SharePoint Product and Service Overview

The SharePoint products received a service pack for compatibility with Windows Server 2008 in late 2007. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 and SharePoint Server 2007 SP1 are the only versions of the SharePoint products that will run on the new server OS.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 will probably be incorporated into a planned update to Microsoft’s Hosted Messaging and Collaboration software, which enables telephone companies and other service providers to host Exchange, SharePoint, and Communications Server in multitenant data centers. Microsoft itself will use the software to host SharePoint Online Standard, a Windows SharePoint Services site hosting service planned for the second half of 2008. Microsoft already hosts SharePoint Server on dedicated servers for organizations with 5,000 users or more, a service called SharePoint Online Dedicated.

An enterprise search product called Search Server 2008 shipped in Mar. 2008. Search Server is a renamed and updated version of SharePoint Server for Search (an edition of SharePoint Server 2007 specialized for enterprise search), and includes a free Express edition. The product and SharePoint Server will probably eventually incorporate technologies acquired with search vendor Fast Search and Transfer (FAST) in Jan. 2008, but no timeframe has been set for their consolidation. Microsoft says it will continue offering Search Server (or a similarly inexpensive equivalent) alongside the full version of SharePoint Server and FAST ESP for at least one more release.