- Preview: Coveo Enterprise Search 5.0 unveils real-time ranking, more repository connectors, better security, and Ajax user interface
- Review: Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express breaks out SharePoint's powerful query functions into a free, no-document-limit offering
- Preview: Enterprise search gets social with Vivísimo Velocity 6
- Test Center Tracker: Silverlight Shines
- Samsung hedges its mobile search bets
- Review: IBM and Yahoo give the gift of free search
- Google unveils do-it-yourself search engine
- Google polishes its search boxes
- Congoo offers free gateway to subscription-only Web content
November 13, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Enterprise search poses a dilemma for knowledge managers. Search engines must be easy for IT staff to manage, and results must be equally straightforward for users to navigate. At the same time, you have to index growing numbers of complex information sources – each with their own access rights. Coveo Enterprise Search 5.0, with its numerous new features, satisfies both sides of this equation.
Like past versions, Coveo 5.0 requires minimal administration. Using the Web interface’s point-and-click forms, I performed the initial setup, indexed a Web site and two document repositories, and customized the search interface – in a few hours.
More advanced features are equally accessible – and leave no major gaps. For example, the system indexes relational databases, SharePoint, XML documents, plus Novell NetWare and IBM Lotus Notes servers. This version adds Salesforce.com, Microsoft Exchange, EMC Documentum, and Symantec Enterprise Vault to the no-extra-cost library of connectors. Another important addition is an API for connecting to Google OneBox for Enterprise; this lets you federate query results from business applications including SAP, Cognos, and Business Objects (which the separate Google search appliance would handle).
Coveo 5.0 security is strong, with results restricted to users and groups listed in Windows domains and based on Active Directory credentials. Additionally, the system respects user permissions on individual documents. Version 5.0 adds early- and late-binding document security; early-binding is especially important for performance, since the search engine doesn’t waste time pre-processing documents that the user shouldn’t view.
In all my tests, with indexes of about 50,000 items, Coveo Enterprise Search returned results in less than one second. This was even true querying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 libraries, which are indexed in real time. Another new feature (which I didn’t test) is distributed indexing. Here, you can index systems in different geographies separately; when a user performs a query, results from those various indexes are federated into a single result. Coveo representatives indicated this feature can reduce network load caused by indexing by as much as 40 percent.
Moreover, I liked that Coveo lets administrators make changes to the index, such as deleting documents or adjusting rankings, without stopping the service.
Coveo 5.0’s new Ajax-based search interface is well designed while offering several convenience features, such as subscribing to RSS feeds of search results. Moreover, I found search results very accurate. Yet for more precision, a new feature, also found in Vivísimo Velocity (see my preview), lets users rank search results. These “query ranking expressions” then adjust a document’s position within results in real time.
I don’t feel that Coveo Enterprise Search matches the clustering or other social features of Velocity – though Coveo offers straightforward ways to filter results by author or document type and you can save these filtered results for personal use. Still, Coveo does a fine job exploiting Ajax, showing document results with inline summaries and a thumbnail, presenting lists of concepts found within the document, and providing pop-up quick views of documents. A separate Coveo Audio-Video Search (CAVS) module ($40,000 to search 2,000 hours of rich media) could be valuable if you archive Webcasts or other media files. Additionally, CAVS now has a media player for Microsoft Silverlight.
In total, Coveo Enterprise Search 5.0 not only turned in excellent performance, but proved easily managed and hit other enterprise search requirements including document-level security.
Coveo Enterprise Search 5.0
Availability: Now
Pricing: Starts at $10,000 for indexing 100,000 documents
Verdict: Coveo Enterprise Search should be considered by enterprises faced with growing document repositories, yet need an affordable, high-performance, easily managed search solution. Version 5.0 satisfies these needs with secure search of Microsoft SharePoint repositories and other enterprise systems, distributed indexing for speed, and a new user interface. Moreover, this version has some social features such as real-time ranking.
Posted by Mike Heck on November 13, 2007 03:00 AM
November 09, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Search vendors sometimes give away feature-constrained or capacity-clipped versions of their enterprise solutions. An example of the latter is IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition – a very good pick for intranets or moderate-sized Web sites. But it's almost unheard of to find a freebee enterprise search server with hardly any gotchas. Yet that's exactly what Microsoft introduced earlier this week with Search Server 2008 Express, which is based on the core SharePoint technology.
