SHMsoft Tests Open Source E-Discovery App in Cloud
June 1, 2012
SHMsoft, which makes the FreeEed open-source e-discovery application, is expanding its product lineup into cloud computing and growing its staff.
SHMsoft released FreeEed 1.0 in June 2011 as a text-based processing tool. In January the company launched version 3.5, which sports a Windows interface and a search function for early case assessment. The newest edition is called SHMcloud that lets users process and store their e-discovery data on Amazon.com’s public cloud or in a private network.
SHMcloud is commercial software and closed-source, meaning that unlike FreeEed, it is not free and its code is not open for modification. It will cost $10 per hour when users process their own data, and $25 per hour if SHMsoft processes the data, explains Mark Kerzner, CEO of SHMsoft. Its companion SHMcloud Player is a desktop application that is free, but closed-source — both programs should exit their beta stages later this summer, he says…
The cloud approach is as scalable as one’s chosen network allows, Kerzner says. Later this summer, SHMcloud will get optical character recognition, document imaging, and support deNISTing , followed by predictive coding, he says. Another update due in the fall is slated to add a document review program, continues Kerzner. (SHMcloud replaces the January version called EC2Eed, which only worked with the Amazon cloud.)
Eventually the Player aspect could be used beyond e-discovery projects, Kerzner says. It could be used in market analysis, medical records, and for controlling the large-scale data clustering technology known as Hadoop, he predicted. Player’s features will also eventually be added to the standalone FreeEed, and so they too will become open source, he notes.
Behind the scenes, SHMsoft is growing its Houston-based team, in hopes of also growing a user community around the technology. The company began with just a handful of developers, but now it has four programmers and two project managers, along with a tester, business development executive, and an attorney, Kerzner explains.
Matt Toomey, an e-discovery blogger from Albany, New York, recently posted about his tests of the core FreeEed and said he’s encouraged about the program’s future. As with many open-source applications, FreeEed requires some technical know-how and has room for improvement in its user interfaces, he notes. After making his data available from FreeEed and LexisNexis Concordance tests, Toomey writes: "[M]ost any e-discovery tool — in the proper hands — can be employed successfully."