On 24 October 2005, Fast Search & Transfer (FAST), a developer of enterprise search and real-time alerting technologies, introduced PSP, a product intended to provide PC client users with a foundation for desktop search and related personal knowledge search applications. FAST will initially make PSP available to its development partners, which may wish to customize it. FAST says it will also license the new PSP product to enterprises as a platform, or to such enterprises' users.

This announcement by FAST makes it the third of the four leaders in the information access technology market to add personal knowledge search capability. Autonomy was the first; then Verity bought 80-20's Retriever; now FAST has released its own product. Gartner expects the fourth of the leaders, Endeca Technologies, to also explore the application category, possibly through acquisition.

Gartner often uses the term "personal knowledge search" rather than "desktop search," because, while this type of search tool may run on an enterprise user's PC, its parameters and capabilities ultimately must extend beyond desktop search to fulfill a user's need to view external resources. These resources might include Web site data sources (such as Zoominfo.com for information about people), intranets, internal file servers, or the data from business applications.

Recommendations for Enterprises

• Recognize that most information access technology vendors will offer personal knowledge search as an aspect of their offerings in the near term, but do not use the presence or absence of this capability as the sole criterion for a broad platform decision.
• Install and support a desktop search product if you have knowledge workers who desire the soft benefits that personal knowledge search can provide, such as reduced time when researching issues and finding known files or e-mail

Analytical Source: Whit Andrews, Gartner Research

Recommended Reading and Related Research

• "Personal Knowledge Search Tools Arrive on Company Desktops" — Gartner presents criteria, options and one cautionary note for enterprises to consider when evaluating personal knowledge search tools. By Whit Andrews and Rita Knox
• "Magic Quadrant for Information Access Technology, 2005" — Gartner assesses vendors in the information access technology market, which includes some vendors with personal knowledge search capabilities. By Whit Andrews and Rita Knox

(You may need to sign in or be a Gartner client to access the documents referenced in this First Take.)