ISYS Search Software

Established in 1988 in Sydney, Australia, ISYS Search Software (formerly Odyssey Development) is a developer of enterprise search software. The company's product suite includes applications for desktop search, network search, intranet search and enterprise search.

ISYS Search Software was founded by Ian Davies, who remains its managing director and chief technology officer. Sean Howard was an original, and current, investor. The company's software applications include:

ISYS:desktop -- currently in its eighth generation, was first introduced in 1989 as an indexing and retrieval tool for DOS. It has since evolved to become a productivity tool used by organizations worldwide, particularly in government, legal, law enforcement and recruitment.

ISYS:web -- also in its eighth generation, ISYS:web made its debut in 1996 as a tool designed specifically for enabling search on public websites and intranet sites. The application offers browser-based administration, search analytics reporting, categorization of results, and a toolkit for integrating the ISYS search engine into custom web applications.

ISYS:sdk -- the ISYS:sdk provides software developers with the ability to integrate search capabilities into their applications. Customers of this product include EMC Legato, TOWER Software, the World Trade Organization and World Software Corporation. It is also used widely in government, legal, law enforcement and intelligence.

In the enterprise search industry, ISYS is situated as a mid-market vendor, based on its ability to provide out-of-the-box search applications that can be customized and configured to meet the complex needs of large-scale enterprise search. Based on its ease of implementation and use and pricing, it is most closely compared to the Verity Ultraseek product or the Google Search Appliance, although it offers similar flexibility and extensibility found in high-end applications, such as FAST Search & Transfer.

It can seamlessly search multiple disparate data sources, including Microsoft Office, WordPerfect, Open Office, HTML, ZIP files, all major email products, all SQL data sources, SharePoint, Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino.

Features include automatic Categorization, Hit-highlighting and navigation, relevance ranking, multiple query methods, very fast indexing and retrieval and a small footprint. It emphasises rapid return and low cost of ownership.

ISYS has over 10,000 customers on seven continents, including Antarctica.

In 1999, ISYS was selected by the Powerhouse Museum as one of the [http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/australia_innovates/?behaviour=view_article&Section_id=1010&article_id=10008 100 most significant Australian innovations of the twentieth century] .

It has consistently been listed as one of the [http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?CategoryID=59&ArticleID=15156 100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management] , the [http://www.econtentmag.com/EContent100/ E-Content 100] , and the [http://www.softwaremag.com/S_FocusAreas.cfm?Doc=The500 Software 500] .

In 2006, ISYS released version 8 which includes automatic entity recognition for text mining, e-discovery and expertise location, federated searching, greater performance, more formats, and greatly enhanced web server.

In 2007, ISYS entered the Linux marketplace with the release of the ISYS:sdk and ISYS:web server for Linux platforms, a key strategic move and the company's first foray into non-Windows environments.

In 2008, ISYS version 9 was released, which includes enhanced e-discovery support, results flagging, intelligent query expansion, custom search forms, parametric and timeline refinement. Also, support for EMC Documentum, Interwoven WorkSite, Office 2007 and other new file formats, and a dramatically increased maximum index size of 384GB (allowing the indexing of more than a terabyte of documents in a single index).

External links

* [http://www.isys-search.com/ ISYS Search Software homepage]