The Hindu Business Line : Join `search' party

As finding the right information from the ever-expanding clutter of data becomes increasingly complex, it is but natural that more players get attracted to the business of search. Google, the most-used Internet search engine, already has a number of rivals in its mainstay business. But in the area of corporate search, Google's latest rival is a formidable one: Oracle Corp.

Oracle, known for database software, recently announced its standalone enterprise search engine, the `Oracle Secure Enterprise Search 10g'. According to Oracle, the new tool can search for `public, private and shared content across Intranet web-servers, databases, files on local disk or on file-servers, IMAP email, document management systems, applications, and portals.'

In the new product, the company has a great deal of emphasis on the aspect of security. Oracle claims that the tool will allow users to access only the information they are supposed to. This is made possible by directly integrating multiple user authentication systems with search index repository and a programming interface.

Oracle is getting into the enterprise search as there are clear signs that the market is poised for a big jump in the coming years, in line with the exponential growth of information. It is estimated that content created by companies is doubling every year. In addition to this, government regulations also make companies want to be doubly sure about what information is stored in their computers, lest they should land in trouble. At the same time, one has to be cautious about who is accessing what information. All this will make the corporate search market grow to around $2 billion in another three-four years, it is estimated. Apart from Oracle, there are a number of players already in the market. Autonomy, a key player in the business, last year acquired another, Verity. IBM has come out with its own search engine, OmniFind.

Microsoft has also been talking about its search engine's abilities. And Google has its own plug-and-play search appliance for corporates.

So will Google be able to replicate its success in Internet search in the corporate space too? The company recently announced low-end versions of the search tool, called Mini, which is priced significantly lower than its previous version. In addition to this, the Google Search Appliance is targeted at big firms and can support up to 15 million documents.

Google's decision to get into the SME space with a price cut indicates that the search giant is keen to compete in the enterprise search area.

The company had earlier entered into a pact with BearingPoint to market its search tools, marking the first such instance of Google joining hands with a technology consultancy.

Many analysts believe that Google can gain more market share in enterprise search business thanks to huge popularity and brand name, even if corporate search is a different ball game.

On the other hand, the advantage Oracle has, for one, is that it is a major vendor of databases. And pitching for a search tool to comb those databases would come naturally easy for Oracle. Internet search will soon find the winners.

vipin@thehindu.co.in