By Phil Muncaster
So another week another enterprise search announcement. This time Exalead, one of the mid-tier vendors sharing the space with Vivissimo, Sinequa and others, has launched a new product line - CloudView. The problem I'm discovering digging deeper and deeper into this area, is that every single vendor is claiming to have a differentiator, a unique selling point and the best search engine in the world ... ever. Unfortunately, speak to the analyst community and they'll probably tell you that the enterprise search market is seriously crowded, and that most of the options you'll have out there pretty much boil down to not that much differentiation at all.
CloudView promises an OEM edition, a Search Edition and a 360 Edition all built on a service oriented architecture platform. Part of the message UK managing director Raymond Bentinck is trying to push out is of Exalead technology giving improved usability and relevancy. The other is being able to search structured and unstructured information in the enterprise and beyond, and complete the loop if you like, by going further than BI tools can by telling you not just the what but the why.
According to Ovum's Mike Davis, the only way to really differentiate in this space is by concentrating on a specific sector, and serving the needs of those customers. Which is very much what Recommind does, with the legal market pretty much in its back pocket. If search is being commoditised to this extent, it's probably not a bad thing for the IT buyer, or the information professionals who have to use the products - competition usually benefits the customer eventually. Search is fast becoming, as Davis says, the new portal - the place where you want to go to find all your information in a single view, and the vendors that can provide this in a most comprehensive and user friendly way as possible will triumph.
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