Search and Information Access Vendors

Platform Vendors

After various mergers, there are just three, each with multidimensional information management and access technology platforms. The platform vendors offer customers comprehensive (read: complex) frameworks on which search applications can be constructed.

• Autonomy
• Endeca
• Microsoft

Infrastructure Vendors

These are names you recognize, and your enterprise probably licenses products from them. Each wants to "own" the information management domain at their major customers, and each now recognizes the importance of search in that strategy.

• IBM
• Microsoft
• Open Text
• Oracle
• SAP

Specialized Search Vendors

A plethora of specialized suppliers have emerged to fulfill more specific needs, and some have now grown into large, thriving companies. With some exceptions, they tend to be higher priced and implementations can range from $50 - 250k or more.

• Apache Project
• dtSearch
• Exalead
• Omniture
• Recommind
• Sinequa
• Vivisimo

Turnkey Search

If you don't want the hassle and expense of installing and tuning a high-end search system, you can always turn to a hosted ("SaaS") solution, or a search "appliance" that you plug into your network.

• Google
• Thunderstone

Basic Search Vendors

Do you really need a lot of fancy search bells and whistles? Maybe not, and in fact, they could just get in the way, especially for simple Website or SharePoint search. Those are the scenarios these vendors target.

• Coveo
• ISYS
• SurfRay

Emerging and Niche Products

These vendors are either niche or new. It will be interesting to see how newcomers and niche vendors fare in today’s turbulent economy.

• Attivio
• Dieselpoint
• Q-go

See a list of all vendors we evaluate