Fast Blast in Rocket Software
December 4, 2009
I am confused. About 18 months ago, Microsoft acquired Fast Search & Transfer SA for about $1.23 billion. Since that time, there has been a Web part, a change in presidents, the shipment of a version of Fast for SharePoint for trial purposes, some grousing about support for the legacy licensees of Fast ESP, and some mixed signals about who within Microsoft is in charge of enterprise search.
Tuesday I thought I heard that a fellow from the UK had the controls of the search Cape Canaveral. Today (December 3, 2009) I learned that Microsoft has sold some of the Fast Search components to Rocket Software. The properties were the long-in-the-tooth Folio content management system and something called NXT, which is no longer on my radar.
Rocket Software says:
Rocket Software (www.rocketsoftware.com), a global developer of Enterprise Infrastructure products, today announced that it has acquired the Folio and NXT business from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Folio and NXT customers will obtain support and new product releases directly from Rocket Software.
Folio Corporation was founded in 1987 and was subsequently owned by Mead Data Central (LEXIS-NEXIS), Open Market and NextPage before its technology was acquired by Fast Search & Transfer (FAST) in 2004; in 2008 FAST was acquired by Microsoft. The Folio and NXT products facilitate the management of online content.
According to Rocket Software CEO Andy Youniss, “We are pleased that Microsoft selected us to take over the development, service, and support for all Folio and NXT customers. This is a great fit for Rocket, and we look forward to working with the customers to provide the features and functions they need to be successful with their investment in the products.”
We are very excited that Rocket has acquired the Folio and NXT products. Rocket is well-positioned to offer top notch service and support to the Folio and NXT customers and partners,” said FAST CEO and Microsoft Distinguished Engineer Bjørn Olstad.
Rocket will be hosting a webinar on December 9, 2009 for existing and previous Folio and NXT customers. To sign up for this webinar, go to www.rocketsoftware.com/category/publishing. Also, go to www.rocketsoftware.com/category/publishing to sign up for a Rocket Software Customer Portal account.
I was not familiar with Rocket Software. The company describes itself this way:
Rocket Software (www.rocketsoftware.com) is a global software development firm that builds and services Enterprise Infrastructure products for the world’s leading OEMs, networks and software companies and enterprises. The company’s current lines of business complement and extend strategic OEM offerings in the areas of database, business intelligence, storage, networks and telecom, terminal emulation and FTP, integration, modernization and SOA, and security. Rocket is engaged in business and technology partnerships with IBM, EMC/RSA, HP/EDS, Nortel, Motorola, and many others. Rocket Software is based in Newton, Massachusetts.
Folio in my recollection is an early CMS system. The company has had a number of owners, including LexisNexis. The company said here:
Folio 4 is a proven and widely adopted product suite for authoring, managing, securing and publishing professional electronic information on CD/DVD with a Windows client. Commercial publishers and professionals around the world rely on Folio’s unmatched information access and personalization capabilities to realize the full value of their business-critical reference information. For more than a decade, the world’s top publishers of professional reference information and the majority of Fortune 500 companies have come to depend on Folio software to author, manage and publish professional information on CD/DVD.
Fast Search, as I reported in the three editions of the Enterprise Search Report that I wrote. consists of a number of loosely integrated components. The sale of components raises this question, “What else will be cut out of the Fast Enterprise Search Platform?” Maybe the Folio, which was getting on in years, was chopped because it was too old to rehab. On the other hand, is the resulting Fast ESP stub being decomplexified so that a fast blast off is possible?
These “rocket”, “blast off”, and “launch” metaphors remind me that rockets come to earth. Sometime fast, sometimes slow.
Stephen Arnold, December 4, 2009
Qyez, oyez, NASA! I was not paid to write about “rockets” or their coming down to earth via parachute or otherwise.
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One Response to “Fast Blast in Rocket Software”
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Stephen,
I was also surprised when this came out but it make sense for Microsoft to do this now since it is a focus for them and the products are getting up in the years. Their focus has primarily been on adding the enterprise search offering and all it’s supporting components. I do hope and pray that they decomplexify to make it a fast blast off. Knowing the products they have a lot of work to do.
Keep in mind that NASA did not get it right the first time either. Lots of money, testing, failed launches, and time. But hopefully the out come will be nice like the shuttle.
Dave