Another day, another vertical. Earlier this year the press release mill worked overtime announcing that every imaginable media brand and ad entrepreneur was launching some sort of vertical network—either of content, ads, or (usually) both. Martha Stewart has her "Circle" of blogs and small sites. Forbes claims it will gather more than 400 financial analysis sites under the same ad sales umbrella. IDG has TechNetwork. John Batelle’s Federated Media slices scores of premium blogs into a host of channels. NBC even created a vertical network around its TODAY Show. Stay tuned for the Matt Lauer Ad Network.

The temptation to go vertical is fueled in part by turnkey services such as SyndiGO and Adify, which let any publisher come in and roll their own ad network out of a series of partners. The barrier to entry is extremely low at this point, and so everyone rushes in. But is this vertical fad a good thing, or another in a long series of internet gold rushes?

The theory goes that traffic patterns online are shifting eyeballs away from major destinations, and so the business models must adjust. Audiences fragment across ever more blogs and small sites as the authority of trusted brands diminish. Search engines radically changed the way people find information, and they lead us way off the big brand reservation. To recapture that dispersed audience, both big media and ad buyers have to broaden their reach and find ways to systematically re-aggregate these eyeballs. Publishers can acquire or partner with relevant smaller sites in order to maintain their reach.

The vertical ad network model can work well for small content providers such as bloggers because it gives them the imprimatur of a major brand and promises better revenue than the Google AdWords they already have. The very hot Glam Media network, for instance, sells big name advertising into literally hundreds of one-person celebrity gossip and fashion commentary sites that a media buyer would ignore otherwise. Netshelter, Inc. aggregates nanotargeted sites such as IT Community Bytes and 2CPU (dual processor news), but can sell into them major rich media placements from Microsoft. Netshelter claims a reach of 8 million uniques, which rivals CNET Networks, Inc.

For an advertiser who hasn’t the time to seek out the ad reps at all of these niche properties (if there is one), the well-run vertical net seems to serve them well. Most of the agencies and media buyers I ask rely on one or two such networks in a given category such as auto, health, or travel to reach these audiences. The networks themselves claim that visitors to a highly specialized site in the long tail of content are more responsive to advertising because they are more engaged in the subject.

So what is not to like about this vertical ad craze? First, that it is a bit of a craze. There just are too many of them, for starters. How many ways can you slice the audience, after all? How many financial services, IT, or women’s content verticals really can achieve the necessary scale? We already have seen some poaching of sites, where one network brags of having grabbed this or that blog from another. When you have hundreds of sites under your brand, who is vetting them for quality? Is an eyeball on a blog really worth the same as one on a branded media site?

The small site owners have to stay on guard. A major network or media brand may take over ad sales at your site, but will they give you a fair shake? Whose inventory gets sold first or hardest by that sales team: the $20 CPM banners at the branded site or the $5 CPM space on yours? And is there any loyalty to the smaller guys? Will a network drop a site as soon as it loses favor (or Google hits), or will it partner with this self-starter to improve quality and ad-appeal?

To be sure, the vertical ad network is nothing new, and there is ample evidence it can work for all links of the value chain. Long-standing companies such as Jumpstart Automotive Media, and Travel Ad Network get high marks from advertisers, and they spend time servicing their own publishers. But they also maintain a controlled pool of publishing partners they can service and improve. Ultimately, throwing ad technology across thousands of blogs is not the answer to fragmentation. Strong content is.

Collexis Holdings Inc., a developer of semantic search and knowledge discovery software, announced that it has partnered with Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC) to launch a virtual knowledge directory of health science research being conducted across the state by HSSC partner institutions. HSSC is a statewide research collaborative composed of South Carolina’s three research universities and three largest health systems that conduct collaborative biomedical research to improve health status, education, workforce development, and economic wellbeing for all South Carolinians. With the Collexis Holdings interface, a medical topic or researcher can be searched through the HSSC website. Also experts who specialize in different research areas (like biologists and chemists studying cancer) can be identified to build teams necessary to address complex challenges in health research. 

