Lucid Imagination Announces General Availability and Free Download for LucidWorks Enterprise

Delivers the True Power of Apache Solr/Lucene for Scalable, Affordable Enterprise Search

| Source: Lucid Imagination Lucid Imagination

SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwire - December 15, 2010) - Lucid Imagination, the commercial company behind Apache Solr/Lucene search technology, today announced general availability of LucidWorks Enterprise, the open source enterprise search solution development platform built transparently on Apache Solr, the Lucene search server. Like the open source technology it's built on, LucidWorks Enterprise is now available for free download to all -- for development, test integration, demo and instructional use. For developers and architects with huge amounts of data, LucidWorks Enterprise is the only search platform that scales economically, thanks to its flexible, cost-effective architecture built on open source.

LucidWorks Enterprise includes a complete fully accessible and up-to-date version of Apache Solr, a powerful new Admin UI to streamline search configuration and setup, a REST API and a set of new built-in advanced search features.

By providing a well-packaged, fully integrated search development platform, LucidWorks Enterprise combines the disruptive innovation of open source search technology with stability, security, robust interfaces, predictable release schedules, and timely expert support resources available 24x7x365. Unlike some commercial search software, there are no per-document or per-user charges that penalize growth. Unlike some other search technologies, the Apache Solr open source interfaces are not concealed behind an opaque wall of proprietary controls.

General availability of LucidWorks Enterprise follows the successful conclusion of the Developer Access Release program. Over 150 search developers put LucidWorks Enterprise through its paces and provided extensive feedback, resulting in many improvements to the release. In addition, new search features have been added to the release including field collapsing, which groups search results, and support for multiple collections.

FEATURE SUMMARY

  • Accelerated Productivity, Cost-effective Architecture: LucidWorks Enterprise accelerates development and increases productivity for the broad range of search application developer skillsets, with REST APIs that better weave search into application infrastructure. An admin and configuration console with smart defaults slashes the learning curve for developers new to Solr. Plus, a flexible security framework connects with existing security infrastructure to apply business rules to search results.

  • Search Innovation, Improved results: Enriched document handling and search experience innovations deliver improved results with far less development effort, for novice and expert developers alike. For example, an innovative Click Scoring Relevance Framework leverages ongoing user interaction with the search system automatically capturing which results a user selects for any given query -- allowing search applications to effectively learn user preferences and adjust accordingly.

QUOTES AND MULTIMEDIA

"LucidWorks Enterprise delivers incredible search capabilities in a well-tested and integrated package. We expect that many companies will now be able to easily integrate, develop, and deploy Solr-based search applications -- and that they will be able to do so much more quickly."
- Marco Abis, CEO, Sourcesense, a leading open source enterprise systems integrator

"We are excited to deliver LucidWorks Enterprise and build on the unmatched power of Apache Solr search technology. Developers, architects, and technology decision-makers alike can more easily leverage the open source model to deliver unprecedented flexibility and innovation in their search applications. Business-critical search need no longer be captive to the costly, rigid structures of proprietary commercial search software."
- Eric Gries, CEO of Lucid Imagination

"Developers are the new kingmakers, the constituency most responsible for setting technical direction in the enterprise today. What they have done previously for operating systems and databases they're now poised to do in search, which is why LucidWorks Enterprise -- which packages Apache Lucene and Solr -- is a product to watch."
- Stephen O'Grady, Principal Analyst of RedMonk

PRICING & AVAILABILITY:

  • For software development: Like other open source software, LucidWorks Enterprise is free -- for development, integration, test, and instructional use at http://www.lucidimagination.com/lwe/download. Interactive, community-supported documentation and community support forums are also available completely free of charge.
  • For time-critical expert support during development: support focused on the unique needs of developers is optionally available through annual subscriptions, starting at $36K/year for an unlimited number of servers.
  • For production deployments: Requires annual subscriptions, available at $64K per year, which includes SLA-based incident management support during business hours Monday through Friday, 80 hours of ExpertLink advisory services, and support for up to 4 servers. Additional subscription packages also offer 24x7 support.

About Lucid Imagination

Lucid Imagination is the commercial company exclusively dedicated to Apache Solr/Lucene open source enterprise search technology. It provides search solution development platforms built on the power of Solr/Lucene open source search via enterprise-grade subscriptions. The company's latest offering, LucidWorks Enterprise, makes the power of Solr/Lucene open source search more accessible to the broad range of application developers and slashes the learning curve for search solution development. Unlike "black box" products, LucidWorks Enterprise allows organizations of all sizes and types to continuously tune their search to fit the ongoing needs of their users and achieve a consistently lower cost of growth. Lucid Imagination also offers free software for developers, documentation, commercial-grade support, high-level consulting, and comprehensive training. Customers include AT&T, Sears, Ford, Verizon, Cisco, Zappos, Raytheon, The Guardian, The Smithsonian Institution, Salesforce.com, The Motley Fool, Macy's, Qualcomm, Taser, eHarmony, 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.

Contact Information:

Contact:
Elyce Ventura
Eastwick Communications
650-480-4054
lucid@eastwick.com