies look to gain more and more insight into their business and their customers, the ability to merge map information together with business data is becoming the next must-have in enterprise applications.”

“People are using Google maps for recreational use, now they want this same functionality with their business tools," says Ron Powell, Cofounder and Editorial Director of the Business Intelligence Network. “thincSoft enhances the visualization of information, using a Web 2.0 architecture to integrate heterogeneous data environments with a map-driven interface.”
To listen to the interview, please click here.

The Business Intelligence Network Solution Spotlights are intuitive dialogues with innovative solution providers, and these spotlights provide a cutting-edge introduction to the new products and services of interest to the business intelligence community. The Network publishes six newsletters serving more than 115,000 readers across a wide variety of industries, making it the largest newsletter-based information source for business intelligence, performance management, data warehousing, data integration and data quality.

About thincSoft

thincSoft is the company that Put Business Intelligence on the Map™. Their unique Web 2.0 enterprise application, thincVIew, fuses map and location content and features together with business data to enable improved decision making across the enterprise. Requiring only a web browser, this application leverages the power of Web 2.0 to create a new generation of business intelligence tools.

About Business Intelligence Network™

The Network’s flagship site BeyeNETWORK.com leads the industry with up-to-the-minute news, newsletters, articles, executive spotlights, podcasts, expert-hosted channels and blogs. Experts include Claudia Imhoff, Bill Inmon, Craig Schiff, Colin White, David Loshin, and others. BeyeRESEARCH.com provides research and case studies from leading authors and experts in business intelligence. BeyeBLOGS.com is a business intelligence-specific community blogging site that provides an open forum about industry issues and challenges. BeyeSEARCH.com offers the first and only editor-driven directory and search engine specially built to serve this industry.

This press release is based upon information provided by the Company. The Business Intelligence Network does not independently verify statements made and has no obligation to update these statements after the date of release.
Contact:

Business Intelligence Network

Katie Rostermundt

krostermundt@b-eye-network.com

+1-262-780-0202

Contact:

thincSoft

Outlook Marketing Services

Christa Carroll
Media@thincsoft.com
+1-630-922-6995

thincSoft featured on Business Intelligence Network

Andrew Eick — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:15:47 -0700

Jim Kowalski, Chief Operating Officer for thincSoft, is the featured interview on b-eye-network. Jim Kowalski describes thincView, a Web 2.0 solution that merges geographic data with business intelligence information in a visually intuitive tool for better decision making.

Many studies indicate that over 80% of data maintained by corporations has a location component. Historically, companies wishing to use geographic information systems (GIS) to conduct any sort of location-based analysis were hampered by their complexity of use, expense to deploy, or static nature. Therefore, location analysis was limited to certain industries or companies with large IT staffs or groups of geospatial analysts.

thincVIew changes all of that. This unique solution integrates both visual data (maps, floor diagrams, CAD drawings, etc.) and business data to create a dynamic, interactive business intelligence solution.

Several years ago, AMR Research coined the term "Applistructure" to designate that technology infrastructure and platforms were becoming more like applications in terms of the business value delivered to customers and their ease of use.

Today, we see that value in the promise of service oriented architecture (SOA) - a technology framework that gives business users an easy way to integrate data from disparate sources and turn that into actionable information without costly or lengthy IT projects.

Watch or listen to the podcast interview...

"Seeds of Compassion" or "Microsoft MVP?"

Andrew Eick — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:13:47 -0700

I'm at the Microsoft MVP conference for a few days, and the Dalai Lama & Bishop Tutu had a meeting in conference room next to the MVP's at the hotel. Telling the difference between a Microsoft MVP and a Dalai Lama groupie was a bit more challenging then I expected it to be....

thincSoft Announces Expanded Integration With Oracle Technology and Applications

Andrew Eick — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:16:47 -0700

Visual Intelligence Leverages Leading Technology Stack to Deliver Greater Value Across the Enterprise

SEATTLE--thincSoft, the company that “Put Business Intelligence on the Map” today announced at the Oracle Spatial User Group expanded integration with Oracle technology products and solutions.