Setting up Express required about an hour. This included software installation on a Windows Server 2003 system running Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and then configuring search settings using the Unified Administration Dashboard. This interface, which is built around SharePoint Web Parts, should become second nature to new admins after a few hours; SharePoint jockeys will immediately feel right at home.
Out-of-the-box, Search Server 2008 Express had no trouble indexing content on file servers, Web sites, SharePoint, and Exchange Server public folders. Microsoft-provided iFilters discovered content in many common document formats (text, HTML, Microsoft Office documents, and TIFF); additionally, I installed third-party iFilters that recognized content in .ZIP archives and other document types.
Free connectors to index content from EMC Documentum and IBM FileNet repositories should be ready in early 2008, when the not-free Search Server 2008 is due to arrive, according to Microsoft. Yet what I found most intriguing is that all Microsoft's search products (which include Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 as well as Search Server 2008 and Express) will have federated search capabilities based on the OpenSearch standard. While this feature also wasn't ready for testing, representatives from OpenText, Business Objects, and Cognos stated they are building OpenSearch connectors for their systems.
As with SharePoint search, Express respected various types of security. During indexing, Access Control Lists (ACLs) are captured for content residing in file shares, SharePoint sites, and IBM Lotus Notes databases. Additionally, user-level security (basic, NTLM, Kerberos, forms-based, and cookies) restrict which results are returned based on a user's identity when submitting a query.
Search Server Express shouldn't take much maintenance. For example, the search index is continuously updated. As a result, new content from my large intranet test site quickly appeared in the search results even when the server was still crawling other content repositories. Also, I deleted several Web pages and documents from the index – and created Best Bets (featured results) – without needing to re-crawl the source.
The minimalist design of the search interface (which looks and works like SharePoint 2007) enabled me to easily construct both simple and advanced queries. Because Search Server 2008 Express uses a ranking engine similar to what's behind Windows Live search, I found results were very relevant without any manual intervention. In fact, the default results page includes Internet Live Search results. Spelling correction, Best Bets, and duplicate removal further contribute to quickly finding the right information.
As is commonplace with search applications, you can subscribe to search results using e-mail alerts and RSS and Atom feeds. However, there are no social features as you find in Vivísimo Velocity 6.0 or Coveo Enterprise Search 5.
Showing its SharePoint heritage, I easily revised the search interface's appearance using Microsoft SharePoint Designer without rewriting any code. Furthermore, I rapidly changed and added Web Parts to search results and administration pages (using standard SharePoint editing functions that are built in to Express).
After testing this newest addition to Microsoft's enterprise search cast, I found it fast to set up, easy to use and customize, and capable of producing reliable results. It's tempting – but unfair – to characterize Search Server 2008 Express as a "Trojan Horse" that you'll quickly outgrow. I suspect Microsoft hopes some enterprises will get hooked on SharePoint after tasting Express. But the only notable restriction I could find is that you can't cluster servers, which will be possible with Microsoft Search Server 2008.
If OpenSearch connectors are delivered, I feel Express will pose a real challenge to established enterprise search vendors.
Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express Release Candidate
Availability: Release Candidate available for download now.
Pricing: Free
Verdict: Search Server 2008 Express delivers essential enterprise search features with few restrictions, solid security, and simple administration. The Web-style Search Center interface is easy to use for both basic and complex queries, and can be localized for 25 languages. Express has no pre-set document limits. Federated search of other vendors' document repositories, based on the OpenSearch standard, should be ready in early 2008.
Posted by Mike Heck on November 9, 2007 03:00 AM
October 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Preview: Enterprise search gets social with Vivísimo Velocity 6
Like it or not, there's far more to knowledge management than putting up portals and document repositories and then letting users search content – even if you have a pinpoint-accurate search engine. According to research firm Gartner, within five years more than 75 percent of new search engines will include a social search element for better relevancy. After previewing Vivísimo Velocity 6.0, it's clear to me that the product's social features not only harness human knowledge to boost result accuracy, but introduce a whole new level of collaboration with content mashups and other Web 2.0 functions.
