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Nick Patience
Managing Analyst and Sector Head, Enterprise Software |
As Managing Analyst, Nick is responsible for the overall direction of the 451's Market Insight Service. He is also Sector Head for Enterprise Software, and as an analyst covers unstructured data management and information retrieval technologies. This involves coverage of content and document management systems, knowledge management, search engines, and information retrieval and categorization software companies.
Nick became an expert in this area through analysis of real problems faced in the technology market. In the mid-1990s, he was among the first writers to note the importance of the management of the domain name and numbering system, and he closely followed the process that eventually led to the formation of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 1998.
By the end of the decade, the problem of gaining the right domain name became eclipsed in part by the rise of efficient Web search engines – what the domain name is became much less important than how many sites were linked to that site, or how easily crawlers could find the site. This led to research into all aspects of information retrieval.
While much of the attention in search and information retrieval was focused on consumer search engines such as Google and paid-for placement services, the original point of genuine information retrieval got a bit lost. This trend also highlighted the problem created by large volumes of unstructured data – data that is stored outside relational databases. There was plenty of talk in the 1990s about extracting data from databases, cleaning it and storing it in data warehouses, and running it through OLAP cubes to analyze it. But the content of unstructured data repositories – be they document management systems or individual hard drives – was largely being ignored.
As a cofounder of The 451 Group, Nick's role has involved both analytical leadership and technology development of 451 services. At the company's formation in 1999, Nick assumed management of the technical development of the 451 website infrastructure, and he led teams of designers and developers to ensure that the company launched on time, on an extremely tight schedule. He maintained dual roles for a few months following the launch, before resuming his full-time analytical duties in 2000.
Nick started his career as a financial journalist in London for ComputerWire, where he analyzed numerous business models of European software firms. He moved to New York in 1996 to write for and edit influential industry newsletters Unigram.X and Online Reporter, while also analyzing the unique financial plays that existed during the dot-com boom.
Nick has presented at numerous conferences and events, including Comdex, Internet World, the New York Society of Securities Analysts and XMLDevCon. Nick's opinions and analysis have been sought and cited by the New York Post, Reuters and The Washington Post, as well as numerous trade publications and investment banks.
Nick has a BA in Philosophy from Middlesex University, London and an MS in Computing Science from the University of London.
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