(www.collexis.com, www.healthsciencessc.org)

Future Point Systems, provider of Visual Information Systems (VIS), and dtSearch Corp., supplier of enterprise and developer text retrieval software, announced the integration of the dtSearch Text Retrieval Engine into the Starlight visual analytics platform. Starlight is a visual analytics platform for advanced information management and analysis in both military and commercial settings. Starlight uses the dtSearch Engine to perform the function of indexing XML data. Starlight automatically organizes and summarizes large collections of information, and then presents the results in interpretable graphical formats. The Starlight Visual Information System consists of the Starlight Server and Starlight Client visual analytics application. The dtSearch Engine provides native 64-bit and 32-bit developer access to dtSearch’s terabyte indexing and searching. The software can index over a terabyte of data in a single index, as well as create and search an unlimited number of indexes. 

(www.futurepointsystems.com, www.dtsearch.com)

FTI Consulting, Inc., the business advisory firm, announced the availability of Attenex Patterns version 5.0. The new eDiscovery software includes enhancements to help corporate IT departments administer and enforce a repeatable in-house eDiscovery process. Among the new features within Attenex Patterns 5.0 is the software development kit (SDK) which enables corporate IT teams to automate eDiscovery processing tasks. The software’s open APIs help corporate IT teams leverage existing investments by integrating Attenex Patterns with applications and data sources. Corporate IT teams can develop integrated utilities for custom eDiscovery processing tasks. The release of Attenex Patterns 5.0 marks the first product announcement since FTI Consulting acquired Attenex in July 2008.

(www.attenex.com, www.fticonsulting.com)

StoredIQ, Inc., eDiscovery technology provider, announced an expanded platform integration support and enhanced eDiscovery functionality designed to improve the efficiency of IT and legal teams performing work within the eDiscovery lifecycle. StoredIQ V4.6 includes expanded platform support, the ability to insert unstructured information as records into the most current version of EMC, the ability to insert, retrieve and manage information within Microsoft Exchange 2007 and SharePoint 2007, and support of the EDRM XML V1.0 load file format. 

(www.storediq.com)

 IntApp Inc., the provider of risk management, time capture, and integration software for the legal industry, and Recommind, provider of enterprise search, email management, and eDiscovery systems for enterprises and law firms, announced a partnership to deliver enhanced information access and confidentiality controls for the legal industry. Through the partnership, Recommind is integrating its email filing solution, Decisiv Email, with Wall Builder, IntApp’s confidentiality management product. Wall Builder enables organizations to centrally control, monitor, and report on user access permissions across multiple applications including document management, accounting, CRM, and records management systems.

(www.intapp.com, www.recommind.com)

Recommind has released Version 3.0 of its Axcelerate eDiscovery software. The product include Recommind's First-Pass Review and One-Click Coding, which are designed to work with any language and any type of structured or unstructured data. Recommind says the technology enables Axcelerate eDiscovery to automatically organize even multi-terabyte document sets prior to review for deep, early case assessment while also automatically "pre-coding" an entire collection based on each document's subject matter and priority.

In V. 3.0, Recommind has added automated language detection and filtering, including double-byte languages, allowing the system to index, cull, filter, search, review and code documents in a wide variety of languages. Further, says the company, Axcelerate eDiscovery 3.0 provides built-in workflow management and review administration. An integrated workflow console automates multi-tiered reviews and rules-based review batching, enabling more efficient resource management and multilayered coding verification. Also, says Recommind, a completely new administration console offers built-in quality control management, detailed reporting and extensive system and performance monitoring and alerting.

The company reports that other new capabilities include:

• Smart Filters 2.0--filters are automatically populated with critical data with which a collection can be instantly manipulated, including key concepts, key phrases, domain, language and many more; users can also now multi-select within and across filters and expand any filter using intuitive "type ahead" technology;
• native file viewing--any one of hundreds of different file types can be viewed instantly;
• enhanced processing--documents can be processed, filtered, culled and de-duped from within Axcelerate eDiscovery; and
• faster indexing performance--attorneys can begin reviewing and coding documents almost immediately.

IBM reports it has introduced new open software tools, industry-specific data models and blueprints as well as consulting services to help clients use strategic assets across their businesses. The company claims it's the industry's first complete set of offerings to manage information across an enterprise—independent of the specific software applications or business processes used to create it.

