January 08, 2008 - Le Journal du Net - "We are working on several research projects especially with the competitive pole of Cap Digital" Jean Ferré (Sinequa)
" ... Information indexing is becoming a major investment for enterprises. A view on this market from Jean Ferré, President of the software provider of solutions for access to information. ... "
"How is Sinequa positioned in the research market?
We are in the beginning stages of the information search market within the enterprise. The industry is developing and competition is growing. The presence of Google, Microsoft and IBM in this market increases its visibility. Industry professionals are becoming aware of this topic and are discovering the challenges of implementing enterprise search solutions. However, these three big players do not directly compete with Sinequa’s offer. We are primarily targeting key accounts, administrations and SMBs who are similar in that they all have specific development needs.
Sinequa’s solution distinguishes itself in five key areas: an evolving search engine, an enterprise oriented architecture, connectors to all enterprise applications, security management and the navigation interface. These characteristics demonstrate our capacity to connect to different ERP systems. Depending on their profile, users can access information through a customizable interface specific to their needs. Finally, we propose rapid deployment, as fast as a Google Appliance solution.
Who is Sinequa?
Today we have 45 employees and work with 200 customers. Last year our recorded turnover was 3.8 million Euros, an 82% growth over a year. 85% of turnover is generated from license revenue. In the beginning of Sinequa’s activity in 2002, we focused on research, working on the development of semantic and linguistic technologies. In 2004, we focused our positioning toward enterprises. We are positioned not as a simple intranet search engine, but as a more global tool, providing access to information in the enterprise. Our solution accesses data in audio, paper and video formats.
The press is a segment in which we have a strong history of customers, including L’Express, L’Expansion and the Courrier International. We also offer a solution for administrations and currently we provide our application to the Ministries of Defence, Culture and the Senate. E-commerce sites represent another large part of our client portfolio, which includes Leroy-Merlin and Cdiscount.
What is Sinequa’s future?
Today we have two offices, one in France and one in the UK. We reach other countries through our network of partners. We are planning to expand internationally and the 4 million Euros of funding we raised last year will help us in this project.
In the short term, a new version of our solution is coming at the beginning of January. Our goal is to continue to push our development further and to grow. Sinequa’s team has the ability to achieve this and more.
Furthermore, the group is present in the Cap Digital competitive cluster (pole bringing together industry players, scientists and academics in the multimedia, image and digital areas). We are also working on research projects with customers. We currently have around a dozen research projects in progress, in addition to the new developments from our own research and development team.
Jean Ferré is President of the software provider Sinequa. He began his career with AT Kearney and then worked for the American cable operator TCI in both Argentina and the United Sates. From 1997 to 2002, he was President and General Manager of the software company Arisem which became a subsidiary of the Thalès group. In 2002, he joined BPI before becoming Director of BPI GmbH in Frankfurt. Jean Ferré graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique and holds a postgraduate degree from in management from the Ecole des Mines.
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