SYL has a New Zealand patent for its technology and is applying for a US patent. Wilson describes SYL Enterprise Search as the next generation of enterprise search applications.

"It uses semantic technology to create a smarter search experience by understanding the meaning of what the user is looking for and using similar or related search terms to identify the relevant documents. The system learns over time to provide more relevance in less time. We call this intelligent enterprise findability."

Custom technology is supported, including dictionaries and industry terms (such as the acronyms used by the military and police). Content can be federated across content repository boundaries such as the web, intranet, email or a CRM system for single enterprise search results.

The company has just launched Version 1.8, which chief technology officer Adrian John says builds on an earlier version at a government agency. "Version 1.8 addresses aspects of scalability and provides a significant improvement in performance," he says.

"We can now cater for security models in bespoke applications. When an organisation builds its own data management tool, there will often be a customised security model for that application. SYL can now harvest that data."