Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) (WAIS)

A client/server software system that provides sophisticated indexing of files based on all words in each file and provides scoring and "relevance feedback" of documents to its client. The client then selects which file or files to retrieve from the server from a list of file or document titles, ranked by a score assigned by the software. Searching can include Boolean constructs and access to structured information systems (like databases) through its compliance with ANSI standard Z39.50. WAIS is addressed at the operating system level.

See WAIS.