SAP Working On Enterprise Search Zapper

SAP says it may enhance its NetWeaver line-up 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 spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman 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 emails or instant messages, the company’s 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 SAP enhancement, should SAP develop one, can do for the malaise.

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