Building on successful implementations of thincVIew integrated with Oracle database, thincSoft has expanded its integration with Oracle products and solutions to include: Oracle WebCenter, Oracle Spatial 10g, Oracle Coherence, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, Oracle Data Warehouse, and Oracle’s security solutions including Label Security and Identity Management.

The joint thincSoft/Oracle solution is now deployed at customers in the retail industry as well as within the Department of Defense and U.S. Government sectors.

“We have been very pleased with the short time and effort it has taken to integrate our solution with more and more of the Oracle stack based on customer requests. With our Web 2.0 architecture and Oracle’s commitment to industry standards and 'Hot-Pluggable' components, we are able to focus less time on integration and more time on delivering business value to our customers,” said thincSoft Chief Operating Officer Jim Kowalski.

Recent market studies indicate that over 80% of data maintained by corporations has a location component. As enterprises start to harness the business value of combining Geographic Information Systems with traditional Business Intelligence data, they combat the challenge of integrating data from multiple sources. thincSoft’s thincVIew product is the first to address this growing market need of business data from multiple sources and location content from multiple vendors.

About thincSoft

thincSoft is the company that put Business Intelligence and asset tracking on the Map™. Their unique product suite combines the best of geospatial visualization with business intelligence and analysis. Simply put, we help our customers visualize their data in ways never before possible, helping them make better decisions. The Web 2.0 platform allows this solution to integrate with any data source and be deployed and interacted with in real time on any thin-client via browser, including hand-held and mobile devices.

Core commercially-available products include:

thincVIew - a Business Intelligence/Location Intelligence application - combines spatial or geospatial data (maps) with business intelligence (BI) data to enable location and time-specific analysis in a unique visualization solution through any portal.
thincTrax- an asset visualization solution - interacts with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), GPS, or other data and provides a visualization and business rules solution for managing critical assets or personnel, location intelligence and situational awareness.

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I really was at MIX08!

Andrew Eick — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:16:01 -0700

My buddy Jason and I were really at MIX08!

I saw this picture on flickr (tagged with MIX08), and thought I looked familiar. Notice the conference tarp man-bag to the right -- not a very good schwag-bag, but my daughter totally loves it, and uses it as her diego rescue pack.

Hmm, how many women can you count in the picture?

Technorati tags: mix08

thincSoft Becomes Independent Software Vendor Partner to Autodesk

Andrew Eick — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:29:04 -0700

Web 2.0 Visualization Applications to Leverage Market-Leading Software To Deliver Enhanced Customer Value

SEATTLE, March 11, 2008 – thincSoft, the company that “Put Business Intelligence on the Map” today announced at the Geospatial Information Technology Association (GITA)’s annual conference that it has become an official ISV partner with Autodesk.

thincSoft’s thincVIew and thincTrax applications will leverage AutoCAD Map 3D software, Autodesk GIS Design Server, and Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise software.

“As our customers look to include more visual and unstructured data analysis into their enterprise Business Intelligence (BI) solutions, this partnership will address their needs by bringing together the leader in digital design innovation technology with the company that put BI on the map,” said thincSoft president Mike Profita. “Our ability to combine thincSoft visual analytic applications with the broad range of software technologies of Autodesk enables our customers to spend less time on integrating visuals and more time on delivering value through improved analysis and insights.”

“One of Autodesk’s strengths is our channel partners,” said Bill Griffin, vice president, North American Channel Sales at Autodesk. “As we continue to grow, we are excited to have our ISV partners, such as thincSoft grow with us and collectively be able to support customer needs in industries that our ISV partners serve.”

By building customized products and services using the world’s leading digital design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets, Autodesk ISV partners address niche requirements in the industries or markets they serve. These partners specialize in developing, bundling or integrating their software solutions with Autodesk applications, drawing on a deep understanding of their customers’ business requirements in areas such as architecture, building systems engineering, structural engineering, civil engineering, geospatial information, manufacturing, data management, collaboration, education and government. Autodesk ISV partners benefit from Autodesk marketing, materials and events to effectively reach and serve more than eight million users worldwide.

