Mar 27, 2007

FAST Powers NetDocuments Legal Search Solution

Orem, UT

NetDocuments, an Orem-based global document services provider, and Fast Search & Transfer, a Norwegian developer of search technologies, have formed an OEM partnership to offer software-as-a-service (SaaS) document management using FAST InStream® embedded search technology for the legal services industry.

As the number of legal documents increase exponentially, it becomes more difficult for lawyers to quickly and precisely search and retrieve relevant materials for cases. NetDocuments already specializes in SaaS-based document management, email management, post-discovery litigation repository, and digital records management services for the legal services industry. However, the company needed a sophisticated search solution that could handle customers’ growing search needs including unstructured data searches, and relevancy and proximity searching. Rather than build their own solution, NetDocuments chose FAST InStream as their search and data classification platform for all SaaS applications in the legal discovery process. The result is a solution that provides an easier way for legal teams to organize and collaborate with others on document discovery.

“Nobody has a story of scalable search and data classification like FAST and in our business, you better have a system that can scale to hundreds of petabytes,” said Alvin Tedjumulia, CTO for NetDocuments. “We trust FAST because their search technology is proven and they can anticipate needs that we have not yet faced, which is critical for us. Like NetDocuments, they are an organization that looks to the future for its customers.”

FAST InStream is a highly scalable and flexible search technology platform that helps NetDocuments’ clients quickly find relevant data and stay ahead of their own client’s needs. FAST InStream also provides NetDocuments with a secure system that enforces access control, supports network-based disk systems, supports open standards for wider range of deployment flexibility, and is available in more than 70 languages. In addition, NetDocuments’ clients can more easily follow the compliance rules set by Sarbanes Oxley, Graham Leach Bliley and HIPAA, as well as the new Federal Rules for Civil Procedures that require companies to locate and produce all relevant "electronically stored information" as part of the discovery process in litigation.

“As the proliferation of electronic data continues to explode, and compliance requirements like the new Federal Rules governing electronic discovery increases, legal industry organizations need to improve their ability to track and produce all electronic documents,” said Paul Cisternelli, senior vice president and general manager of OEM business of FAST. “Using FAST InStream, NetDocuments has built a platform of impressive speed and scalability and is well-positioned to offer legal professionals a powerful search and retrieval solution.”