Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/37773
FAST SEARCH FOR SHAREPOINT 2010: IS IT RIGHT FOR YOUR FIRM? MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE With additional connectors and customization, SharePoint Server 2010 Search will meet the enterprise search needs for most law firms, but it is not the Microsoft search engine that offers firms the best value. FS4SP is definitely faster, more flexible and scalable. The question is does the value of the enhanced capabilities offset the additional licensing cost associated with FS4SP? Scalability is not really a factor since most law firms will not exceed the 100 million item limit in SharePoint Server 2010 Search. But FS4SP offers a superior user experience. Not only does it include almost all of the new user interface capabilities that SharePoint Server 2010 Search offers, FS4SP provides an even more visual and personalized user experience. The visual enhancements such as the PowerPoint slide viewer and document thumbnails are definitely nice to have, but there is more value in the user context capabilities FS4SP offers, such as giving a higher rank to results based on who the user is and what his job is. The other visual enhancement is Visual Best Bets, which can also be based on the user context. Visual Best Bets can assist with internal marketing and awareness campaigns. Combine these features with the advanced content processing, ability to create search applications, control over relevancy ranking and sorting, and FS4SP can meet virtually any search engine requirement. FS4SP is also notably easier to implement than other high-end search engines including its predecessor, FAST ESP. A couple of years ago, there was a much bigger gap between SharePoint Search and FAST ESP, or other high-end search engines, but choosing an enterprise search engine is more difficult today. In order to make an informed decision, you need to identify your enterprise search requirements, do sufficient research and determine if the additional features found in FS4SP are worth the extra licensing cost. If you are considering other high-end search engines for use with SharePoint, FS4SP is definitely worth considering since it is generally a fraction of the cost of alternative products. ILTA For more detailed information, refer to the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Evaluation Guide. Click here to view. 1 www.microsoft.com/sharepoint Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Evaluation Guide www.iltanet.org Portal Platforms 55