[ See also: InfoWorld Technology of the Year Awards Data Management winners ]
Velocity's consistently been on the forward edge of enterprise search with clustered results. Version 6.0 maintains this innate philosophy, though the user interface has a more polished feel. Yet it didn't take much time for me to spot the most important changes in the results pane. First, users can vote whether they find a search result useful or not – and also rate search results. (You can ensure that the process doesn't get out of hand; for example, administrators can specify that only votes from experts count.) Velocity then uses this combined information to adjust relevancy of results in real time.
In much the same way, users tag documents that appear in their results with keywords, and Velocity immediately adds this metadata to the index. Other employees then have the option to refine results by these tags.
What's interesting, though, is how you can enrich search results by adding your own comments. Just like a blog, workers strike up conversations about content right in the search interface. I see this feature cutting the number of documents that are e-mailed for review and also reducing the need for separate wiki and blog applications.
Many search engines let you save results for personal use. Still, I found Velocity 6.0's new shared folders a valuable extension to this process. Simple examples might be a librarian doing preemptive research for news reporters on a breaking story or to assist those in a marketing department preparing a bid, and then saving the results for your staff to access.
Perhaps the most intriguing addition to Velocity 6.0 is the way searches can uncover experts within organizations. Again, you can find applications on the market that scrape e-mail and IM conversations, say, to discover expertise. Velocity does much the same by developing profiles of experts based on tags and data in different repositories. But it presents automatic mash-ups of pictures, contact information, documents the person authored, and tags – something most expert software lacks.
Finally, Vivísimo Velocity 6.0 now includes an executive dashboard of hot topics, which can be segmented by groups. More than a toy, I believe, this could provide valuable insight into the type of intelligence residing within an organization.
Vivísimo Velocity, with clustering and easy administration, has always been about productivity. While that's unchanged, I think the social aspects of this version make it the first enterprise search product to both make use of human knowledge and to deepen it.
Vivísimo Velocity 6.0
Availability: November 2007
Pricing: Starts at $25,000
Verdict: Vivísimo Velocity 6.0 extends its acknowledged easy search interface and ability to crawl enterprise repositories with social tagging, bookmarking, and networking. Voting and ratings improve search accuracy, while tagging provides another way to filter results. Searches can be annotated with comments for increased collaboration. And Velocity delivers employee data from disparate sources as enterprise mash-ups.
Posted by Mike Heck on October 18, 2007 11:00 AM
October 02, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Test Center Tracker: Silverlight Shines
It's a great day in the Test Center, with a review on a top web app development system, and looks at sustainable reading and hacker tools.
Coding by Silverlight: The race is on for web-application development framework, with Ajax, Flash, Curl, Ruby, and others all muscling and edging one another for attention. Microsoft has thrown Silverlight into the mix, and Martin Heller finds a lot to like in the upstart development language. Between a well thought-out development environment and a clear division between tasks for designers and programmers, Martin thinks that Silverlight can offer a lot to new web app developers, especially if they've already committed to Microsoft Visual Studio.
Sustainable Reading: Some folks cast a skeptical glance at any capitalist involvement with "Green" issues, but Ted Samson looks at a business publication and finds encouragement in corporations that take a serious look at sustainable operations. When top management sees sustainability in terms of dollars and cents, that's when change can truly start in the enterprise.
Learning the Hacker Way: There's no reason that hackers should have all the cool tools, and Roger Grimes points out two of the best in his latest column. The Security Adviser thinks you should know how hackers think and how they work -- and these tools will give you a leg up on each of those goals.
Posted by Curt Franklin on October 2, 2007 10:30 AM
January 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Samsung hedges its mobile search bets
As Google and Yahoo prepare to battle for dominance of mobile search, one company is clearly poised to cash in no matter which search giant wins: Samsung.
Both Google and Yahoo separately announced strategic partnerships with Samsung today through which the consumer electronics company will ship some mobile devices pre-installed with Google search and e-mail apps, and more -- and some select devices packaged with Yahoo search and e-mail apps, and more.
Specifically, the Google-y Samsung devices will come with "a Google icon in the application menu, providing users with one-click access to Google search"; Google Maps, "an application that enables users to view maps and satellite imagery, find local businesses, and get driving directions," and Gmail for mobile devices, according to Google.
