IBM has beefed up the search capabilities of its WebSphere
The combined product is slated to be available next month. The integration promises a single interface for desktop and enterprise-wide queries.
IBM’s OmniFind, is an enterprise search engine for file systems, content repositories, databases, collaboration systems, applications and intranets. It already integrates with any portal or content management system. With X1, users can access nearly 400 different types of documents and data file formats, as well as search IBM Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook e-mail messages and attachments.
OmniFind is part of IBM’s plan for unstructured information management architecture (UIMA), a technology approach for culling the underlying meaning from stored data regardless of where it lies in a computer system.
X1 shipped the first edition of its desktop search product fine-tuned for the enterprise in June. X1 Enterprise Edition puts control of the index in the hands of IT administrators for control and security of the data while letting users search corporate data on servers and other desktops.
Using a feature in X1 called Published Searches, an IT manager could provide a corporate executive with a list of relevant documents to be accessed for a specific report, or, for example Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
“We provide users with an actionable view of their results,” Jeff Kupietzky, X1’s vice president of marketing, told internetnews.com.
For example, the view screen of results in X1 includes options to open an item, print or e-mail it.
According to IBM’s Nelson Mattos, vice president of strategy at the company, the newly integrated search system is
the first mainstream, enterprise-scale solution that lets users search based on concepts and facts, not just keywords.
In an interview with internetnews.com earlier this year, Mattos said the goal of Information Integrator OmniFind Edition was to reduce the amount of time employees spend seeking corporate information.
Michael Hecht, executive director of IT for Taro Pharmaceuticals USA, said in a statement, “Leveraging this unified search offering from IBM and X1 Technologies would increase employee productivity by reducing time spent searching versus being able to act on the information.”
