"Guided navigation" -- integrates search and browse capabilities
Works with existing taxonomies and categories
Dynamically determines attributes, no dead-ends
Preview numbers show how many are in each category
E-commerce version, InFront, features include merchandising related items,
personalized results.
Enterprise version, ProFind, provides one interface to search both pages
and databases.
XML and database imports (Oracle, DB2, SQL Server)
Data Foundry transforms incoming content, converts to hierarchy when appropriate,
regularizes it, combines multiple sources, performs preliminary navigation
state computation.
Data is modeled in multiple dimensions, based on automatic calculations
of relationships
Search administrator has editorial control over categories and displays
Powerful search engine includes spellchecking, stemming and synonyms.
Low level APIs in C/C++, scripting languages, COM; high-level APIs in
ASP and Perl.
Scales to hundreds of millions of records, hundreds of searches or clicks
per second.
Distributes search and indexing across servers for redundancy, fault-tolerance
and scaling.
Articles
Unstructured
Information Management ReportInfosphere, March, 2003 by Magnus Stensmo
and Mikael Thorson, $325/€295 for a single PDF license General report on search and categorization tools, includes Endeca company
and financial information.
Guided
Search Experience Line56, October 8, 2002 by Jim Ericson
Report on Endeca ProFind, faceted metadata search and browse for enterprise.
Quotes customer Paul Magin of Information Handling Service (IHS), who describes
how Endeca software can help people find information based on vague criteria,
300% faster than the previous interface. IHS was able to switch from Sun enterprise
servers to cheaper Intel-powered servers connected to an Oracle database,
reducing hardware and admin costs by 50%.
Guiding
Web customers to sales nirvana Network World, August 19 2002 by
John Dix
Editorial approval of the Endeca faceted metadata approach for online commerce.
E-retailers
seek improved search engines ComputerWorld, August 12, 2002 by Carol
Sliwa
Report from eTail 2002 conference about online commerce sites responding to
user demand by improving their search engines. Describes how Talbot's implementation
of EasyAsk increased the average order
size when using search by 18%, and the number of shoppers who search and then
purchase by 34%. Nieman Marcus chose iPhrase
and Spiegel chose Endeca after extensive comparisons.
When Search Is Not Enough:
Guided Navigation from EndecaIDC Bulletin, May 2002 by Mary
Flanagan and Susan Feldman
A commissioned report, describing the problems of information overload in
search results and the faceted metadata search implemented by Endeca's Navigation
Engine. Provides business background, competitive analysis and software overviews.
Uses Tower Records as a case study.
A
towering decision InfoWorld, February 8 2002 by Stephanie Sanborn
Describes the search engine purchase process for Tower Records. They also
wanted navigation and browsing functions, and had been using local custom
code, and decided that the investment in making a high-quality system was
too high. Tower chose Endeca's InFront catalog, search and navigation software
because of the functionality and performance. In making the build-vs.-buy
decision, Tower required a vendor that would perform trials and make changes
when necessary. The Endeca application has been eliciting positive feedback
from customers.
Examples
Tower Records
- large music and entertainment online store.