Thunderstone Blog: Customized Search Engine & Search Software

New features include

Rank Bias

Parametric profiles gain new capabilities to set a bias on a per document field using data from field rules.  This allow documents to be biased up or down in the search results, for example PDF results could be biased down, or documents with "Important" in a meta tag could be ranked higher.

Improvements

Content Repositories

Azure Blob Storage support was added for crawling content stored in Azure Blobs.

File Share Robustness

Network shares are remounted if needed at the start of a crawl.

Audit Logging

The ability to log all setting modifications was added to aid with auditing setting changes.

Other fixes

Miscellaneous other bug fixes and enhancements to the crawl and search interfaces.  See the announcement on the message board for full details.

Availability

Search Appliance Version 20 is available to all Search Appliance and Parametric Search Appliance customers who have a current maintenance plan by following the menu System / System Setup / Update Software.

Webinator Version 20 is available to all Webinator customers who have a current maintenance plan by contacting Thunderstone.

For 36 years Thunderstone Software has been dedicated to providing the best search solutions possible to government, corporate, and non-profit customers, with exceptional service and devotion to finding the right solution for the customer.

For further information call +1 216-820-2200, visit www.thunderstone.com.

New features include

Entity Recognition

Parametric profiles gain new capabilities to extract information from document text. Now even documents with no metadata can contribute terms to faceted navigation, via entity recognition. For example, a list of terms, e.g. cities or manufacturers, can be defined for extraction and then searched or grouped by. Or a regular expression can be crafted to match a specific pattern of data — e.g. a defined syntax for part or social security numbers. And the XML syntax for such entities is largely compatible with GSA syntax, making upgrading a snap.

Improvements

Dashboard Statisitics

Several new statistics have been added to help monitor activity, including the search rate, fetch rate, and document growth rate so you can identify problems that may arise in the future.

Unmount Shares

Network shares can now be unmounted without removing the settings.

XSS Protection fix

Browsers may have warned on the settings page about possible XSS problems.  There was no vulnerability in the appliance, and the settings were updated correctly, however now the XSS warnings no longer are triggered.

Other fixes

Miscellaneous other bug fixes and enhancements to the crawl and search interfaces including result counts and some REX expression handling.  See the announcement on the message board for full details.

Availability

Search Appliance Version 19 is available to all Search Appliance and Parametric Search Appliance customers who have a current maintenance plan by following the menu System / System Setup / Update Software.

Webinator Version 19 is available to all Webinator customers who have a current maintenance plan by contacting Thunderstone.

For 36 years Thunderstone Software has been dedicated to providing the best search solutions possible to government, corporate, and non-profit customers, with exceptional service and devotion to finding the right solution for the customer.

For further information call +1 216-820-2200, visit www.thunderstone.com.

Brings More Texis SQL Advantages in an Easy-To-Implement Appliance

CLEVELAND, OH - November 6, 2007 - Thunderstone Software LLC (http://www.thunderstone.com) has added customizable “sort by” and “group by” capabilities to the Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance, further enhancing this newest product in Thunderstone's innovation-leading line of powerful and flexible enterprise search solutions.

Parametric or attribute-enhanced search helps users narrow down their field of search in an attempt to increase the chances of finding relevant information. It provides context to results that are based on unstructured information, and it allows an administrator or user to sort results in the most meaningful way.

For example, you may be searching for information on a particular subject but are only interested in results written by a specific author and published within a certain timeframe. The parameters (defined attributes) of “author” and “publish date“ help narrow the search for the precise information you want. Keyword, full-text search alone does not offer this opportunity.

Another example would be a search for a particular product-item description across an entire enterprise. Keyword, full-text search will certainly provide a good list of results from a variety of documents and content sources. But, what if you were only interested in the item's occurrence within a specific document type (say, a PO,) and one that was issued after a certain date and by a specific purchasing agent? Keyword, full-text search simply cannot provide this context for the information you're pursuing.

The Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance can index and make searchable large quantities of full-text data with defined attributes, as well as targeted web content, file server-based content, application database content and other enterprise-based content in a variety of popular formats. Key features of the new Appliance include:

• SQL plus Full-Text Search - Supporting full-text key word searches combined with a user-selected “filter” on up to 50 data fields, the Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance allows complex queries utilizing standard SQL commands while also taking advantage of capabilities such as concept-based, fuzzy logic, full-text searching and “bounded box” geographic searching.
• Sorting and Grouping - Administrators and searchers can optimize ‘findability’ by specifying how they want the Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance to sort and/or group its query results. Results can be sorted and grouped by any defined attributes in the data, and any of the available fields can be used to provide navigation links enabling the searcher to browse the results.
• Convenient Data Integration - The DataLoad API allows data to be populated from any source, and a wide variety of connectors have been developed for many common enterprise data sources. In addition, the Appliance can directly access existing databases. And built-in, advanced extraction tools can extract data from web pages or files that already exist.

The Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance provides an easy way to create applications that combine SQL structured queries with advanced full-text retrieval without programming. It delivers more of the power of Thunderstone Texis on a quickly deployed and easily maintained Appliance platform. Now organizations can have the application they want for less time and effort than they believed possible.

