With recession clouds forming, there just has to be a silver lining. And thanks to Autonomy, I now know what it is: a "rosy outlook in litigation volume." The search and e-discovery vendor cites a recent survey by law firm Fullbright & Jaworski: "only 3 percent of in-house counsel foresaw a drop in litigation next year, while 43 percent predicted a jump in activity."

The survey addresses electronic discovery and records management, and of course Autonomy feels its software is uniquely positioned to deal with these issues. However, reading the survey report, what I found much more interesting is that 77% of the respondents said that "courts do not understand the difficulties in providing e-discovery." One quote described the process as "boiling the sea."

My first reaction was to check the "Scenario Fits" in our new Search & Information Access Report for the e-discovery scenario, and see which products are best suited (you may be surprised to see who the competition in the fields is). But if you ask the survey respondents for a solution, their answer isn't technology to help them do this -- two thirds is of the opinion that "full pre-trial disclosure should be reconsidered." Autonomy will have to demonstrate their ability in boiling the sea before they'll be able to turn the rosy outlook into actual profit. But for now, I'll at least award them a check-plus for cynical optimism.