Ovum says open source search is ready for the enterprise

ANALYSTS AT Ovum have decided that open source enterprise search software is viable and reliable and can stand up against leading commercial players.

In a report, Ovum analyst Mike Davis said that free-to-use open source enterprise search and retrieval (ESR) software is a good start when outfits are looking for a search application.

He said that, in fact, companies should only go to the big proprietary players if open source can't deliver what they need.

However Davis thought this unlikely as there is now a range of mature open source products that have functionality sufficient for most organisational needs."

Ovum has analysed the ESR market and found that while software from leading player Autonomy was the best, there was hardly any difference in the capabilities of all of the top six commercial providers.

Davis thought Apache Software Foundation's open source Solr 1.4 software was a credible competitor to commercial solutions in terms of features and functionality.

"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," he said.

"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'," Davis concluded. µ