SAP Primes Enterprise Search Zapper

SAP AG says it may enhance its NetWeaver lineup of corporate computing features with a powerful new search technique.

“Bottom line is that this is an area we are examining, as we are doing with many areas related to business intelligence, but customer needs will dictate what actually is added to the product,” an SAP spokesperson said.

The spokesperson adds, “We are looking at extending search capabilities in future releases of NetWeaver, but timing is still to be determined, and we are not launching anything.”

The next major NetWeaver release may be able to search both kinds of data usually found in corporate computer networks: structured (such as a business customer database) and unstructured, like e-mails or instant messages, the company confirmed. The term of art is “blended search.”

Sales of computer networking gear, software and services are usually stagnant; not even Google Inc.s search appliance line-up has provided any significant boost. So it remains to be seen what the ultra-chic search enhancement, should SAP develop one, can do for the malaise.

/zimages/4/28571.gifRead morehereabout what Googles done in this area.

SAPs large enterprise customer base, and the new search feature, are trappings to jolt the sleepy market for enterprise-class search products.

/zimages/4/28571.gifRead morehereabout whos making money.

Ziff Davis Media queried SAP following an InfoWorld report on the development.

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