IBM has just unveiled new powerful and “smart” search software for helping Internet marketing specialists and common people find loads of information that is hidden in their personal database that e-mail has literally become.

The software identifies the most relevant piece of information in a search query and extrapolates what the user is attempting to find.

The software has been made in Research Labs of IBM. It’s termed IBM OmniFind Personal Email Search (or IOPES).

IOPES is powered by advanced algorithms, which can interpret any of incomplete queries and locate information like phone numbers, individual details, meetings, appointments, presentations, images, documents and more.

It assists users quickly search and locate information, for e.g., an individual’s phone number even if the e-mail database doesn’t have the terms “number” & “phone” in the text. IOPES also lets users create, save as well as share personalised searches for future usage.

This smart email search tool, available for Lotus Notes, eliminates the frustration we feel when unnecessary search results are thrown up for a simple keyword or text search.

Common search concepts like times, dates and phone numbers are built into it. Additional search parameters like specific locations or meeting requests can be defined and utilised on the fly without any special programming knowledge. Such user-defined concepts can well be shared between individuals and utilised for building a more personalised search system.

The software makes use of UIMA, or Unstructured Information Management Architecture, an open source software framework, which helps organisations build new effective analysis technologies to realise more value as compared to that from their prevailing unstructured information by identifying patterns, discovering relationships, and predicting outcomes. The semantic search tool is now available on IBM alphaWorks at no charge.