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Open source search solns are ready for the enterprise

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CIOL Bureau
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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: Open source enterprise search software is viable and reliable and can stand up against leading commercial players from the industry, according to Ovum.

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In a new report, the independent technology analyst states that open source software is ready for the enterprise and is able to deliver on the needs of most organisations.

Also read: Embedding open source search engine

Mike Davis, Ovum analyst and author of the report, said: “Free-to-use open source enterprise search and retrieval (ESR) solutions are now ready for the enterprise. We believe enterprises should start with open source options when looking for a search solution and only go to the big players if open source is unable to deliver what they need.

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“This shouldn’t be an issue however as there is now a range of mature open source products which have functionality that is sufficient for most organisational needs.”

Also read: Top ten open source projects of 2010

In 2010 it was estimated that the amount of digital information created, captured and replicated is approaching 985 exabytes (985 billion gigabytes). ESR solutions allow enterprises to search the rapidly increasing volumes of data both within their organisation and out, to allow them to make better decisions more quickly.

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Ovum has analysed the ESR market and found that while software from leading player Autonomy came out on top, there is hardly any difference in the capabilities of all of the top six commercial providers. And Ovum found that Apache Software Foundation’s open source Solr 1.4 software is a credible competitor to commercial solutions in terms of features and functionality.

Also read: Open Source enterprise apps on the rise: IDC

Autonomy’s IDOL platform has consistently achieved the greatest share of mind in the enterprise search arena but in terms of the capabilities on offer, there are mere nuances between those ranked. The key message for enterprises is that they should be aware that there is a raft of available products, including credible open source options, and not just look at the ‘usual suspects.’

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