14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has committed to taking its search efforts beyond the Windows platform to Linux and UNIX, for its pool of enterprise customers. April 25, 2008 marks the finalization of the Redmond company's settlement of the tender offer for Fast Search & Transfer. Announced in January 2008, the acquisition of Fast Search & Transfer is designed to enrich Microsoft's own portfolio of enterprise search solutions.
"With our companies combined, we'll be uniquely able to offer customers what they've been telling us they want most - a strategy for meeting everything from their basic to most complex enterprise search needs. I'm incredibly excited to have the talented team from FAST joining us," revealed Jeff Teper, corporate vice president for the Office Business Platform at Microsoft.
With the acquisition complete, FAST will become a Microsoft subsidiary, and John Markus Lervik, now former FAST CEO, will take on the new role of corporate vice president of Enterprise Search. The Redmond company plans to integrate FAST's search technology into its own products and to deliver an evolved range of offerings, starting with Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express, search for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 as well as FAST ESP. However, in the long run, Microsoft plans to build a single enterprise search platform.
"From the moment I started talking to Microsoft about the prospect of bringing our talent and technology together, I realized what a powerful impact we could have on the way companies use search to drive new revenue streams and improve productivity. Together we'll deliver better technologies that make enterprise search a ubiquitous tool, central to how people find and use information," Lervik added.
For the time being, Microsoft will continue to offer Search Server Express, SharePoint as well as FAST ESP, in an effort to cover the complete gamma of enterprise customer search needs, from the most basic, to business productivity solutions integrated search and complex scenarios. Additionally, Kirk Koenigsbauer, General Manager SharePoint Business Group, promised that the Redmond company will not focus exclusively on Windows.
"And you can be assured that with our expanded team in place, we'll be in an even better position to continue innovation across all three products, including FAST ESP on Linux and UNIX. Speaking of Linux and UNIX, some people may be (mis)interpreting our continued support and investment in these platforms as a broader change for Microsoft - so here's some color. We're making a pragmatic decision to continue to delight a core part of FAST's customer base that has chosen the Linux/UNIX OS. You can bet that we'll innovate on Windows, too, and over time we hope customers will see .NET as a preferred platform choice," Koenigsbauer said.