FAQ: Microsoft Announces Search Server 2008
Microsoft is excited announce two new product offerings. Search Server 2008 and 2008 Express will allow organizations to easily implement enterprise search capabilities in their environment irrespective of SharePoint, which was required for our previous offering. This product announcement does not replace MOSS 2007 Search, but offers new functionality that is complimentary to it so that customers who have invested in MOSS do not lose their ROI. Below is an FAQ compiled around this new announcement. *Google's not the only one who can do speeches, thas right!*
Q: What is Microsoft Search Server 2008 and Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express?
A: On Nov. 6, Microsoft Corp. announced the addition of two products to its enterprise search product line: Microsoft Search Server 2008 and Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express. Both products are enterprise-class search servers that enable high-performance searching of corporate data across multiple business systems and repositories, including documents, Web sites, intranet and extranet content, and external Web links. Search Server 2008 Express is a free, downloadable product and the Release Candidate (RC), or pre-release, is available for download now at https://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch.
Q: What is the difference between Search Server 2008 and Search Server 2008 Express?
A: Both Search Server 2008 and Search Server 2008 Express offer an enterprise-ready search solution that empowers people to find the information they need to get work done — quickly and easily. Key investments across both products include highly simplified evaluation, configuration and deployment; an easy-to-use administrative dashboard; federation (the ability to synchronize the functioning of more than one system) through support for the Open Search standard and new connectors for one-stop search across systems; and general performance enhancements that eliminate the document limits imposed by other entry-level enterprise search solutions today.
Available as a free download, Search Server Express provides all the functionality of Search Server but is limited to a single server installation, while Search Server’s multiserver capabilities offer the high availability, load balancing and failover that larger corporate IT policies require.
Q: What is the difference between Internet search and enterprise search?
A: Most people are familiar with Internet search as a way to find information scattered across the Web sites that make up the World Wide Web. Enterprise search harnesses the power of the familiar Internet search experience to help people find information within a business. For instance, an enterprise search solution deployed inside a company can help employees find information buried in a document management application, and an enterprise search solution deployed on a company Web site can help customers find product information hidden on the site.
Q: Why is Microsoft getting into the enterprise search market segment now?
A: The exponential growth of information in companies of all sizes and the disparate systems and locations in which that information is stored have created a new set of productivity challenges for information workers. Our customers have increasingly told us that enterprise search is a strategic investment for them because it helps employees find and act on information that drives results directly to the bottom line. Microsoft has been in the search marketplace for several years, incorporating advanced search capabilities into the products customers know and use every day.
Two things are happening in companies today that make this announcement particularly important. Search is quickly becoming the preferred way for people to find and act on stored information, and will be a key technology for virtually all applications and solutions in the future. Because of this, we see significant opportunity to meet our customers’ needs with enterprise search technologies such as those we’re announcing today.
Q: Why are you changing the branding from SharePoint Server for Search to Search Server?
A: The Search Server brand reflects the importance of enterprise search in its own right in the world of IT. Although many of our customers are using the enterprise search capabilities in SharePoint Server to find and act on structured and unstructured data across their organization, we also have customers who are expressing a need for a strong, stand-alone enterprise search solution. This new product lineup responds to that need.
Q: How do Search Server and Search Server Express stack up against competitive search offerings?
A:With Search Server and Search Server Express, Microsoft is providing the kind of enterprise-scale functionality that you see in solutions that require a very high level of investment, but now at a lower cost than what is available to customers today. For example, you won’t find federated search capabilities that support the Open Search standard, lack of document limits, and integration with other business systems such as Documentum, FileNet and Lotus Notes available with other free solutions today.
Q: Why are you offering Search Server Express for free if it’s an enterprise-class product?
A: We believe that there is a core set of Search capabilities that every business should have to connect people to the business information they need.
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For more information, press only:
Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, (503) 443-7070, rrt@waggeneredstrom.com