The innovative work behind the ‘IDOL On Demand’ Knowgate App, created by Thornbury-based IT firm Gatewest, has been recognised by tech giant HP.
Gatewest joins the ranks of only a few European companies to be accredited to work on HP’s IDOL On Demand service, the world’s leading on-premise human information processing engine.
Knowgate knowledge
We caught up with Neal Holley, Gatewest’s operations director, to find out how the KnowGate app come about.
“We’ve been a partner of HP for a number of years utilising its HP Autonomy and IDOL platforms” explains Neal. “When HP launched a new set of analytics in the cloud services called IDOL On Demand, our senior developer Dean Kinch saw this as an opportunity to make the technology even more responsive and accessible.”
“The Know Gate app is a way in which clients can access documents and sensitive data remotely in a secure way”
“What we didn’t know was that this innovation made us one of only a handful in the world who grasped the new technology and took it in a new direction. It was that creativity which attracted HP to embrace the KnowGate app.
“The app is a way in which clients can access documents and sensitive data remotely in a secure way. It’s now on version 2 and it’s currently free to download on ITunes until February for anyone using IDOL technology – regardless of whether or not they are clients with us.
“Larger companies have been saving money and differentiating themselves from competitors for a long time using this technology. However it’s been largely unaffordable for the smaller business.
“Now smaller companies can have access to these tools affordably, giving them a competitive edge”
“Now they too can have access to these tools affordably, giving them a competitive edge.”
A pleasant surprise
The HP accolade came as something of a surprise to Gatewest: “HP is a global brand working across international borders so it was amazing for us to be recognised as bringing something new to the table,” explains Neal.
HP invited Gatewest to its annual conference in Barcelona where they took part in a roundtable talk about the technology. “We were thrilled to be able to talk about it to a global audience,” says Neal, “and we plan to keep talking about it throughout 2015.”
And now for something completely different
With Knowgate’s expertise in knowledge management, software integration and interface design they don’t like to stand still. As Neal explains: “We have several projects in the development but we’ve also done something completely different this month.
“All of the directors have a background in aerospace technologies and we enjoy experimenting with new tech, new gadgets and adapting them to suit our own needs. Why wouldn’t we do this for our clients too?
“We’ve also launched a new app, RC Logit!, to support professional and hobby drone flyers”
“So we’ve launched a new app, RC Logit!, to support professional and hobby drone flyers. We’ve done this because we believe there’s a need for improved safety and accountability with this pastime – which is something several of us in the business are involved with.
“The professionals in this sector have to have a CAA licence to do it – part of that licence agreement is you must log what you are doing. This app enables you do this and records other data.”
You can see more about the app in the video below:
The app is available on the App Store on ITunes and Google Apps for £2.99.
We’d like to thank Neal for speaking to us. The Knowgate app is now on version 2 and it’s currently free to download on ITunes until February for anyone using IDOL technology. You can see more about the company on Gatewest’s website or by following them on Twitter: @gatewest
