Xerox gets into the search business

Xerox (NYSE: XRX) has launched its own search technology that will comb through mounds of documents in almost any language, format or type. According to TechCrunch, the new tech can "take advantage of the way humans think, speak and ask questions."

Xerox is thinking small with deploying the technology, very small. Next year, the service will launch and be available for a fee as part of the company''s Xerox Litigation Service product.

Now, either the technology is not anywhere close to as good as its sounds, or Xerox is showing why its stock price has fallen from $62 in early 1999 to its current price of $19. A technology as robust as the company's new Factspotter product sounds would certainly have very broad applications outside of working through litigation documents.

Perhaps someone should have a talk with the Xerox people about deploying the product a little more broadly.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.