Search and Discovery Software Market Continues to Bloom and Grow Amidst the Economic Gloom, IDC Finds

Business Wire, Oct 22, 2008

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- The search and discovery market in 2007 and in the first half of 2008 continues to outpace the software market as a whole, according to a new IDC study. While the pure-play search software market continues to consolidate with mergers and acquisitions (M&A) still rampant, search technologies have begun to penetrate traditional data-centric enterprise and consumer applications, such as customer relationship management (CRM), recommendation engines, and ad matching.

"Despite the current economic crisis, the search and discovery software market is a bright spot that so far shows no signs of slowing down," said Susan Feldman, vice president, Search and Discovery Technologies at IDC. "Although this market has continued its rapid growth in the first half of 2008, economic indicators for IT spending are bleak. For that reason, IDC expects slower growth in all markets, including search and discovery software. Although these external factors will impinge on what is a fast growing market, IDC still predicts 17% growth for search and discovery software in 2008 and 12.9% growth for 2009. This is down from the 28% growth we saw in 2007, but certainly a healthy increase. With the economy so volatile, this could change if economic conditions worsen."

Additional key findings from this study include:

* The search market will continue to fragment into three tiers: OEM, solutions, and platforms, with solutions that address a specific task or problem growing at a faster rate than the other two market segments.

* Text analytics vendors as a group will continue to see even faster growth than the search market. Hot areas include sentiment extraction, eDiscovery, geolocation, and language modules.

* As search and text analytics become technology features in larger software applications, we can expect the current spate of technology-driven mergers and acquisitions to continue, and business intelligence to continue to converge with search.

The IDC study, Worldwide Search and Discovery Software 2008-2012 Forecast Update and Vendor Shares: Bloom Amid Economic Gloom (IDC #214349), analyzes the growth of the search and discovery software market from 2005 to present. It also includes market shares for the top vendors, market trends, and market growth forecasts. Worldwide market sizing is provided for 2007 and a five-year growth forecast for this market is shown for 2008-2012. Revenue and market share of the leading vendors is also provided for 2007.

About IDC

IDC is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 100 countries. For more than 44 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.

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