Microsoft Beefs Up Enterprise Search

Microsoft bought FAST Search & Transfer almost exactly a year ago. Now Microsoft is starting to integrate FAST’s capabilities into its other products and to market FAST more aggressively:

FAST Search for SharePoint, a new search server that will add the high-end search capabilities of FAST ESP into Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, will be available as a part of the next release of the Microsoft Office system. For customers who are interested in the product, Microsoft also announced ESP for SharePoint, a special offering that allows customers to purchase high-end search capabilities today, with a defined licensing path to FAST Search for SharePoint when it becomes available . . .

FAST Search for Internet Business will extend FAST ESP and will provide a flexible platform for building engaging, search-driven Web site experiences. The product will be available in beta in the second half of this year and will feature new capabilities for content integration and interaction management, helping enable more complete and interactive search experiences.

Use of the FAST platform may also help Microsoft with search monetization over time. The company could offer advertising as part of a package to publishers that are using the FAST platform for site search.