The Interactive Glossary: Defining the Net
WAIS
An acronym for Wide Area Information Servers, WAIS is a network information retrieval service that you can use to search for keywords or phrases in specially indexed files. Unlike Gopher, which searches files by their titles, WAIS engines search the full text of files and return a list of documents that contain the keyword you are searching for. Most search engines on the Web use the WAIS method of search and retrieval.
Although the name "wide area" implies the use of large networks such as the Internet, WAIS is frequently used to index and retrieve documents on only one machine or on a LAN (local area network).
