WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A high-tech venture in the Purdue Research Park is making it possible for companies to access their own corporate network data with the speed and efficiency of an Internet-like search engine.
Maxim/IT, a start-up company nurtured in one of Purdue's business incubators, has developed a corporate network (intranet) search engine called "Find?View" that uses Java programming language to access all types of engineering and manufacturing information within seconds. The platform-independent program weaves through an intranet's indexing information from various systems, servers, locations, directories and even supplier catalogs.
"We developed Find?View because access to information should never be an obstacle in the corporate world," said Nainesh Rathod, president and chief executive officer of Maxim I/T Inc.
Companies have invested thousands, in some cases millions, of dollars on software promising to make internal information easily accessible and organized. But after completing a three-year data implementation cycle to standardize information using Product Data Management (PDM) systems, a study (CIMDATA, 1996) found that these companies had access to only 40 percent of their total data at best, and much of that access was not corporatewide, Rathod said.
That's because, unlike the Internet which finds World Wide Web sites by scanning hypertext markup language files (HTML), the ability to access data across an intranet has been hindered by the myriad of applications holding the data. The applications include CAD (Computer Aided Design), CAM (Computer Aided Machining), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning), and legacy databases.
Rathod said Maxim/IT has found a way to revolutionize the corporate intranet desktop without expensive, time-consuming conversions that threaten the integrity of the data. "Because Find?View can index information in any form – text, binary or database content – there is no need to convert documentation into an HTML format for search engine recognition," he explained.
When more than 90 percent of a company's valuable information is typically stored in binary form, the type of advanced search engine that can communicate with multiple applications is crucial to corporatewide information access, Rathod added.
Find?View clients don't need to be connected to the Internet to utilizee the system. Using a stand-alone system, departments from engineering to sales can use Find?View to quickly locate, view and work with documents, component drawings, purchase orders, inventory lists and other company information.
But for clients who are linked to the Web, Find?View's Web centric design eliminates the need for desktop installation and allows remote users to access company information online. "It's like bringing the dot-com into your business," Rathod explained.
Away from the office, employees can go to their company Web page where access to Find?View is hosted. Once Find?View is invoked, based on user authentication, the employee has full Find?View functionality using Internet Explorer or a Netscape browser. Customers, suppliers, external designers and vendors also can have controlled access to these same capabilities.
Find?View's new approach to data management makes it possible for a company's constantly changing product information to be easily cataloged for internal use or external display on the Web, Rathod said. Catalogs that normally take months to develop, whether paper or electronic, can be kept up-to-date without typesetting, proofreading or printing costs. Customers will also have instant look-up capability to find products.
Find?View already has found a home in some leading Fortune 1000 companies. At first, though, they thought the product was too good to be true, Rathod said.
"They didn't believe Find?View could integrate all their internal applications and allow them to be accessed from the Web. So we gave them a free 30-day guarantee," he said. "After the trial period, our customers refused to give up the program."
Scott Bechtel, a veteran high-technology entrepreneur, is helping market the product.
"The business world needs a better search engine, and the minute I saw Find?View, I knew Maxim I/T had a winner," Bechtel said.
Founded by Rathod in 1996, Maxim I/T has focused on industrial design data management and software used to process corporate information. Maxim I/T managers have been meeting with potential investors and plan to expand operations with the expectation of employing 75 people by the end of 2001 and several hundred by 2003.
Maxim I/T has headquartes in one of Purdue Research Park's two small-business incubator buildings. Purdue's version of a business incubator provides start-up businesses, mainly in the high-tech arena, with a shared office concept, flexible leases, attractive rental rates, and some shared office services. The park provides high-tech start-up companies with access to professional business assistance – including market analysis, networking and access to financial resources.
The park, which opened in 1961, is home to 81 companies that employ 2,500 people. It covers almost 700 acres, of which 120 have been developed by the Purdue Research Foundation, the nonprofit corporation that sponsors the park.