Enterprise search poses a dilemma for knowledge managers. Search engines must be easy for IT staff to manage, and results must be equally straightforward for users to navigate. At the same time, you have to index growing numbers of complex information sources – each with their own access rights. Coveo Enterprise Search 5.0, with its numerous new features, satisfies both sides of this equation. Like past versions Enterprise search poses a dilemma for knowledge managers. Search engines must be easy for IT staff to manage, and results must be equally straightforward for users to navigate. At the same time, you have to index growing numbers of complex information sources – each with their own access rights. Coveo Enterprise Search 5.0, with its numerous new features, satisfies both sides of this equation.Like past versions, Coveo 5.0 requires minimal administration. Using the Web interface’s point-and-click forms, I performed the initial setup, indexed a Web site and two document repositories, and customized the search interface – in a few hours. More advanced features are equally accessible – and leave no major gaps. For example, the system indexes relational databases, SharePoint, XML documents, plus Novell NetWare and IBM Lotus Notes servers. This version adds Salesforce.com, Microsoft Exchange, EMC Documentum, and Symantec Enterprise Vault to the no-extra-cost library of connectors. Another important addition is an API for connecting to Google OneBox for Enterprise; this lets you federate query results from business applications including SAP, Cognos, and Business Objects (which the separate Google search appliance would handle). Coveo 5.0 security is strong, with results restricted to users and groups listed in Windows domains and based on Active Directory credentials. Additionally, the system respects user permissions on individual documents. Version 5.0 adds early- and late-binding document security; early-binding is especially important for performance, since the search engine doesn’t waste time pre-processing documents that the user shouldn’t view.In all my tests, with indexes of about 50,000 items, Coveo Enterprise Search returned results in less than one second. This was even true querying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 libraries, which are indexed in real time. Another new feature (which I didn’t test) is distributed indexing. Here, you can index systems in different geographies separately; when a user performs a query, results from those various indexes are federated into a single result. Coveo representatives indicated this feature can reduce network load caused by indexing by as much as 40 percent.Moreover, I liked that Coveo lets administrators make changes to the index, such as deleting documents or adjusting rankings, without stopping the service. Coveo 5.0’s new Ajax-based search interface is well designed while offering several convenience features, such as subscribing to RSS feeds of search results. Moreover, I found search results very accurate. Yet for more precision, a new feature, also found in Vivísimo Velocity (see my preview), lets users rank search results. These “query ranking expressions” then adjust a document’s position within results in real time. I don’t feel that Coveo Enterprise Search matches the clustering or other social features of Velocity – though Coveo offers straightforward ways to filter results by author or document type and you can save these filtered results for personal use. Still, Coveo does a fine job exploiting Ajax, showing document results with inline summaries and a thumbnail, presenting lists of concepts found within the document, and providing pop-up quick views of documents. A separate Coveo Audio-Video Search (CAVS) module ($40,000 to search 2,000 hours of rich media) could be valuable if you archive Webcasts or other media files. Additionally, CAVS now has a media player for Microsoft Silverlight.In total, Coveo Enterprise Search 5.0 not only turned in excellent performance, but proved easily managed and hit other enterprise search requirements including document-level security. Coveo Enterprise Search 5.0 Availability: Now Pricing: Starts at $10,000 for indexing 100,000 documents Verdict: Coveo Enterprise Search should be considered by enterprises faced with growing document repositories, yet need an affordable, high-performance, easily managed search solution. Version 5.0 satisfies these needs with secure search of Microsoft SharePoint repositories and other enterprise systems, distributed indexing for speed, and a new user interface. Moreover, this version has some social features such as real-time ranking. Technology Industry