About thincSoft
thincSoft is the company that put Business Intelligence and asset tracking on the Map(TM). Their unique product suite combines the best of geospatial visualization with business intelligence and analysis. Simply put, we help our customers visualize their data in ways never before possible, helping them make better decisions. The Web 2.0 platform allows this solution to integrate with any data source and be deployed and interacted with in real time on any thin-client via browser, including hand-held and mobile devices.

Core commercially-available products include:

thincVIew - a Business Intelligence/Location Intelligence application - combines spatial or geospatial data (maps) with business intelligence (BI) data to enable location and time-specific analysis in a unique visualization solution through any portal.
thincTrax- an asset visualization solution - interacts with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), GPS, or other data and provides a visualization and business rules solution for managing critical assets or personnel, location intelligence and situational awareness.

###

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Map 3D and MapGuide Enterprise are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

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Technorati tags: Autodesk, thincSoft, thincVIew, thincTrax

Thoughts on returning from MIX08

Andrew Eick — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:34:57 -0700

When I first got out of university, my first job's biggest client was in Las Vegas -- I used to have to go out there constantly to install software and train. (Our second biggest client was in Orlando, Florida, what a great way to start a career!) I hadn't been to Vegas in years and now I totally remember why I hadn't gone. One can only take Vegas in a 3 day window. The place is so dry, that I had to keep slathering on lotion. Coupled with the second hand smoke and open alcohol on the streets, I thought I was back at university. The conference seemed to be over before it started, because each time slot had 2 or 3 sessions I really wanted to see. The sessions are all online at sessions.visitmix.com. I downloaded the sessions I missed to my iPod for my commute to work.

The keynotes were great, the Hard Rock Cafe demo was uber cool, and very well put together. I'm totally on an island on this (everyone loves the demo), but the curmudgeon in me says that we've seen this technology before, in javascript, and in production, at Google maps, etc. What is a map of the world, other than a finite set of images at varying levels of detail that allow zooming in. After I saw the HRC (hard rock cafe, not Hillary Rodham Clinton) session this morning, though, the Vertigo team did a really awesome job with pretty crude tooling support.

The AOL silverlight email client was well done, but I would have been interested in more talk about why the client is so fast -- what techniques they used to download and cache the data from the server. To get that performance they must cache the heck out the data (They said you get 1MG for free, but after that it gets tricky. 1mg seems awfully small in today's world)

During the keynote, they showed another mobile application for social networks ("I'm going to this bar tonight, is any of my friends around? Let me type into my mobile, and see...") I must be old, because I totally don't get that. If I am going out I'll either Call/SMS my friends and tell them where I am, or I'll simply "look around the bar" and see if I recognize anyone. My friend Jason went to the show with me, and he said "Mobile applications are completely dead. What we should be working on is making the mobile devices that have a real browser on them." I totally agree with him. I'd rather just use a quick web page that works well on my mobile, then install and mind another application on the client. I have (and love) my Blackberry, and I used to have a windows mobile. The browsers on both leave a lot to be desired.

I didn't do well at the conference in networking with other developers. I totally didn't use my twitter correctly, and missed the opportunity to meet some of the people I have always wanted to chat with. Perhaps the show is just to short!

They just posted a page where you can download all the MIX08 tools here. I tried to install SilverLight into my VisualStudio 2008 tonight and didn't do so well --- Whatever you do don't hit 'cancel.' In fact, they should have just change the 'cancel' button to a 'Press this button and totally mess up your machine" button -- I probably would not have hit it then. If you do hit the 'cancel' button, this link helped me get the beta installed.

We've been working a bunch with Silverlight so far, and I can't wait to dig into the new beta. Dax and I will have much more to say about the new tools in the weeks and months to come!

Official MIX08 water bottle (This is for you Liam, airport security took the bottle I grabbed for you -- the best I could do was grab the label...)

I only took 1 picture in Vegas, how dumb was that??

Technorati tags: MIX08

Going to MIX08

Andrew Eick — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 12:17:00 -0700

We've been doing a bunch of Silverlight work lately, so I decided to go to MIX08 in Las Vegas. I've been traveling so much that I really didn't want to getting on a plan again, but after today's snow storm, I'm looking forward to a few days in the 'lost wages'!

If anyone else out there is going to be at MIX, drop me a email, we'll meet-up!

