In a not-so-shocking move,this week Microsoft announced that it was dropping support for the FAST Enterprise Search Platform (FAST ESP) on Linux and other Unix operating systems. Microsoft acquired the FAST ESP and related products in January 2008 via the $1.2B acquisition of Fast Search & Transfer, a financially troubled but nevertheless leading enterprise search [...]
Entries Tagged as 'fast search'
Microsoft / Fast Drops Linux and Unix Support. Should You Turn to MarkLogic As A Replacement?
February 11th, 2010 · 1 Comment
Tags: Fast Search and Transfer · Microsoft · fast search
Microsoft Passed on Endeca Before Buying Fast?
November 26th, 2008 · 5 Comments
A Google Alert picked up this story which describes a 14% headcount reduction in Fast Search and Transfer’s US staffing, concentrated, per the article, in the Boston and New York area. The concentration isn’t surprising because Fast’s US headquarters is just outside Boston and, as I’ve always maintained, among the many reasons Microsoft paid $1.2B [...]
Tags: Fast Search and Transfer · Publishing 2.0 · autonomy · endeca · fast search
Kawaski Interviews Balmer at Mix08
March 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Check out this post with notes from the Guy Kawaski keynote interview with Steve Balmer at the Mix08 conference this week in Las Vegas. In the interview Balmer talks about Google, the Yahoo! deal, Apple, his three types of day [see below], Silverlight, the Facebook investment, Fast Search & Transfer [see below], the number of [...]
Tags: Enterprise Search · Facebook · Microsoft · fast search
Fast Search to Restate 2006 Results (As Predicted)
January 23rd, 2008 · No Comments
As predicted in this post, Fast Search & Transfer yesterday announced that it intends to restate 2006 results. See this Reuters story, entitled Norway’s Fast Says to Restate 2006 Results, for more. Excerpt: “The effects of such restatements have not yet been established in detail, and Fast is taking appropriate steps to ensure a quick [...]
Tags: fast search
Microsoft Bids $1.2B for Fast Search and Transfer
January 8th, 2008 · No Comments
It’s a busy week so no time for a deep analytical post (yet), but I wanted to get this news out fast. Microsoft has bid $1.2B for Fast Search & Transfer. See this New York Times story for more. My initial take: It’s a quite healthy valuation of ~8x the revenue run-rate, partially justified by [...]
Tags: fast search
