Tool searches odd pages

Software provider Autonomy is to launch Eduction, a new tool to help firms manage documents across a wide range of platforms and databases.

Eduction can search and catalogue elements of unstructured information, and analyse documents such as CVs that computers may not recognise by their form, according to Autonomy.

The new tool is designed to manage documents that might otherwise be hard for computers to categorise. It will let companies apply a number of rules to documents in order to help their management.

The tool allows sophisticated text analysis and easy configuration with Autonomy Category Definition Editor, the firm said. It also allows the creation of meta tags by example, and deployment of case-sensitive and user-designed tags, it added.

Eric Woods of analyst firm Ovum said Eduction could help companies facing difficulties in integrating data systems. Firms are dealing with increasing amounts of information, he added, and are "struggling with bringing a common level of access."

Woods said Eduction would particularly suit firms that have to search through documents in a variety of formats, such as CVs or prospectuses.

In separate news, IBM is to launch its DB2-based Xperanto software before the end of the year. Woods said by using XML it would let IT staff search through a variety of databases, documents and emails.

However, he added that a lot of firms still do not have XML-based integration management so they will have to integrate a wider range of data formats.