Kofax Search and Matching Server handles search requests from various Kofax applications on large volumes of data located at a remote site. For example, customer or supplier databases.

In contrast to other database servers, such as Microsoft SQL or Oracle server, the Kofax Search and Matching Server allows performing non-exact (fuzzy) searches. This means that search results are returned even if the search string contains spelling mistakes or does not match the exact value that is stored in the database. This is especially important for address data where a street name can be stored in different variations (for example, "Canyon Avenue" or "Canyon Ave" or "Canyon Av."). It provides an independent fuzzy search functionality based on Microsoft SQL, Oracle, ODBC database tables and views, or for delimited text files (csv) as input that is only referenced through the Kofax Search and Matching Server.

Performing fuzzy searches for data that is located at a remote site reduces the startup time at client site as the databases are configured only once on the server and then can be accessed from different clients. At the client site, no extra loading time or memory is needed when accessing data at a remote site. In addition, maintenance costs are reduced for databases that change regularly, as the Kofax Search and Matching Server allows automatic update scheduling so that the client is provided with the most accurate data automatically without needing to manually update the local fuzzy database on each client.

To be able to cope with large enterprise databases Kofax Search and Matching Server is a server application that runs on 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is designed to use multi-threading and support multi-core environment for quick access and fast response time. If the capacity limit for a single stand-alone Search and Matching Server is reached, you can use a Load Balancer to distribute the computational workload across multiple computers by accessing a set of different Search and Matching Servers. For example, due to an increased number of clients that send search requests, a Load Balancer is needed.

Various Kofax applications can send search requests for one or more fuzzy databases that are maintained on the same server. The Kofax Search and Matching Server handles all search requests most efficiently (for example, by prioritizing search requests from user interactive modules, such as Kofax Transformation Modules - Validation, over requests from Kofax Transformation Modules - Server for results for a Database Locator) and can perform database updates in parallel to the search requests.

To provide efficient search and automatic updates, the Kofax Search and Matching Server consists of several Microsoft Windows services and a configuration tool, Kofax Search and Matching Server Administration, that is used to set up new and maintain existing fuzzy databases, and to configure automatic update and load balancing.