Svizzer Update: Swiss Search
April 1, 2009
I looked at the Svizzer desktop search tool in 2006. Yesterday (March 30, 2009), one or my two or three readers in Europe asked me, “What’s become of Svizzer?” I had to admit that I had not thought about the Swiss company for two years. Svizzer was in 2006 a Microsoft desktop search system created, according to my yellowing notes, by G10 Software AG. The company crated “an information cock pit for everything”, I wrote. Categorical affirmatives trouble me, and the notion of a cock pit with “everything” strikes me as a quick way to confuse the pilot and probably contribute to increasing the chances of an error, particularly in a combat situation. Under fire, less is more usually works better than floods of data.
At one time, the company asserted, “Microsoft n’a pas de solutions adéquates en ce moment et il n’y a pas de solution convenable sur le marché en vue dan un futur proche.” This statement was true in 2006, and in my opinion, it is true as I write this on March 31, 2009. My notes identify Alexander Rossner, Peter Biewald, and Dieter Eschebach as key executives.,
The Svizzer interface from Version 3.5 in 2007.
The 2006 version of the software included a Copernic like metasearch feature. I noted that it could remove ads from the results, but since I have not tested the system in two years, I don’t know if today’s ad technology will be caught by the system. The last download link I had was for Softpedia here. Give it a try.
The idea, I noted, was that Svizzer provides “a single point of search access to site search, enterprise search, desktop search, Web log search, news search, and Web search”. The system, according to my notes, performed a Vivisimo like aggregation and deduplication function.
The license fees for the system begin at about $100 per user. A customer can buy an annual service plan that includes support, upgrades, etc. I noted that the software included an advertising function, but I was not sure how well that would work in some more traditional organizations. I thought that an administrator could use the ad function to put specific information in front of users, a version of hit boosting.
The company is privately held, according to my notes. There were about 15 employees. I estimated the firm’s revenues in the $2.0 million per year range.
The company was European centric, and I noted, had plans to expand within continental Europe. The company’s Web site at www.g10.ch is off line. The last active date I have in my files is June 2008.
I am not certain the company is still viable. The last Web log entry here is dated March 2007. If a reader has more information, please, use the comments section on this Web log to update the information.
Stephen Arnold, March 31, 2009
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