IBM explains that key components include:

• an open set of new IBM Foundation software tools to help clients discover and understand the information they have and govern it over time;
• industry-specific information agenda guides and workshops to help create an information strategy and roadmap for better business performance;
• industry accelerators, such as data models and assets to improve business performance, reduce risk and deliver results more quickly; and
• information on demand competency centers to help clients build internal expertise and skills to facilitate business transformation.

 Google Inc. launched Google Chrome, a new open source browser. Google Chrome is available in beta in more than 40 languages. Features include a combined search and address bar page that includes snapshots of their most-visited sites, recent searches, and bookmarks. Each browser tab operates as a separate process; by isolating tabs users can continue working without having to restart Google Chrome. Google also built a new JavaScript engine, V8, which enables a new class of web applications.

(www.chromium.org)

 ubExact announced the beta launch of a direct navigation, action-based search engine. ubExact serves users with a way to search based on user behavior/actions, geo-targeted metro service areas (MSAs), and direct navigation to desired brands. ubExact's human-edited content alerts users to unanticipated requests for credit card and registration info. ubExact organizes and categorizes web content into actions: See It (reference), Do It (entertain), Shop It (buy), and Find It (navigate). ubExact's horizontal navigation architecture is scalable to advancing technology, including the move towards voice recognition and mobile search technologies.

(www.ubexact.com)

Fios, a developer of e-discovery solutions, and Content Analyst, a provider of advanced text analytics software, have partnered to enhance Fios' e-discovery services.

Fios will use Content Analyst's CAAT conceptual search and analytical software to help clients search and analyze large amounts of electronically stored information (ESI) during review and in the early stages of e-discovery planning. Fios also announced a strategic partnership with iCONECT, another leader in e-discovery software.

Fios is integrating Content Analyst Analytical Technology (CAAT) into its review platform, Prevail. The companies explain that CAAT works by analyzing entire documents, based on concepts vs. keyword or search terms, and identifying appropriate categories and documents even if key search terms aren't present in those documents. This technology is resistant to typographical and transcription errors, so documents can be correctly grouped and clustered despite inadvertent or even deliberate misspellings. The technology can also be applied to validate key search terms and analyze evidence in advance of discovery and the FRCP 26(f) "meet and confer" conference.

 Infovell announced its research engine for the "Deep Web." Available initially on a subscription basis, Infovell gives users access to information spanning Life Sciences, Medicines, Patents, and other reference categories with more to be added over time. Infovell’s new research engine is based on its KeyPhrase algorithm, which indexes words and phrases. The technology works in any language and can handle queries up to 25,000 characters. Infovell also comes with filtering and visualization features. 

(www.infovell.com)

 iDashboards, a provider of Business Intelligence (BI) dashboard software, announced the availability of iDashboards 6.0. With this enterprise dashboard application, users can identify trends and look into data sets to view more detailed information. iDashboards 6.0 can be integrated as a standalone or bolt-on application. Enhanced customization capabilities of iDashboards 6.0 include: flex-based architecture, embed images and Flash capabilities, and charting options.

(www.idashboards.com)

 Endeca Technologies, Inc., a search and information access software company, announced two new information visibility solutions for engineering and sourcing professionals within discrete manufacturing companies. Endeca’s Design for Supply solution provides design engineers with visibility into integrated part and supplier information to select parts that align with sourcing, compliance, and other corporate objectives. Endeca’s Spend Analysis solution provides sourcing professionals with real-time access and analysis of disparate sourcing, parts and supplier information, consolidating suppliers, and negotiating preferred contracts. Both product introductions are part of a focused effort by Endeca to bring new information visibility solutions to aerospace and defense, automotive, high tech and industrial manufacturers.

(www.endeca.com)

Simplexo, an Open Source Enterprise Search specialist, announced its official launch into the enterprise search market. Simplexo Enterprise enables companies to search both structured and unstructured data in real-time. Simplexo Enterprise leverages native access to the existing indexing abilities. Simplexo Enterprise finds up-to-date information in real time, without duplicating search indexes.

(www.simplexo.com)

 Check out the photos from Enterprise Search Summit West on flickr