"Stability in the search technology market hasn’t brought about serious consolidation, but we've finally arrived at a point where there's plenty of easy-to-install and relatively well-performing solutions," points out Adriaan Bloem, Analyst for The Search & Information Access Report 2009. "In our 2009 Cross-Check(tm) chart, many vendors moved into the 'Balance' sector or migrated to the quieter, bottom-left of the chart. But enterprises in need of search technology still have a wealth of choices -- in some cases, several from the same vendor."

Some signs of the stabilizing search market include:

• Microsoft spent much of the past year honing and recently debuting a new strategy for its multiple search offerings, including Microsoft Office SharePoint Search and FAST ESP, while the products themselves changed little
• Many vendors' "new features" added in the last year are well-tested and licensed content type filters, connectors, or natural language processing components from 3rd parties
• Few search vendors debuted major releases in the last 6 months, instead choosing to focus on refining existing offerings and improving marketing

The Search & Information Access Report 2009 provides a comprehensive overview of 23 search technology products and identifies current best practices. The Report is available for purchase online from CMS Watch.

Labels: CMS Watch

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