About Thunderstone
Thunderstone Software LLC (http://www.thunderstone.com) pioneered simultaneous searching of both structured and unstructured data with the Texis relational database optimized for full-text search. Since 1981 Thunderstone has continued to develop its global reputation as provider of the world's most powerful, scalable and flexible enterprise search solutions.

Sales contact: Fred Harmon

+1 216 820 2200 ext.105

Media contact: Peter Thusat

+1 216 820 2200 ext.118

Brings More Texis SQL Advantages in an Easy-To-Implement Appliance

CLEVELAND, OH - November 6, 2007 - Thunderstone Software LLC (http://www.thunderstone.com) has added customizable “sort by” and “group by” capabilities to the Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance, further enhancing this newest product in Thunderstone's innovation-leading line of powerful and flexible enterprise search solutions.

Parametric or attribute-enhanced search helps users narrow down their field of search in an attempt to increase the chances of finding relevant information. It provides context to results that are based on unstructured information, and it allows an administrator or user to sort results in the most meaningful way.

For example, you may be searching for information on a particular subject but are only interested in results written by a specific author and published within a certain timeframe. The parameters (defined attributes) of “author” and “publish date“ help narrow the search for the precise information you want. Keyword, full-text search alone does not offer this opportunity.

Another example would be a search for a particular product-item description across an entire enterprise. Keyword, full-text search will certainly provide a good list of results from a variety of documents and content sources. But, what if you were only interested in the item's occurrence within a specific document type (say, a PO,) and one that was issued after a certain date and by a specific purchasing agent? Keyword, full-text search simply cannot provide this context for the information you're pursuing.

The Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance can index and make searchable large quantities of full-text data with defined attributes, as well as targeted web content, file server-based content, application database content and other enterprise-based content in a variety of popular formats. Key features of the new Appliance include:

• SQL plus Full-Text Search - Supporting full-text key word searches combined with a user-selected “filter” on up to 50 data fields, the Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance allows complex queries utilizing standard SQL commands while also taking advantage of capabilities such as concept-based, fuzzy logic, full-text searching and “bounded box” geographic searching.
• Sorting and Grouping - Administrators and searchers can optimize ‘findability’ by specifying how they want the Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance to sort and/or group its query results. Results can be sorted and grouped by any defined attributes in the data, and any of the available fields can be used to provide navigation links enabling the searcher to browse the results.
• Convenient Data Integration - The DataLoad API allows data to be populated from any source, and a wide variety of connectors have been developed for many common enterprise data sources. In addition, the Appliance can directly access existing databases. And built-in, advanced extraction tools can extract data from web pages or files that already exist.

The Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance provides an easy way to create applications that combine SQL structured queries with advanced full-text retrieval without programming. It delivers more of the power of Thunderstone Texis on a quickly deployed and easily maintained Appliance platform. Now organizations can have the application they want for less time and effort than they believed possible.

About Thunderstone
Thunderstone Software LLC (http://www.thunderstone.com) pioneered simultaneous searching of both structured and unstructured data with the Texis relational database optimized for full-text search. Since 1981 Thunderstone has continued to develop its global reputation as provider of the world's most powerful, scalable and flexible enterprise search solutions.

Sales contact: Fred Harmon

+1 216 820 2200 ext.105

Media contact: Peter Thusat

+1 216 820 2200 ext.118

Simultaneously Finds Text and Structured Data with Desired Attributes

CLEVELAND, OH - September 21, 2007 - Thunderstone Software LLC today announced the release of its newest product, the Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance.

Parametric search is a search based on parameters, attributes or data fields associated with other full-text content. It is an "advanced search" that simultaneously satisfies a number of criteria (the parameters of the search.) For example, online shoppers routinely want to search for in-stock items in a chosen category/subcategory with a specified style, color, size and price range (parameters) plus a full-text description of the product.

Engineered to exceed expectations in the enterprise, The Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance enables full-text, key-word searches combined with a user-selected "filter" on up to 50 data fields - quickly returning results and accurately matching the desired data attributes.

Online publishers and news archives use the Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance to provide an easy way for searchers to select multiple document attributes and to quickly find relevant material with a specified creation date, article format, subject matter, author name, etc.

Vertical search portals use the Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance to provide an easy way for searchers to select multiple topic attributes and to quickly find timely information that corresponds to specified persons, internal/external web sources, particular companies, geographical locations, etc.

A one-time, perpetual license for a Thunderstone Parametric Search Appliance starts at $20,000 and includes a day of consulting in addition to two years of free upgrades, hardware coverage and technical support by phone, email and/or message board. After two years customers may choose to continue maintenance at an annual rate equivalent to 18% of their product's initial purchase price.

About Thunderstone

Thunderstone Software LLC pioneered simultaneous searching of both structured and unstructured data with the Texis relational database optimized for full text search. Since 1981 Thunderstone has continued to develop its global reputation as provider of the world's most powerful, scalable and flexible enterprise search solutions.

Sales Contact: Mark Bacho

+1 216 820 2200 ext.105

Media Contact: Peter Thusat

+1 216 820 2200 ext.118