UK Parliament orders Autonomy with Pims

The Houses of Parliament has selected technology from enterprise search solutions provider Autonomy to power its information management system.

The libraries in the House of Commons and the House of Lords will use Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer (Idol) infrastructure for its Parliamentary Information Management Services (Pims) project.

Pims will automate the retrieval, delivery and routing of content to users from internal and external information sources. The Idol server will be used in conjunction with a content management suite from Vignette.

"Pims will be central to how the libraries provide services to members in the future," said Priscilla Baines, librarian at the House of Commons.

"We need reliable and accurate information retrieval facilities, and Autonomy will provide that essential assistance automatically."

Intuitive technology will make the solution accessible to all users, added Baines.

"By helping us to automate tasks, such as classifying, tagging, searching and retrieving information, Autonomy will enable us to devote more time to research and activities that bring benefit to our customers," he said.

The infrastructure replaces the existing Parliamentary OnLine Indexing Service and will deliver information to all users.

"The House of Commons and House of Lords deployment of Autonomy is a world-class example of how intelligent, automated technology is able to revolutionise a traditional library's effectiveness," said Ian Black, head of communications at Autonomy.

"[Pims] is killing off the stereotypes of lifeless information with which libraries have been associated in the past."