Directions On Microsoft : Enterprise Search Strategy Centers on SharePoint
A recent post on Enterprise Content Management / OpenText raised some questions 🙂
As an increasing amount of corporate information is stored in digital form, organizations need tools to find data on intranets and let customers find data on their Web sites, regardless of where data are stored. Microsoft’s approach toward this market opportunity—known as enterprise search—has been to develop a single core search technology which the company’s product groups then customize for their own audiences. As a consequence, the company faces the intense competition in enterprise search with a fairly consistent, quickly evolving search technology, but also with some gaps in its enterprise search product line.
The company’s recommended solution for most types of enterprise search is SharePoint Portal Server (SPS) 2003; SQL Server and Windows Server can also be used for some subsets of enterprise search. …
Read the whole article over on : DirectionsOnMicrosoft
Thanks Peter, an interesting link although I have to worry about any strategy refers to WinFS. They’ve been talking about WinFS for so long now that I thought it would be a legacy product by now.
Originally planned for Longhorn (Vista) WinFS was pulled to bring the OS release forward…so where is it?
Incidentally can ‘Enterprise Search’ actually search my whole enterprise yet? Or just the Microsoft bits? What about data stored in other areas like Oracle, DB2 or (dare I say it) Lotus Notes?
For a company that uses Notes for all collaboration including email I find it hard to comprehend a roadmap containing a search tool which won’t actually index my existing data.
The Google enterprise search product will and IBM are opening up all my data stores, such as Domino Document Manager to a JSR170 compliant format which will allow integration with all standards compliant from ends. I see this as a huge win for indexing and searching.
Will MS Enterprise search support JSR170?
@Ben,
Good questions 😉 …
WinFS will certainly bring all of this to the next level, but is not a prerequisite for Enterprise search hence todays solutions and things to be introduced in the short term. If youve read this analysis (and you did I believe) you’d see the commitment Microsoft makes to search and although different implementations in different applications they’re all developed / overseen by the same team.
Enterprise Search : Yes, search in SharePoint defenitly also works outside the SQL store and can index Notes NFS databases, DB2, TIFF and other graphics formats (through OCR), PDF and other 3rd Party stuff through ifilters.
Again this area is of great interest of Microsoft and you cn certainly expect good developements and progress in this area …
sorry, not sure on the JSR 170 questions. From my perspective not a high priority (personal / non expert opinion). I will try to find out …