Real World DataMarket: Interview with Fabrice Marguerie, Owner, metaSapiens

As part of the Real World DataMarket series, we talked to Fabrice Marguerie, Owner of metaSapiens,about his plans to align his data querying tool, Sesame Data Browser with DataMarket (a part of Windows Azure Marketplace) to gain access to a global developer customer base. Here’s our conversation:

MSDN: Can you tell us about metaSapiens and your flagship product?

Marguerie: I’m a developer and I own metaSapiens, the company that offers Sesame Data Browser. This is a tool that makes it easier for people to browse and query databases. Using Sesame, developers can easily preview data without having to write SQL queries by hand.

MSDN: What were the biggest challenges that metaSapiens faced prior to discovering DataMarket?

Marguerie: Well, I had a product that I felt would be of interest to developers the world over, but I’m the sole owner of metaSapiens and so I needed an inexpensive, efficient way to expose Sesame to a large potential customer base, developers like myself. I looked at several online data markets as a potential forum to promote Sesame, but none met my expectations. They often forced developers to use different formats, or they didn’t have robust data sets. If I was going to align Sesame Data Browser to any online information marketplace, it needed to support OData and meet my expectations for one-stop shopping for high-quality data.

MSDN: Can you describe how metaSapiens is using DataMarket to help build your business on a global scale?

Marguerie: As a developer, I could see the attraction of DataMarket, so I reasoned it would be attractive to my potential market. DataMarket offers users standard OData feeds and consistent, REST-based OData application programming interfaces, and it’s interoperable with Microsoft Visual Studio development tools. Because of these features, I believe that DataMarket will attract top-notch development talent, the kind of customers I want for Sesame Data Browser. Instant access to new customers around the world is an invaluable business opportunity.

MSDN: Do you think you’ll be able to reach more customers with DataMarket?

Marguerie: There a millions of information workers who use Microsoft Office and they can also take advantage of DataMarket by subscribing to data sets to integrate information into their documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. I plan to take advantage of this potential market by selling Sesame as data-browsing software for end users. The more business people who are browsing data sets in DataMarket, the better I can build that part of my business. There’s nothing like the opportunity to reach millions of Microsoft Office users!

MSDN: What other benefits is metaSapiens realizing with DataMarket?

Marguerie: Well, I’ll be able to market my product to a global audience with minimal investments on my part, which is invaluable for a sole owner of an IT company. And I’ll have the opportunity to diversify Sesame Data Browser to work with Microsoft SQL Azure. I have been working with Microsoft development tools and the Microsoft .NET Framework for long enough to know that DataMarket will provide a great environment in which to grow my business.

Read the full story at:

https://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000008716

To read more about DataMarket, visit:
https://datamarket.azure.com