The Yahooified devices, Yahoo says, will come with Yahoo Go 2.0, Yahoo's new mobile Internet application that lets users "navigate the selection of Yahoo Go widgets for e-mail, local information and maps, and more"; Yahoo oneSearch, "a new mobile search service designed to give consumers instant answers through more relevant search results; Yahoo Mail; Yahoo Messenger; and Yahoo Personal Information Management for synchronizing contacts from Yahoo Address Book and tasks and events saved on Yahoo Calendar.
Amusingly, the two announcements have somewhat similar canned quotes attributed to Kitae Lee, Samsung's president of telecommunications network business.
Of the Google partnership, she -- ahem -- "said", "We are very thrilled to introduce Samsung mobiles with one-click access to Google services. Our cooperation with Google exemplifies our commitment to leading the evolution from the fixed-Internet era to a mobile Internet era and ushering in a ubiquitous world where mobile enables our consumers to access information about anything, anywhere, anytime. Samsung and Google will enhance users' mobile experience with a powerful, yet easy-to-use handset with simple access to information and personal management."
And of the Yahoo partnership, Lee declared, "Samsung recognizes consumers' need for Internet access through their mobiles anytime, anywhere. Samsung mobile phones with Yahoo services will provide consumers with fast and convenient access to the Internet, even on the move. Our successful partnership with Yahoo builds on Samsung's continuing efforts to enhance consumers' mobile experience."
Hm. The Google quote is much longer. Do you think Samsung is playing favorites already?
Posted by Ted Samson on January 8, 2007 01:06 PM
December 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Review: IBM and Yahoo give the gift of free search
Enterprise search often defines massive projects that federate information from the Web, portals, legacy databases, and business intelligence systems. Yet many organizations thrive on finding information on the Web and within their intranets or file shares -- without a lot of fuss or expense. 
Today, IBM and Yahoo formally delivered an early holiday present to do just that. I unwrapped IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition last week for testing. My conclusion: Thank-you cards are definitely in order.
This search application, available for Linux or Windows servers, installs in under five minutes using a Java GUI. From here, an admin-friendly Web console let me define Web sites and files shares to crawl.
As with other search applications, IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition permitted me to specify a starting URL and offered other controls, such as blocking the crawler from parts of a site. What's more, I specified login credentials for password-protected sites.
IBM and Yahoo provide very good control over the search experience. For instance, I easily adjusted the look of search and results pages. Furthermore, I effortlessly defined featured links, created synonyms lists, and adjusted rankings.
Performance all around was impressive. On my low-end Dell PowerEdge 1650 Pentium III server OmniFind indexed about 125 pages per minute and delivered results to users in under one-tenth of a second. On a larger server (a 3GHz Xeon processor with 2GB RAM is recommended), the software supports 500,000 documents. In any configuration, OmniFind recognizes more than 200 file types and documents in more than 30 languages.
End-users should be equally pleased. Search results default to your enterprise index. But here's the important Yahoo connection: The same query automatically applies to a Yahoo Web search (plus images, video, audio, directory, local, or news). While the search interface doesn't offer any advanced settings, they likely won't be missed. For instance, I experienced the expected automatic spell correction and entered queries with wildcard characters. The only feature I missed was that my search term wasn't highlighted in results.
IBM also documents how to use the open-source REST APIs to embed search results into other applications.
Some may argue that IBM and Yahoo just surround the underlying open source Lucene indexing core with a nice interface -- and want to hook you into upgrading to the advanced IBM OmniFind Enterprise products (which start at $18,750). I believe this perception doesn't credit the significant work that obviously went into developing the finished Yahoo Edition, which adapts a lot of features from IBM's other OmniFind engines. And it discounts the important benefit these companies are providing with a solid, simple (and supported) search solution that runs on enterprises' existing hardware.
IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition
Availability: Now
Pricing: Free download; optional enterprise support is $1,999 per server, per year.
Verdict: This entry-level enterprise search product eclipses the usability and delivers the highly relevant results of products costing thousands of dollars. Additionally, it integrates IBM enterprise search with Yahoo Internet results. Searching 500,000 documents per server (in 30 languages), plus providing easy administration, it's sure to find a home in many departmental and even larger enterprise search projects.
