Who will win?

While they may have the most visible brand names, Google and Microsoft are far from the only players in the market. And in a recent evaluation of the enterprise search market, Forrester found both tech heavyweights to be lacking in their ability to provide what the market needs.

In fact, Forrester Research panned the current search functionality in SharePoint, saying it "compares poorly in all categories" relative to its rivals.

"SharePoint's huge success has come in spite of its weak search capabilities," analyst Matt Brown concluded.

The same analysis praised Google for raising awareness of enterprise search but said it lacks advanced features and highly customisable security. That criticism has recurred in other locations.

"Enterprises should test the appliances before purchasing them and should not expect Google to measure up to enterprise-specialist competitors, some of whom are competitive on price," Gartner analyst Whit Andrews wrote earlier this year.

And what of the competitors? There are many vendors aiming for a piece of the search pie, from business intelligence players such as Cognos and Information Builders which are both trying to leverage their investment in enterprise access, through to specialist search providers such as Fast Search and Transfer, Isys and Open Text.

Even developers of specialised applications (such as ecommerce platforms) and broad-based systems such as databases, like IBM and Oracle. Google and Microsoft are now trying to get in on the act as well. (See "Enterprise Search Platform Market Landscape" graph opposite for more detail on the variety of enterprise search platforms).

A recent CMS Watch analysis of 28 enterprise search products concluded that integration was a challenge for all the major players, and that niche tools would continue to play a significant role for some time to come.

Gartner argues that while no one player will be dominant in the near future, most companies will settle on a single-vendor search strategy rather than combining components from different players.

IDC research vice president Susan Feldman argues that the business intelligence vendors have a current market advantage as they are larger than the specialised players and have already invested resources in integrating with a variety of business platforms. However, the market is still "up for grabs", she says.

One of the problems that will dictate who will capture this market is that delivering a product that can effectively search across enterprise data isn't as easy as it sounds. In practice, getting a Web-like search experience requires more than simply plugging in a Google Mini appliance or rolling out a portal site, a fact most players in the space acknowledge. "We do not minimise the complexity of doing projects in that environment," says BearingPoint's Hillard.