The enterprise search market is not homogeneous and so a considerable amount of effort is required to find the most appropriate solution. This brief report profiles eleven of the most prominent search technology suppliers. Two more are included as a sample outside the usual names associated with this topic.
It is very difficult to compare these offerings and in fairness to the suppliers is would be misleading to do so. However some of the products do stand out in various ways and so we’ve highlighted them in this introduction.
Also included is an overview of why enterprise search might be of interest at all, and some strong statements on the value it can deliver and the pitfalls to avoid. Readers primarily interested in product can ignore this section.
Comparison
Search performance is primarily dependent on two factors – the efficiency of the software and the tuning options that are provided. The following technologies stand out in this respect, and the order is indicative of what might be possible:
- Lucid Imagination based on Solr/Lucene
- Dieselpoint
- Google Search Appliance
- ISYS
- Endeca
- Brainware
Search sophistication primarily depends on the number of search techniques used and the ability to configure them as needed.
- Endeca
- Lucid Imagination
- Autonomy
- Vivisimo
- Exalead
Presentation of search results requires variety of user interfaces and rich formatting options:
- Endeca
- ISYS
- Vivisimo
- Autonomy
Interoperability and support for diverse data sources:
- Endeca
- Autonomy
- Vivisimo
- Coveo
- ISYS
It is fairly clear that strengths and weaknesses vary and that selecting the most appropriate solution will depend on needs. It should be added that performance is much more important than many appreciate. It is not uncommon for some vendor products to inflict heavy resource requirements with search response times measured in the tens of seconds (or worse).
The very high ranking of Endeca reflects the excellence of the solution. However this too will be dependent upon specific usage.