Microsoft: Taking the Lead in Enterprise Search

Google and IBM are two of the largest vendors in the Enterprise search realm, but it seems that Microsoft is making bold moves to catch up with these giants. Microsoft recently agreed to acquire Fast Search, which specializes in Enterprise Search. eWeek’s latest article describes how this recent acquisition can bolster Microsoft’s current Enterprise product line, which includes Microsoft Search Server 2008, Search Server 2008 Express, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

The software helps employees track down what they are looking for, usually behind a company’s firewall. eWeek gives an example of searching for a single staffer from a human resources database of thousand of employees. Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division makes a quick mention of how Enterprise search is changing:

"Until now organizations have been forced to choose between powerful, high-end search technologies or more mainstream, infrastructure solutions. The combination of Microsoft and Fast gives customers a new choice: a single vendor with solutions that span the full range of customer needs."

Acquiring Fast will most definitely give Microsoft a strong position in this market. It will be interesting to see if Google and IBM plan to revamp their current Enterprise search applications to compete with Microsoft…