Home (Detroit, Michigan):

Mix08 (Las Vegas, Nevada):

To further illustrate the point -- here are pictures taken from my home office today...

Vegas here I come!

Technorati tags: MIX08

Travel Tip -- Keep the shades closed in a hotel room

Andrew Eick — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 12:01:00 -0700

I travel quite a bit (3-5 days a week, every week). A quick tip on getting those 'lights out' shades to work in the hotel. If they just won't stay closed, use one of those hangers with the clips to clip the drapes shut....

Technorati tags: travel tips

Namdaemun (숭례문), Southern Gate, Seoul Korea, Destroyed in Fire

Andrew Eick — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:40:00 -0700

This makes me so sad to see this kind of thing. To think that a few months ago, a few of my work buddies took a walk down to see the Gate one night. It really was odd, in that you could walk right up to the gate, at 11pm at night. It was more an open park, no fences or anything. Just a giant traffic circle around the outside, and a few tourists. I took a few good pictures (I wasn't carrying my camera, so while they went 'juicy', I walked back to get my camera and a few pictures.) That was the end of our trip (I was going home that day) and we had just came over from Pyongtaek-City --- 50 some miles, but 3-4 hours in Asian traffic. I really didn't want to go out and see anything, but now I am glad I did.

SEOUL, South Korea — The destruction in a fire of the 600-year-old southern gate to what was once the walled city of Seoul, a landmark that survived foreign invasions and wars to be designated South Korea’s top national treasure, has shocked the nation.

A 69-year-old man suspected of setting the fire was arrested Monday night on Kanghwa Island, west of Seoul, The Associated Press reported the police as saying. The man was identified only by his family name, Chae.

South Korean Gate Destroyed in Fire - New York Times

Here are a few pictures I got that night in October

Qoeka!

Andrew Eick — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:15:00 -0700

Qoeka! I mean, Works!

reuxables

Andrew Eick — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:22:00 -0700

Nukeation Studios, a leader in Windows Presentation Foundation™ (WPF) and User Experience (UX) solutions has released reuxables, a range of designer themes for Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008 and Microsoft Expression Blend™.
Reuxables themes are aimed at the fresh new market of WPF applications, and allow software developers to easily implement a new look for their applications with lots of features:

The reuxables library consists of 6 fully customizable themes, each with their own unique variations that result in a total of 48 different styles.
The themes are designed by some of the top artists in the UX design industry.
Reuxables themes provide a consistent look regardless of the operating system, and therefore provide the same look on both Windows Vista™ and Windows® XP.
Reuxables are completely compatible with both .NET Framework 3.0 and 3.5.
All reuxables themes are provided in both Static and Animated versions, both made from native XAML vector objects.
Implementing reuxables is effortless as they automatically theme the entire application as soon as the theme file is added to the project.
Reuxables themes are fully compatible with both Microsoft Expression Blend™ 1.0/1.1 and Visual Studio® 2008.

System requirements include Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 or 3.5 for runtime, and Microsoft Expression Blend 1.0/1.1 or Visual Studio 2008 for development. Individual reuxables themes are available between $19 to $99, with an additional complete collection pack for $299.
A complete demonstration of all themes is available at: http://www.reuxables.com

Dax also made some screencasts demonstrating how easy it is to drop reuxables into either VS2008 or Expressions Blend....

Technorati tags: WPF, XAML, silverlight, reuxables

ABC Stores Selects thincSoft to Put Its Business Intelligence On The Map

Andrew Eick — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:00:00 -0700

Contact:

Christa Carrol
Outlook Marketing Services
Ph: 630.922-6995

Jim Kowalski
thincSoft
Ph: 630.207-4120

ABC Stores Selects thincSoft to Put Its Business Intelligence “On The Map”

Leading Retailer Selects thincVIew product for Location Intelligence Across Its Store Network

Jacob Javits Convention Center (Booth 264), New York, NY- January 14th, 2008 – thincSoft, the company that “Put Business Intelligence on the Map” today announced at the National Retail Federation’s “Big Show” in New York City that ABC Stores has selected its thincVIew product for an enterprise Location Intelligence solution.

