What will data management technologies look like in ten years? While the future's difficult to predict, this book provides students, researchers and professionals alike with a brief and engaging look at one prescient trend: the convergence of search and database technologies. This convergence has given rise to a new breed of non-relational ('NoSQL') databases and data stores, and to a new generation of search engines that share characteristics with both non-relational and relational databases. It is this new type of engine that supports Search Based Applications (SBAs), which are software applications built on a search rather than database backbone. SBAs offer a pragmatic way to solve both well-known and emerging information management challenges as of now, while shedding light on what tomorrow's information systems might look like. Table of Contents: Search Based Applications / Evolving Business Information Access Needs / Origins and Histories / Data Models and Storage / Data Collection/Population / Data Processing / Data Retrieval / Data Security, Usability, Performance, Cost / Summary Evolutions and Convergences / SBA Platforms / SBA Uses and Preconditions / Anatomy of a Search Based Application / Case Study: GEFCO / Case Study: Urbanizer / Case Study: National Postal Agency / Future Directions
