14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has released an impressive collection of Federated Search connectors for both its own decision engine, but also for a variety of other sources of information on the web.
Available via the Federated Search Connector Gallery for Enterprise Search and through the Microsoft Download Center, the connectors can be grabbed free of charge.
A collection of no less than 15 items is being offered just through the Federated Search Connector Gallery for Enterprise Search hosted on TechNet.
“Federated search connectors enable the Microsoft enterprise search solution to pass a query to a target system and display results returned from that system. Federated search connectors work for all Microsoft enterprise search products,” Microsoft explained.
Business customers interested in expanding the Microsoft search solutions they use can access a range of connectors via the links at the bottom of the screen.
Some downloads are only available as .OSDX which means that they are designed to integrate only with Search Server 2010, SharePoint Server 2010 and FAST Search for SharePoint 2010.
However, there are also connectors offered as .FLD files that can be leveraged in conjunction with such products as Search Server 2008 and Office SharePoint Server 2007.
“Federated Search Connectors allow a search solution based on any Microsoft Enterprise Search product (Microsoft Search Server 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft FAST Search for SharePoint 2010, Microsoft Search Server 2008, or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007) to pass a query to a target system and accept and display results from that system,” the software giant revealed.
Here is the list of Federated Search Connectors for Enterprise Search:
Bing News Search Connector - Exposes search results from Bing News in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
YouTube Search Connector - Exposes search results from YouTube in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Yahoo Search Connector - Exposes search results from Yahoo in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Yahoo News Search Connector - Exposes search results from Yahoo News in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Yahoo Images Search Connector - Exposes search results from Yahoo Images in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Wikipedia Search Connector - Exposes search results from Wikipedia in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Encyclopedia Britannica Search Connector - Exposes search results from the Encyclopedia Britannica in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Google Blog Search Connector - Exposes search results from Google Blog Search in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Flickr Search Connector - Exposes search results from the Flickr photo-sharing site in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Google News Search Connector - Exposes search results from Google News in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
MSDN Search Connector -Exposes search results from MSDN in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
The Register Search Connector - Exposes search results from The Register in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
TechNet Search Connector - Exposes search results from the TechNet website in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Business Week Search Connector - Exposes search results from the Business Week site in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Bing Local Search Connector - Exposes search results from Bing Local in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Bing Image Search Connector - Exposes search results from Bing Image Search in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environment
Bing Search Connector - Exposes search results from Bing in a Microsoft Enterprise Search environmen