Search me! (And every file I have ...)
 
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A product that I have long admired is BullsEye from Intelliseek. BullsEye was reviewed in the first ever Gearhead column (see editorial links below) and since then the software has just got better and better.
Now Intelliseek has launched a new search product called the Enterprise Search Server (ESS) (www.intelliseek.com/prod/ess.htm) that adds intranet and extranet content to BullsEye's Internet content search.
Pretty much any content can be included in the intranet and extranet, such as word processing documents, management systems and databases, external research and subscription sources, publications, media, online Internet discussions and more.
ESS automatically organizes and categorizes data relevant to the search terms and keeps track of what has changed. On schedule, ESS alerts users with summaries of new results and links directly from the summary document to each source.
Intelliseek claims that ESS is "the first enterprise solution that integrates federated search, indexing (traditional search), adaptive learning, text analyses, automated categorization, intelligent tracking, alerting and knowledge sharing technologies with a single customizable user interface. "
An important feature is multilanguage support to allow searching of non-English Web sites. Languages included are Arabic, Chinese and Spanish.
ESS offers four types of search:
*Brokering - passing a query to a source using its own search syntax and interpreting the response appropriately. Brokering is the choice where a Web-accessible search interface exists for the source and when maintaining security is the highest priority.
*Bridges - search large data repositories when performance is a concern or existing search capabilities are inadequate. Bridges communicate directly with the application layer to provide secure, fast searches. Intelliseek currently offers a bridge to Lotus Domino and is developing others.
*Indexing - create and maintain full-text indexes and search interfaces to content that is currently not accessible. This content may be stored in a number of locations (i.e., e-mail, shared drives, and Web content).
*Catalog Building - create searchable, structured catalogs from semi-structures content on the Internet (i.e., parts catalogs and job listings).
ESS includes administration tools and an Agent Development Kit that provides secure access to administrative services to allow users to add, edit, and remove search sources and terms easily.
The architecture of ESS makes it easy to integrate into Enterprise Information Systems, for example, to create knowledge portals for competitive research or news monitoring.
To run, ESS requires a 600 MHz Pentium III (dual processors recommended), 256 M-byte RAM, 10+G-byte hard drive space (SCSI/RAID not necessary) running Windows NT v4.0 SP6 or Windows 2000 with MS SQL Server v7.0 SP2, IIS v4.0, Internet Explorer v.5.01, Microsoft XML Parser v3.0 and Microsoft Data Access Components v2.
Pricing for Intelliseek's Enterprise Search Server is server-based and starts at $70,000.
RELATED LINKS
Welcome to the Machine: The Quest for Stuff
Network World, 01/25/99
Critics decry spread of 'scumware' on the Web
Network World, 08/19/02
Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist. He writes the weekly Backspin and Gearhead columns in Network World.
Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist. He writes the weekly Backspin and Gearhead columns in Network World. Gibbs is also co-conspirator of the Vitally Important Information Web site.
Gibbs can be contacted at webapps@gibbs.com. Press releases to pr@gibbs.com.
