IBM has launched “IBM OmniFind Personal Email Search (IOPES)”, a new smart email search software. According to IBM, the software is powered by advanced algorithms that can interpret incomplete queries and find information such as phone numbers, people, meetings, presentations, documents, images and more. However, the software also allows searchers to define their own concepts.

Once the software is installed, it indexes and analyzes the user's e-mail store. Searches are conducted through a browser interface that delivers results through a stripped-down, Google-like interface.

The results don't show a list of e-mail headers or display the messages in full. Instead, the software extracts the passage it believes contains the right answer, and highlights what it deems to be the specific information requested, such as a phone number.

The company said in a statement, “The software eliminates the frustration one feels when, irrelevant search results are returned for a simple text or keyword search. Common search concepts, such as dates, time, and phone numbers, are built into the software.”

The software (IOPES) was created through a collaborative effort spanning IBM Research Labs in California, Israel and India.

The free download version is available at www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/emailsearch