Microsoft completes $1.2bn acquisition of Fast Search & Transfer

In January, Microsoft announced its $1.2bn offer for Norway-based enterprise search company, Fast Search. With this acquisition, Microsoft is set to change the Enterprise Search landscape by delivering a solid solution that fills the gap left by current offerings.

With significantly improved search capabilities provided by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, organizations in the Middle East will now have access to an enterprise-class solution that enables users to find the information and expertise they need to drive business results.

Commenting on the significance of the acquisition, Patrick Beeharry, Server and Product Marketing Manager for SharePoint in Microsoft Middle East and Africa said:

'With our companies combined, we are uniquely positioned to offer customers what they have been telling us they want most - a strategy for meeting everything from their basic to most complex enterprise search needs. We are pleased to have the talented team from FAST joining us here in the Middle East. Together we aim to deliver better technologies that will make enterprise search a ubiquitous tool that is central to how people find and use information.'

Isam Bayazidi, Chief Product Officer, Maktoob.com, said, 'Enterprise Search solutions must balance several factors including cost, scalability and ease-of-use. The interface between the user and the search function should be simple, intuitive and familiar; to enhance the search experience. Enterprise Search from Microsoft combines the simplicity and cost advantages of entry-level solutions with a feature set typically found only in high-end solutions.'

Neil Garner, General Manager, Middle East, Fast said:

'Enterprise search is becoming an indispensable tool to businesses of all sizes, helping people find, use and share critical business information quickly. 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 a customer's technology needs.'

Microsoft is changing the competitive landscape of Enterprise Search in two ways. First, it offers a unique combination of functionality and simplicity that fills a gap in the market between low-end, basic offerings and high-end, specialized solutions.

And second, it introduces a new dimension into the Search discussion by integrating Search into a broader productivity infrastructure, both on the desktop and through the integrated suite of Office SharePoint Server applications.

Taken together, these two innovations make Enterprise Search from Microsoft an attractive alternative to traditional Search solutions.