Fast data search speeds up work

By Jorn Madslien
BBC News Online business reporter

There is value in making information available

Search software that aims to make the foggy world of business more transparent could soon radically change both the way we work and the way our bosses monitor our efforts, according to computer experts.

A taste of the future has just been served in the form of a search engine - dubbed the Fast Enterprise Search Platform (ESP) - that will make it possible to scour through your email, the internet and any number of internal and external databases, all in one swoop.

Industry analysts were impressed when Fast ESP was launched this winter.

Fast's vision that ESP is the search technology of tomorrow may well be fulfilled "given the explosive proliferation of unstructured yet valuable information inside and outside of companies", said David Schatsky, senior vice president of research at Jupiter Research.

"It's got a lot of power, and customers I've talked with have been very happy with the product," said Avi Rapport of Searchtools.com.

"It's clearly priced for larger installations, 50,000 pages or more, and I don't know of any other company that tries to be so comprehensive.

"But it's a very competitive space and there are a lot of fine search engines, with specific strengths, so I can't say it's leading the pack."

All-in-one

Unlike existing search engines, Fast ESP is not limited to processing so-called unstructured data, such as email, word documents and PDF files, explained John Lervik, chief executive and founder of Fast Search & Transfer which recently launched ESP.

Fast ESP also churns through structured data, such as bank transactions, customer purchases or salary details, as well as digitised voice recordings or photographs, Mr Lervik explained.

Once search results are received, ESP will cross-reference databases, personal files and the internet to identify patterns, correlations and trends, he said.

Statistics and science

Early this month, such advantages convinced the world's largest company, General Electric, to "deploy the Enterprise Search Platform across its corporate Web site and Intranet, with a framework for future deployment across all GE business units", according to Fast.

In the UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) started using the Fast search system last month to help it retrieve "the most relevant, intelligent, and accurate information from our web site, intranet content and data collections", said ONS web technical strategy manager Marian Lane.

Fast has delineated the market Sue Feldman IDC technology analyst

While the Dutch publishing company Elsevier's science-specific search engine Scirus is using ESP as a tool to enable "scientists, researchers and students [to] search for information across multiple scientific indexes and dynamically drill down through a variety of topics", said Eefke Smit, Elsevier database director.

Efficiency

For employees and users of websites such as ONS's, ESP should "reduce query time from hours to seconds", according to Fast's marketing blurb.

Mr Lervik: ESP helps companies serve customers better - and sell them more

Companies, meanwhile, should benefit as ESP enables instant and simultaneous access to data bases in different subsidiaries.

"You have all sorts of data in a company's various divisions, and generally they don't 'talk' to each other," Mr Lervik said.

In the case of a company merger, ESP could be added as an extra layer over existing computer systems to make it possible retrieve and analyse data from both.

"Fast has delineated the market, inventing a complementary market for search derivative applications that sit on top of the platform for specific vertical or task-specific applications," said Sue Feldman, IDC technology analyst.

Diversified companies could use this extra layer to "serve customers better - and sell them more", Mr Lervik said.

For example, ESP would give a telecoms firm's fixed line arm automatic access to its mobile phone arm's customer data.

Unbelievably, perhaps, but similar business opportunities are often overlooked by companies, insisted Mr Lervik.

Rogue traders

Company bosses can also use Fast ESP technology to keep a much closer eye on their staff.

To our knowledge, this is only being used for 'good purposes' today John Lervik Chief executive Fast Search & Transfer

Take a bank's compliance officer who is on the lookout for rogue traders:

The officer could use ESP to search for patterns between, say, deals done, emails sent, large market moves, bonuses paid and press coverage in any language.

If the search sparks suspicion against a trader, the officer could then quickly search through voice recordings of all telephone conversations had by its traders in case any of them have been gossiping about the suspect and his behaviour.

The officer could, in just minutes, search through hours and hours of recorded phone calls for the digital pattern of particular words, or indeed of a suspect's voice, find out who he has spoken with, then move on to find out if other traders have spoken with the same people.

Double edged sword

Fast's methods are already used by anti-money laundering investigators, anti-fraud detectives and intelligence agencies around the world, Mr Lervik said.

While in Asia, anti-paedophile police use the technology to analyse the digital patterns of child porn photographs in an effort to find photos hidden behind innocuous file names.

"To our knowledge, this is only being used for 'good purposes' today," Mr Lervik said, though he acknowledged that, like a gun, the technology could be used by criminals as well as by law enforcers.

"You could use it as a porn finder - turn it around," he quipped.