Google Search Appliance, ISYS:web 8 deliver inclusive search results without grief

This type of mashup is one of the more important developments in enterprise search. Users get relevant information from document management systems, Oracle purchase requisitions, SAS reports, and others within the featured area of the search results — all without any special steps.

Free IT resource TechNet: More ways to know it, share it, and keep it running. Sponsored by Microsoft Free IT resource Attend the SOA Executive Forum: Breaking SOA Bottlenecks SOAExecForum.com/may2007 Sponsored by InfoWorld TEST CENTER DAILY BLOG Track the latest product reviews and news from the InfoWorld Test Center.

ISYS:web8

It may not have the consumer name-recognition of Google, but ISYS nonetheless has a strong following in midsize enterprises and governments. That’s because this solution is very easy to implement and use; it runs on common Windows hardware and doesn’t have any per-document charges or lease terms.

Along with adding many new features — including automatic entity extraction, SharePoint support, Search and Site Designers, and Best Bets — ISYS improved some of the top items from 2005’s Version 7. These include a menu-assisted system for constructing complex Boolean queries and Quick View, which extracts and displays relevant portions of large documents to eliminate some downloading and opening of, say, large Acrobat or Word files.

I performed most of my ISYS:web 8 testing on a Windows 2000 Server because that was the closest environment to Google. I also looked at the companion ISYS:desktop 8 and its enhanced interface.

Installing the Web search application and performing an initial index are minor tasks because the default settings — crawl depth, file types, and results ranking — cover many enterprise needs, such as searching an intranet. Still, ISYS completely redid the administration Web site with AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) technology, so making adjustments is simple. For example, ISYS:web introduces a Theme engine that uses templates to customize the look and feel of the search site. (You can still modify the HTML code for highly customized designs).

Click for larger view.

Another interesting addition, ISYS Search Designer, allowed me to view live search trends such as top search words or queries that had minimal hits despite my expectations of popularity. Based on these results, I could optimize the system quickly with the new Best Bets feature by placing a specific document as the first search result.

ISYS doesn’t have as many connectors to external systems as Vivísimo Velocity or exalead:one. That said, ISYS Version 8 does crawl SQL databases, Web sites, Lotus Notes, and Unix servers, along with WSS and SPS. In the latter case, ISYS respected user permissions, returning only authorized content in searches. It handled XML documents, including RSS feeds, without a hiccup.

ISYS snappily indexed all sources, typically scanning 10GB to 12GB an hour — about 5 percent faster than Google, even though my Windows server was older Dell hardware with two classic 1.8GHz Xeon processors and only 2GB of RAM.

These queries are performed from the ISYS Web site, which runs under Microsoft IIS or the ISYS:web server. For larger installations, ISYS Federator allows users to make a single query against indexes on multiple ISYS:web servers.

In my tests with IIS, search response was subsecond, about the same as Google. I especially liked ISYS’s intuitive AJAX interface, which presents search results in the main left window along with entities to the right. Selecting a category immediately limits the search results, helping you pinpoint relevant content. ISYS:desktop 8’s AJAX interface does the Web site UI one better, with collapsible menus and a built-in search window.

Searching for Answers

I admire ISYS for delivering a highly competitive product. The new version meets the dual requirement of being easy to implement and offering easy customization. I especially liked the on-the-fly categorization, intuitive site and search design tools, excellent search UI, and SharePoint support. ISYS also gets praise for its simple, economical pricing model, which was a large part of ISYS:web 8’s high value score.

Google rightfully benefits from its renowned consumer search, which the Google Search Appliance extends to an organization’s data silos. Whereas ISYS has an SDK, Google’s APIs have attracted more than 100 big-name partners; to me, that support will be the deciding factor in whether Google meets your enterprise search needs.