SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwire - Feb 8, 2012) - Organizations seeking to gain a competitive advantage by discovering the hidden gems of information locked within their unstructured data are consistently turning to enterprise search. As unstructured data -- such as emails, machine generated data, videos and more -- tips the scales against structured data, businesses are finding that traditional technologies cannot deliver insights quickly enough to keep pace with business needs. Lucid Imagination, the commercial company for Apache Lucene/Solr search technology, is providing the answer for hundreds of customers.

The company today announced general availability of LucidWorks Cloud, a full cloud service version of LucidWorks Enterprise 2.0. LucidWorks Cloud helps businesses of all sizes conquer even the most daunting data and business quandaries by rapidly firing up cost-effective, flexible, and scalable enterprise search applications that help users find the information they need, when they need it. More than 30 companies used the pre-release version of LucidWorks Cloud, shaping the new product to meet even the most rigorous demands of cloud-based enterprise search.

Adding value to Apache Lucene/Solr
Utilizing Apache Lucene/Solr as its base, Lucid Imagination adds the enterprise-class features and benefits necessary to make the open source search product ready for the demanding needs of organizations of any size. Out of the 30 Core Committers to the Apache Lucene/Solr project, 8 individuals work for Lucid Imagination, making the company the largest supporter of open source search. Key features and benefits provided by LucidWorks Enterprise include:

• Streamlined search configuration, optimization and operations: Well-organized UI makes Apache Lucene/Solr innovation easier to consume and more adaptable to constant change. Individuals do not need to be an Apache Lucene/Solr expert before using LucidWorks.
• Enterprise-grade, business critical manageability: Well-instrumented for infrastructure administration, monitoring and reporting allows the search application to thrive within an organization's operational environment.
• Broad-based content acquisition: Built-in support for Hadoop and Amazon S3, along with Sharepoint and traditional online content types speeds access to big data and enterprise content. An open connector framework is available to customize access to other data sources.
• Versatile access and data security: Flexible and resilient security guarantees connecting search to the right data and content without concern over privacy.
• Advanced search experience enhancements: Powerful search capabilities deliver faster, better and more useful results for a richer user experience. REST API automates and integrates search as a service with your application.
• Open source power and innovation: Complete, supported release of Apache Lucene/Solr 4.x, including latest innovations in Near Real Time search, distributed indexing and more versatile field faceting over and above Apache Lucene/Solr 3.x.
• Cost-effective commercial grade expertise & Global 24x7 Support: A range of annual support subscriptions including bundled services, consulting, training and certification from the world's leading experts in Apache Lucene/Solr open source.

The rapid adoption of LucidWorks 2.0 represents a new wave of applications powered by enterprise search. LucidWorks 2.0 provides a more flexible and cost-effective way to uncover insights and actionable intelligence from the growing volume and variety of data. The LucidWorks 2.0 platform, including an on premise enterprise version and a Search-as-a-Service cloud version, delivers full open source Apache Lucene/Solr community innovation; along with support and maintenance from the world's leading experts in enterprise search.

"Enterprise search provides one of the most powerful discovery tools available to organizations today. Layered on top of Apache Lucene/Solr, LucidWorks adds enterprise-grade security, along with time saving operational tools that streamline enterprise search configuration, deployment and operations. Offering these powerful search capabilities in the cloud increases an organization's agility while allowing users to leverage its untapped information assets in a cost effective and timely manner," said Paul Doscher, CEO, Lucid Imagination.

RESOURCES

• Watch the future of search unfold on the Lucid Imagination blog.
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About Lucid Imagination
Lucid Imagination is the commercial company exclusively dedicated to Apache Lucene/Solr open source search technology. The company provides documentation, commercial-grade support, training, high-level consulting, along with value-added software enhancements for Apache Lucene/Solr. Customers include AT&T, Sears, Ford, Verizon, Cisco, Elsevier, Zappos, The Guardian, The Motley Fool, Macy's, Qualcomm, Taser, Nordjyske Media, and many other household names around the world. Lucid Imagination is a privately held venture-funded company. The investors include Shasta Ventures, Granite Ventures, Walden International and In-Q-Tel. Learn more about the company at www.lucidimagination.com.