A UK start-up, Peramon Technology Ltd has launched a search and retrieval software package that acts as an email client that can be accessed through a variety of PCs, PDAs and wireless devices. The Reading, UK start-up was born in January, when all 18-employees were laid off from Compaq Computer Corp, having started out as Digital Equipment Corp UK AltaVista research and development team. The software the team was developing for DEC and Compaq is now Peramon’s Lexicos product.
Lexicos is an email client with an integrated search and retrieval engine. As documents arrive in the ‘in’ tray they are indexed, then, like an internet search engine, the software performs a key-word search against all documents, including attachments, in the Lexicos ‘environment’. It performs these searches much faster than a standard email client. The firm is pushing the package as a personal knowledge management system, because the speed of retrieval means that documents do not need to be filed. Most of the documents are held on a server, with attachments being retrievable through a web-style hyper-link.
Perhaps the most powerful aspect of the software is its cross-platform nature. Peramon demonstrated the software working on a Windows PC, an Apple Mac, and CE and Palm-based personal digital assistants. It also said, the software is WAP ready, meaning as soon as Wireless Application Protocol community brings products to market, Lexicos will be available to support email services. Peramon’s marketing manager, Nad Nadesan, admitted that the inability of different devices to read predominantly Microsoft Office-based attachments could prove a problem, but said that a method of converting such files into plain text was under development.
Peramon is also offering a customized short message service (SMS) version of Lexicos that works with most GSM phones. The SMS software offers a filter that pushes only specific messages – selected using a pre-set sender or subject – to the phone and a push/pull service which will also search for message held on the email server.
