Microsoft Fast: A 45-Day Innovation Cycle Yields a Web Part

June 21, 2008

Microsoft announced Fast ESP Search Web Parts for SharePoint. You can read the full announcement here. Microsoft said, “Using these Web Parts and Site Template SharePoint administrators will be able to quickly and easily build FAST ESP-based search sites inside SharePoint 2007 by simply dropping in and configuring the appropriate components.”You can download the Web parts from www.codeplex.com/espwebparts.

The announcement says, “Some of the FAST ESP search capabilities that can be exposed within SharePoint Server 2007 using these Web Parts include:

  • Search Box Web Part — Search box for query term submission and includes “did you mean” functionality for query correction
  • Result List Web Part — Displays search results and supports sorting, pagination, and navigator-based filtering
  • Navigator Web Part — Displays dynamic navigators that profile search results across a set of pre-defined dimensions and allow users to refine the search through navigation clicks
  • Breadcrumb Web Part — Displays the search term(s) and list of navigators used to obtain the current result set.”

Can you mom integrate Fast ESP with SharePoint? Probably not. Will more innovations flow from the Microsoft and Fast ESP teams? Almost certainly.

Microsoft will have to kick its enterprise search activity up a notch. SharePoint is popular but it is creating information access challenges that Microsoft Certified Gold partners stand ready to remediate. In fact, for eace of use, assisted navigation, and better scaling, Microsoft Fast has to leap frog Coveo, Exalead, ISYS Search Software, and other firms with snap in solutions. Most of these outfits are more nimble than Microsoft. So winning in search does not mean killing Google. Microsoft Fast must swat annoying up and coming vendors who are quick and clever, a challenging combination for a firm that releases a mostly pre-existing Web part in a month and a half.

Stephen Arnold, June 21, 2008

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One Response to “Microsoft Fast: A 45-Day Innovation Cycle Yields a Web Part”

  1. Fast Cash, Faster Crash : Beyond Search on September 15th, 2011 3:48 pm

    […] Microsoft Fast: A 45-Day Innovation Cycle Yields a Web Part : Beyond Search http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2008/06/21/microsoft-fast-a-45-day-innovation-cycle-yields-a-web-part/ […]

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