Xerox bets on FactSpotter for search

Xerox is ready to enter into the search wars, and they are betting that their new search engine will help users find information that existing search giants like Google and Yahoo cannot.

by Kristina Knight

Called FactSpotter, the engine will take natural phrases, names or brands and return search results which include synonyms and pronouns in addition to the results matching the exact phrase. Executives hope these extended listings will appeal to users wanting very specific information. Traditional searches only return results from roughly 40% of online documents because of the search parameters, leaving out some matches because they aren't specific enough.

This new functionality will include results previously left out. For example, developers say the search engine will know that search queries for "Bill Gates" should also return results from documents containing the phrase "Microsoft Chairman"; it could even return results based on things said to and by Bill Gates.

These kinds of results will be a boon to search marketers, but it appears that the functionality won't be offered to users in general at first. For the initial release the software will be released as part of a software pack for Global Services customers such as attorneys and will later be released to those in the medical field.