Funnelback
Encyclopedia
Funnelback is both an enterprise
search engine
and the name of the company
selling the technology. Funnelback is used by many Australia
n universities and government organisations to search for information on their websites, intranet
s, file-shares and database
s.
.
Research is currently underway in the areas of search types, subject-specific search, realistic applications of metasearch, topic distillation, website searchability and search in support of e-commerce.
It has the ability to search a range of formats in addition to range of HTML
files. These include PDF
, Word
documents, Excel
spreadsheets, images, and XML
. It also has the ability to connect to, and index database
s. Adapters currently exist for MySQL
and TRIM Context
, and the design of the system allows users to create their own adapters should they not exist.
It works on Windows
, Linux
and Solaris, and there is also a hosted service available.
Enterprise software
Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software , is software used in organizations, such as in a business or government, contrary to software chosen by individuals...
search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
and the name of the company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
selling the technology. Funnelback is used by many Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n universities and government organisations to search for information on their websites, intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
s, file-shares and database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s.
History
Funnelback was originally developed by the CSIRO as part of a research project, then called "P@noptic". The initial design and development was headed up by Dr. David Hawking, a researcher on search technologies. With its initial launch in 2001 as P@noptic, and with the research weight of CSIRO behind it, it quickly attracted some high profile clients. With its rapid commercial success, it was spun off from the CSIRO ICT Centre as its own company in February 2006. In July 2009 Funnelback was purchased by SquizSquiz
Squiz is an open source software services company, founded in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1998. The company produces the enterprise content management system , Squiz Matrix .-Business model:...
.
Research
Despite being spun off from CSIRO, it still retains close research links with them and jointly publishes papers.Research is currently underway in the areas of search types, subject-specific search, realistic applications of metasearch, topic distillation, website searchability and search in support of e-commerce.
Technology
The core of the system is based around the Padre engine developed by the CSIRO to perform very fast data look-ups.It has the ability to search a range of formats in addition to range of HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
files. These include PDF
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
, Word
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
documents, Excel
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...
spreadsheets, images, and XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
. It also has the ability to connect to, and index database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s. Adapters currently exist for MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
and TRIM Context
TRIM Context
HP TRIM is an electronic document and records management system marketed by the HP Software Division and based on technology from Hewlett-Packard's 2008 acquisition of TOWER Software...
, and the design of the system allows users to create their own adapters should they not exist.
It works on Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and Solaris, and there is also a hosted service available.
Awards
The Panoptic search engine has been widely recognised as a leader in its field. Panoptic has been awarded:- 2003 Network Computing Editor’s Choice Award
- 2004 Network Computing Well Connected Award
- 2004 AIIA iAward