Posted by Mike Heck on December 13, 2006 12:10 PM
October 24, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Google unveils do-it-yourself search engine
In a move that will likely bolster Google's search dominance, the company late yesterday unveiled the Google Custom Search Engine, equipping anyone with the ability to set up a free, tailored Google-powered search engine on any Web site -- and make money in the process.
Users may hone the content focus of their search engine, be it fishing or phishing, Playdough or Plato, bass (the fish) or bass (the musical instrument), Spam (the meat product) or spam (the e-mail blight), etc. They accomplish this by choosing which Web pages they want to include or exclude in their index, as well as how content should be prioritized.
User also may opt to allow others to contribute to their index, according to a written statement from Google. Finally, users may then customize the look, feel and functionality of their search engine.
"We want to make it easy for anyone to create a search engine about all of their favorite topics, without needing a Ph.D.," said Marissa Mayer, vice president of Search Products and User Experience at Google in a written statement. "Everyone -- businesses, organizations, moms, dads, teenagers, and teachers -- can harness the power of Google technology to create a personalized search experience that reflects specific knowledge and interests."
The setup process is very easy, promises Shashi Seth and R.V. Guha of the Google Co-op team. "In a matter of minutes you can create a search engine that reflects your knowledge and interests," they wrote last night in the Official Google Blog.
If the prospect of a free, customized, Google-powered search engine isn't incentive enough, Web proprietors may be won over by the prospect of earning money via the Google AdSense Program -- at the expense of populating their Web sites with Google text ads. In most cases, participation in the program is required if you opt to use the Google Custom Search Engine.
"Universities, non-profits and government organizations can choose not to run ads on their search results if they'd rather not," according to Google.
Revenue from text ads, of course, is Google's bread and butter, helping to generate the $150 billion Google has piled up in its short eight-year lifespan.
Web sites already taking advantage of the Google Custom Search Engine include RealClimate.org, a site focused on providing expert opinion about the science of climate change. "They have created a searchable subset of the Web to provide reliable scientific information to its visitors," according to Google.
"Unfortunately, since this topical subject has become rather politicized, the quality of information [on climate change] available on the Web is very variable, ranging from the excellent to the atrocious," said Gavin Schmidt, who helps run the site. "With the Custom Google Search facility, we are able to create a searchable subset of the Web that in our expert judgment provides solid and reliable information."
To enroll in the Google Custom Search Engine program, go to www.google.com/coop/cse/.
What do you think of Google's Custom Search Engine? Do you plan to implement it on your Web site or blog?
Posted by Ted Samson on October 24, 2006 12:08 AM
September 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Google polishes its search boxes
Google has souped up its Google Search Appliance line, adding greater capacity and additional features.
Among them, the GB-5005 can now sift through 10 million documents; the GB-8008 can search over 30 million.
Additionally, the boxes offer date and number-range search, according to Google Search Product Manager Nitin Mangtani in the Google Enterprise Blog. "So now you can restrict your search to only those documents authored between say, January 1st and September 19th 2006. Similarly, when you're looking for that special Digital Camera, you can restrict your search to cameras in the $250 to $1000 price range."
Finally, Google has added administrative interfaces, product documentation, and search interface in an additional 10 languages, making the grand total 16. (That's Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish.)
InfoWorld Senior Contributing Editor Mike Heck reviewed a Google appliance a while back, and we liked what we saw. Perhaps we're due for another.
Google Search Appliance start at $30,000. Updates for existing customers are available from the Google Support site.
Posted by Ted Samson on September 20, 2006 02:04 PM
April 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Congoo offers free gateway to subscription-only Web content
A free downloadable toolbar from Congoo finds premium content that is invisible to most search engines and provides limited access at no cost.
Congoo NetPass, now in beta testing, provides free introductory access to nearly 300 top media sources such as newspapers, professional journals, investment analysts, and wire services.
NetPass' one-click registration enables users to access premium content from participating publishers without having a subscription or repeatedly filling out forms. Users are typically allowed four to 15 articles per month per publisher. No credit card or other payment information is required.
To download the free Congoo NetPassBeta version visit www.congoo.com.
Posted by Caroline Craig on April 20, 2006 07:12 AM