“We are very excited to be chosen by ABC Stores. As a very successful retailer, they have done a fantastic job of growing while maintaining customer intimacy and a strong brand image,” said thincSoft Chief Operating Officer Jim Kowalski. “As retailers continue to mine more and more data to better understand and serve their customers, they are seeking ways to utilize the more than 80% of corporate data that has a location component. We help them visualize this data in ways never before possible and help them make better decisions, faster.”

“ABC Stores has continued to grow and be successful because we focus on our customers’ needs,” said Glenn Nishida, Chief Technology Officer. “As part of that focus, we seek to work with technology partners that deliver strong retail solutions which can be deployed quickly and easily integrated into our existing IT environment.”

The thincVIew product will be integrated with ABC’s existing Oracle infrastructure and leverage key Oracle technologies to deliver map-based Business Intelligence to ABC decision makers through their planned corporate portal and dashboard.

Most market studies indicate a growing demand among retailers for more tools that enable location-based analysis in an easy-to-use format. From viewing segments of customer loyalty or demographic data on easy-to-use maps to managing product performance at a shelf level using existing planograms and other planning tools, retailers are seeing the value of harnessing location-based data to make better decisions across a host of business disciplines. This type of analysis enables better store clustering, improved site selection, greater product visibility, even improved vendor performance and communication. Until recently, the only options available to retailers were tied to location content providers and other specialty vendors. thincSoft’s thincVIew product is the first to address the market for companies with heterogeneous data environments and those that wish to harness location data from multiple sources simultaneously. This technology ends the dependence on content and data providers for analysis tools and enables retailers to leverage their existing data and infrastructure to make better decisions while maintaining control and security of their data.

About thincSoft

thincSoft is the company that put Business Intelligence and asset tracking on the Map^TM. Their unique product suite combines the best of geospatial visualization with business intelligence and analysis. Simply put, we help our customers visualize their data in ways never before possible, helping them make better decisions. The Web 2.0 platform allows this solution to integrate with any data source and be deployed and interacted with in real time on any thin-client via browser, including hand-held and mobile devices.

Core commercially-available products include:

thincVIew - a Business Intelligence/Location Intelligence application - combines spatial or geospatial data (maps) with business intelligence (BI) data to enable location and time-specific analysis in a unique visualization solution through any portal.

thincTrax- an asset visualization solution - interacts with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), GPS, or other data and provides a visualization and business rules solution for managing critical assets or personnel, location intelligence and situational awareness.

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Technorati tags: ABC Stores, thincSoft, Press Release

reuxables is reality

Andrew Eick — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:41:47 -0700

My buddy and podcast-partner Dax has released reuxables, a theme framework for WPF applications. Dax has been working with WPF and Silverlight since pre-alpha, and has had a passion for UX development forever. Something that I've always struggled with as a developer is the fact that my UI's are either boxy (tr's and td's) or gun-metal-grey win-form's. While Dax kept telling me how easy it was to add a little style to interfaces, the best I could ever do was to send him my HTML, and he'd send back something that looked awesome. With reuxables, through the magic of inheritance and injection, you code up your WPF application, and then select the theme. Every control on the page is auto-magically themes--- professional UX's at a fraction of the cost --- wow. I wish I would have learned earlier in my career how important the UX is -- when you are briefing the boss, they need to see a good looking UI, or you won't get your next funding cycle.

Check them out, and download a trial -- you'll be glad you did!

Technorati tags: WPF, XAML, silverlight, reuxables, revolUXions

National Retail Federation 2008

Andrew Eick — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:17:59 -0700

Technorati tags: Press Release, thincSoft, NRF 2008, National Retail Federation

See thincSoft at NRF 2008. Visit booth 264 at the Javits Convention Center to learn how retailers can benefit from location intelligence. thincSoft will illustrate how retailers can gain better insight into customer buying patterns by visualizing their location-based data such as customer loyalty data, even data purchased from 3rd party vendors. thincSoft will also demonstrate how retailers can integrate planograms with measurement data to create a more visually-based performance analysis directly integrated with the merchandise planning process. thincSoft will also show how retailers and CPG manufacturers can extract more value from their RFID investments by leveraging thincTrax - a visually-intuitive way to track assets using any technology (RFID, GPS, WiMax, etc.).