Nuix bolsters its e-discovery team and continues its push to information governance Analyst: David Horrigan 5 Sep, 2013 Over the past 12-18 months, many e-discovery vendors and thought leaders have jumped on the information governance (IG) bandwagon. They trumpet the need for the enterprise to supplement their information management programs with rules, policies and procedures so that information is governed in a manner similar to other corporate assets, such as real estate and accounts receivable. Although IG is now a popular topic in the world of legal e-discovery, Sydney-based Nuix was an early evangelist, having designed its products with IG in mind for years. Earlier this year, the company released Luminate, its information governance platform designed to handle 'big data' while providing data indexing, visual analytics, automated workflow, and analysis and review of data, as well as maintenance of the data. Nuix has gone on something of a management hiring spree over the past year, adding new CEOs for Nuix North America and Nuix EMEA, a new VP of its public sector business, a director of forensic solutions and in keeping with its focus on IG a new director of information governance for North America. As the company has expanded its management and continued its push into IG, it continues to add customers and solidify its position as one of the top options for e-discovery data processing. The 451 Take Nuix is one of those young e-discovery companies that have taken the market by storm. Not unlike its business partner on the right side of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model Copyright 2013 - The 451 Group 1
(EDRM), kcura, with its Relativity attorney review platform, Nuix has become a market leader on the left side of the EDRM, and the company has expanded its footprint across the litigation lifecycle. We think Nuix is smart to make information governance a key part of its technology and marketing approach. IG may be e-discovery's topic d'jour, and vendors may be jumping into the space, but Nuix is doing more than giving lip service to information governance. Not only has the company marketed its software to IG clients, it has developed an IG platform and hired IG personnel as part of its IG push. We think Nuix is suited ideally to take a leadership role in the growing interest in information governance. However, as with any endeavor, there are potential obstacles. As interest in IG grows, so does the number of vendors jumping into the market. Not only does Nuix have excellent technology, it has been a well-run company with well-marketed products. However, information governance is drawing the attention of industry behemoths, and as the IBMs and Symantecs of the world enter the IG space Nuix will face additional challenges. Context Founded in 2000, Nuix got its start with the assistance of the Australian government, which sought to create a large-scale unstructured data processing engine for use in investigations by various government agencies. Nuix emerged from R&D in 2006 and launched its commercial email and data forensics software. Eddie Sheehy joined Nuix as CEO in 2006 for the commercial launch, and has remained at the helm ever since. His brother Morgan joined the company in 2007 as COO. CTO Stephen Stewart joined Nuix in 2008, and the company's head of development, David Sitsky, has been with Nuix since the company's 2000 launch. Nuix has been on a major management hiring spree over the last year. Jim Kent joined as CEO of Nuix EMEA in 2012, and in January former Autonomy Corp VP Deborah Baron joined the company as chief marketing officer. In August, the company promoted both Kent and Baron. Kent remains as CEO of Nuix EMEA and adds global head of the company's investigations business to his portfolio. Meanwhile, the company promoted Baron to CEO of Nuix North America, as well as global head of Nuix's information and e-discovery business. The company has added additional executives during the year, including a public sector VP as the company expands its government business, a director of forensic solutions and a director of information governance for North America as Nuix expands its IG business. Copyright 2013 - The 451 Group 2
Nuix has approximately 100 employees, a substantial increase from the headcount of 30 it had in 2010. The company has about 500 active customers, with about half coming from the US, approximately 35% from Europe, and the remaining 15% from Australia and Asia. The privately held company does not release revenue data, but as indicated from its headcount and customer numbers it states that it is profitable. Products The Nuix product line includes its three eponymous products: Nuix ediscovery, Nuix Investigator and Nuix Collector. Earlier this year, the company added its information governance platform, Nuix Luminate. Nuix ediscovery includes the Nuix ediscovery Workstation, Nuix ediscovery Review and Nuix Legal Hold. Investigator has workstation, lab and reviewer modules, and Nuix Collector includes an enterprise collector, a network collector, a portable collector and a collector for Microsoft SharePoint. Launched in January, Luminate is Nuix's attempt to develop a software suite designed specifically as an information governance platform. The product's name is based on the idea of illuminating so-called 'dark data' to provide quick visibility into unstructured data. The idea is to find the data wherever it is located in the enterprise, including in email and social collaboration systems, file shares, hard drives, archives, and any place unstructured data resides. Nuix markets Luminate as an IG platform with four distinct stages: understanding and triaging data, analyzing and reviewing the data, acting upon the data, and maintaining the data. Nuix says the system can index more than 100 million emails per day, triage tens of terabytes of data each day with a light metadata scan, and supply in-depth analysis and preconfigured workflows, in addition to the ability to create customized workflows and taxonomies. The company also sells three software packages to accompany Luminate: Nuix Defensible Deletion, Nuix Archive Search and Nuix Intelligent Migration. Competition Nuix's information governance competitors span the EDRM. The company's traditional competitors are at the processing stage, where it competes with LexisNexis' LAW PreDiscovery, IPRO Tech, and (more recently) Mindseye Solutions and its TunnelVision ediscovery Appliance. Nuix also encounters HP's Autonomy on the left side of the EDRM and Symantec's Clearwell across the EDRM. As we've reported previously, Nuix believes its product is far more scalable than Clearwell. With its traditional focus on the left side of the EDRM, Nuix also encounters AccessData Group and Copyright 2013 - The 451 Group 3
Guidance Software for forensics business. Nuix also competes with EMC, IBM, Recommind, StoredIQ and ZyLAB, as well as e-discovery providers such as Epiq Systems, H5, Fios, FTI Consulting, Huron Consulting, Integreon, RenewData and Thomson Reuters. Nuix also takes a best-of-breed approach to partnering across the EDRM, including it its partnership with kcura and its Relativity attorney review platform. SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Nuix has well-respected software, and is a market leader for e-discovery processing. In addition, it was an early evangelist for the importance of information governance, and it was early to market with IG-specific software. Opportunities Threats As IG becomes a priority, vendors such as Nuix, with a strong presence on the left side of the EDRM, have an advantage because the focus of the movement is to govern data on the left side before it gets to review on the right. Nuix could become a victim of its own IG marketing success if clients choose an all-in-one platform with an emphasis on e-discovery and right-side review, while Nuix is viewed as having its greatest strength on the left side of the EDRM. Nuix may have been early to the IG party, but other vendors are jumping into the space, and Nuix will face increased competition, including from larger vendors. Copyright 2013 - The 451 Group 4
Reproduced by permission of The 451 Group; 2013. This report was originally published within 451 Research's Market Insight Service. For additional information on 451 Research or to apply for trial access, go to: www.451research.com Copyright 2013 - The 451 Group 5