Today I read some articles about Simplexo, a new open source enterprise search application provided by a privately held company from the UK (Simplexo Ltd.). Since I’m already experienced with open and commercial enterprise search solutions I was asking some questions in terms of features and open source to Simplexo’s website (please keep in mind that this is not a test in practice).
What are the system Requirements, Hard- and Software?
Simplexo is a Microsoft only product, it needs Windows XP, 2000, 2003 or Vista, the IIS server, .NET 2 Framework and finally a relational database like MySQL or MS SQL.
Which kind of files are getting indexed?
Simplexo already comes with parsers for structured and unstructured documents. It can handle documents like MS/Open Office, PDF, PS, Webpages, Flat-text, Images (I guess metadata) and E-Mails (?). Beside those files from you’re local filesystem or network drive, Simplexo can also index information from databases, business applications like salesforce or sap and online sources such Google, Reuters and arbitrary feeds.
Is it possible to integrate modules for content processing?
I couldn’t find any information on how to extend Simplexo on their website and I’m still missing information on mailing lists, developer forums etc.
Which search functions are available?
Simplexo can handle ordinary term, phrase and boolean queries. Beside that Simplexo also offers Synonym support, date range, fuzzy and semantic queries (detail information missing).
Is it possible to integrate Simplexo in existing applications?
Yes, Simplexo comes with a SOAP interface and already provides an interface to search through existing Microsoft and Autonomy indexes.
What about scalability?
There is a page about scalability at Simplexo’s website but it only tells you about 600k simultaneous users, less search time than Google and a much smaller index size than on MS databases. I’m missing information about how the Scalability is done technically, is it possible to use more hardware?
So, what about a test in practice? Lately there is no online demonstration of Simplexo yet and since I’m running a Linux desktop I can’t perform the installation of *.exes – Simplexo is a pure Microsoft compatible product.
Original press article on CBR: Simplexo launches open source enterprise search platform
