IBM and Yahoo in search partnership

13-12-2006

by Ciara O'Brien

IBM and Yahoo have teamed up to develop a new search program aimed at corporate users, posing a novel threat to Google's search sector dominance.

The new product, IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition (OYE), combines a free, entry-level enterprise search software program combined with Yahoo's web search services minus the advertising. This allows businesses to search their company's internal files and look for online data through the same interface.

The deal could present a real problem for Google -- OYE may become a direct competitor for Google's MiniSearch products, which cost firms a few thousand dollars to implement, but IBM is stealing a march on the internet giant by offering OYE free of charge.

Eckart Walther, vice president of product management for Yahoo Search, described the new product as a valuable tool that would help organisations improve productivity by helping employees to find information more quickly. He also claimed it would help companies reduce support costs by helping customers and partners more easily find information online.

"Organisations of all sizes are faced with the problem of too much information residing in different locations and in different formats, making it nearly impossible to quickly extract meaning," said Ambuj Goyal, general manager of IBM Software's Information Management division.

"IBM and Yahoo are bringing clients closer to the reality of being able to use all of their information and analyse it to resolve customer issues, spot trends, recognise business opportunities and become more flexible."

Analysts at Ovum believe the new search tool will prove a challenge to both Google and Microsoft.

"We believe that this could be highly disruptive in the enterprise search space," said Ovum analyst Mike Davis. "OYE is squarely aimed at the market targeted by Google, with its Search Appliance (GSA) and MiniSearch; and Microsoft, with its Office 2007 SharePoint Server for Search (MOSS)."

Davis said the product launch was significant because it showed a greater willingness by IBM to write simple-to-install software."The team that developed OYE recognised that a familiar user experience is a strong reason for selection of a software product.

"A key selling point for the GSA is the use of the same search interface as used on the Google.com website. By partnering with Yahoo, IBM has taken exactly the same approach -- providing a tried, tested and refined interface."

The Ovum analyst also pointed out that OYE is currently just a free starter service, with IBM offering around the clock support for USD1,999 per server per year. IBM has an entire family of OmniFind products aimed at different user levels and businesses.

"But in another challenge to Google, the point of contact is by telephone to a real person in a support centre, rather than by e-mail," said Davis.

Meanwhile, Google shut down its staffed Q&A service, Google Answers, at the end of November. The search giant didn't say at the time why it was closing the four-year-old service but the fact that users were charged a fee is thought to have made it unpopular.

If successful, the partnership between online search engine Yahoo and IBM's enterprise search products could provide a significant boost to both firms as more people use their systems in the office and at home. In particular this is attractive for a resurgent Yahoo, which has so far lagged behind Google in the search market.

Google is still blazing a trail through online search, however, with Yahoo coming in second and MSN placed third. Even so, Yahoo has staged attacks on Google's dominance in recent times, signing deals with PC makers such as Acer to have its software pre-installed on their machines.