How to Find the Right Enterprise Search Solution

Note: The report “The Landscape of Enterprise Search” is no longer for sale.

What kind of internal search engine should your company or organisation choose for your own data collections?

Enterprise search software are search technologies developed for companies and organizations that need search solutions for all the data their employees produce, being that data found on company web sites, in intranets, document management systems, company email, in house databases and other types of content.

One particular important factor is the need to combine search results from multiple type data sources, so-called federated search.

The Landscape of Enterprise Search

An enterprise search system is an important part of many organizations' operations. However, search vendors are using a diverse, often Madison Avenue approach to explaining information retrieval.

To make the landscape more interesting, there are hundreds of companies offering broad solutions and an equal number selling customer support systems, business intelligence systems, and sentiment analysis solutions, among others.

Scrape away the marketing jargon, and these systems are often quite similar. Dig more deeply and you will discover that some solutions use open source software wrapped in proprietary code.

Other vendors license third party tools from specialists and essentially "package up" solutions which are pitched as a cohesive whole. Little wonder most enterprise search systems generate dissatisfaction levels among their users of 50 percent, 65 percent, and even higher.

The Content of the Enterprise Search Report

Arnold and Arnoldit.com have pulled information from their annual review of the search sector. They prepare this review for their clients each year. In additiion they make use of additional information about the market, hot sectors, and the problem "big data" poses to organizations regardless of their revenues or number of employees.

The report focuses on the main players of enterprise, giving them one chapter each.

Autonomy

This chapter looks at the guts of Autonomy's Integrated Data Operating Layer and provide facts about why the company is able to sustain solid growth and deliver search technology to more than 20,000 customers.

Endeca

Arnold & Co. write about the "under the covers" aspect of Endeca's Guided Navigation.

The report explores how Endeca has penetrated eCommerce, search, and business intelligence. Unlike Autonomy, Endeca is a privately held company and has been the victim of a "glass ceiling" in certain aspects of its business.

Exalead

Like Google, Exalead based its revolutionary approach on experiences its founders gleaned working on other search and retrieval methods. After its purchase by Dassault Systemès in 2010, Exalead exploded into a market niche described as "search based applications."

The chapter dissects the "plumbing" of Exalead and identifies how its next generation technology is pushing the company toward new types of information integration, including augmented reality.

Google

The chapter presents pricing and a frank discussion about the commitment Google has to make to the Google Search Appliance to make it a cost effective option for organizations.

The information about Google's cloud-based search initiative and the 2011 search appliance pricing provides a view different from what is offered by Google"s public relations.

Microsoft

The focus is on the Fast Search & Transfer SA system which is the carrier-class search solution for Microsoft SharePoint licensees.

The report looks at what Microsoft Fast Search Server is, and documents what is different from the old, pre-implosion Fast Search. Arnold & Co. has gathered information that explains why Fast Search was beginning a complete rewrite of the core Fast Search system prior to the acquisition by Microsoft. The chapter reveals what happened to that project.

Vivisimo

The company has a new management team and is now pushing aggressively into enterprise search.

Unlike some vendors, Vivisimo has kept a focus on search, and the company has added features to make Vivisimo useful in customer support and eDiscovery applications.

Is Vivisimo a solid search solution or a clever utility packaged like many other vendors' technology as a Swiss Army knife?

The Future of Enteprise Search

The final chapter provides a glimpse of the search landscape as tomorrow's sun breaks the horizon. Search as a stand alone solution is not casting a long shadow.

What will the future hold for today's leaders and the hundreds of companies chasing the search brass ring? This analysis may surprise but not shock you.

Enterprise Search Resellers and Partners

The volume also contains a listing of resellers and partners of the profiled vendors. This information is often needed when a problem arises or a new feature or function is required.

The listing also provides stark evidence of the "footprint" each of the vendors has in specific market sectors. To our knowledge, such data have not previously been collected.

Alternative Vendors

Arnold and his associates have also prepared a table listing another two dozen vendors of enterprise search. For each vendor we describe its core positioning and provide essential facts such as the firm's url.

In a sense, this table provides a summary of the key points in the other analyses of key vendors and their systems.

Enterprise Search Glossary

Finally, there is a fresh list of terms and definitions. The jargon of search is one of the signals that vendors are struggling to make sales. The glossary provides short explanations of important terms.

Important: This is a text only archive of old version of article. We made it available mainly because it is still among few most sought articles from old website.

Written By: Per and Susanne Koch