IBM and Yahoo have introduced free enterprise search software. The initiative will help corporate searchers find and act on information stored on networks across the web.
Dubbed 'IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition', the software is an entry-level search product that Big Blue is using to introduce businesses to its pricey OmniFind solutions line. The free service competes with fee-based enterprise search solutions like Google Enterprise Search and Coveo.
It supports up to 500,000 documents per server, more than 200 file types, and documents in more than 30 languages. It features a three-click installation process and takes customers only minutes to go from download to live search and information access, according to IBM. The software uses the open source Lucene indexing library to provide cross-platform full text indexing.
The software complements IBM's existing OmniFind search and content discovery software. While it provides a no-cost entry point for clients who want to get started with basic search, Big Blue hopes those who take advantage of the free version might have future needs for advanced secure search.
IBM's fee-based OmniFind service offers capabilities beyond traditional search, such as business analytics, quality insight reporting, e-commerce and customer service self-help. The solution targets companies that want to leverage their unstructured information more broadly as a service throughout the enterprise.
