Yahoo and IBM team up to offer businesses free data search tool

Yahoo and IBM jointly introduced free software that businesses could use to find information stored in their own computers or on the Internet.

IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition was billed as a "no-cost, entry-level enterprise search product" and went up against offerings from Google and other competitors in a growing business data search market.

"Organizations of all sizes are faced with the problem of too much information residing in different locations and in different formats, making it nearly impossible to quickly extract meaning," said IBM general manager Ambuj Goyal.

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Enterprise search systems typically cost thousands of dollars. Google has offerings selling for as much as 30,000 dollars (US) in what is considered the low end of the business market.

IBM already markets OmniFind versions for corporations. The free offering was tailored for small businesses and included Yahoo Search services.

The Yahoo-powered IBM offering can be downloaded for free and easily installed on existing computer hardware, according to the companies.

"This is a valuable tool for helping organizations improve employee productivity by enabling them to more quickly find needed information," Yahoo vice president Eckart Walther said in a release.

"By empowering customers and partners to quickly find information on the Web, we're also able to reduce their support costs."

OmniFind can handle as many as 500,000 pages per server and can scan documents in more than 30 languages, according to IBM.

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Microsoft starts test of new VoIP server

Microsoft Corp. started testing on Monday a new computer server software that allows corporate customers to make Web-based phone calls through its Office suite of business software.

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, due for release in the April-June quarter of 2007, will push the software giant into the business telephone market at a time when many large companies shift to cheaper telecommunications powered by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.

Ahead of the official release, Microsoft said it will make the technology available to 2,500 companies for testing.

The new voice server will allow users to instantly call anyone from within Office applications by clicking on a person's name and initiating a call.

For example, a worker who receives an e-mail in Office Outlook from various colleagues can simply click on each colleague's name to check their availability and place a person-to-person phone call or arrange a conference call.

The company's push into the business telephone market pits Microsoft against Cisco Systems Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and other technology companies seeking to cash in on growing demand for VoIP.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has predicted that within 10 years all business communications will be Web-based, meaning hundreds of millions of people will change how they communicate.

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