SharePoint 2013 Improves and Consolidates Enterprise Search

The current version of SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint Online, the subscription-based version of the product available as a component of Microsoft’s upgraded Office 365 service (collectively, SharePoint 2013), now include a single search engine, derived from technology acquired from Fast Search & Transfer in 2008. This means all SharePoint customers should see better search scalability and performance and will have more customization options to improve the relevance of search results in their organizations. However, some search features are currently available solely on-premises, and some existing FAST and SharePoint search products are being discontinued.

One Enterprise Search Engine for All

Enterprise search has received a significant overhaul with SharePoint Server 2013 and the latest version of SharePoint Online (referred to as “SharePoint 2013” in the rest of this report). Enterprise search is an approach that provides a single search user interface to users but allows them to access structured and unstructured content stored across many repositories and applications across their organization to ensure that resources that could help users perform their work does not go unfound.