This document describes the feature differences between SharePoint Server 2010 search and FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint.
Customers should consider FAST Search for SharePoint if:
· Search is strategic (need a search platform to grow with, across many applications)
· SharePoint is strategic (want the best search available in SharePoint)
· They have high-end search requirements (specific applications and features)
| SharePoint Server 2010
Complete intranet search solution | FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
High-end search delivered through SharePoint |
End User
Go Beyond the Search Box | Great out of box search experience | Most powerful search experience
|
IT Pro
Eliminate Compromise | Enterprise class search system integrated with SharePoint | Highly capable and easy to manage |
Developer
Do more with Search | Open and flexible search platform | The power to tackle the most challenging search requirements |
Between these two SKUs, there are:
· differences in degree (X does something better than Y). These will have capabilities listed for X and “same capabilities, plus..." for Y.
· differences in kind (X does something Y doesn’t do at all). These will have nothing listed for X, and capabilities listed for Y.
End-User Perspective
Capability |
Shorthand | SharePoint Server 2010 | FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint |
One-stop search center to find answers fast | OOB Search Experience | X | X+ |
Refinement to explore information quickly | Conversational Search | X | X+ |
Social search to connect with people and expertise | Social search | X | X |
Search gets better with use | Search Usage Feedback | X | X |
Visual cues for rapid recognition of information | Visual Search |
| X |
Contextual to meet the needs of diverse groups | User Context |
| X |
IT Pro Perspective
Capability |
Shorthand | SharePoint Server 2010 | FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint |
Industrial Strength Scale-out and Performance | Scale and performance | X | X+ |
Easy deployment | Deployment | X | X |
Enterprise-class manageability | Manageability | X | X |
Secure, broad connectivity | Connectivity | X | X+ |
Advanced Content Processing OOB | Content Processing |
| X |
Easy to configure high-end user experiences | Easy High-End Config |
| X |
Developer Perspective
Capability |
Shorthand | SharePoint Server 2010 | FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint |
Customize the OOB user experience using Web Parts | Customize Web Parts | X | X+ |
Extend connectivity using the BDC and Federation | Extend connectivity | X | X |
Combine search with other SharePoint capabilities | Combine w/ SharePoint | X | X+ |
Use familiar tools built for developer productivity | Built-in tooling | X | X |
Leverage Advanced Content Processing | Content Processing |
| X |
Customize relevance | Custom Relevance |
| X |
Use advanced query capabilities to create powerful applications | Advanced queries |
| X |
Application examples
Some scenarios can be handled by either product, though they are better with FAST Search for SharePoint. Some search needs are only addressable with FAST Search for SharePoint.
There is a wide range of search applications, and a spectrum of what is possible with different degrees of customization. The examples below are not a full list, of course, but are meant to give you a sense of what capabilities are typically important for this type of application. Below the high-level table is a longer explanation of two applications.
| SharePoint Server 2010
| FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint |
Intranet Search | Tuned for Intranet Search OOB, at enterprise scale | Same Capabilities, plus: · Visual, Conversational UX · User Context · Advanced Content Processing · Strategic Platform with more flexibility in use cases and scale |
People Search | Address-book style search Phonetic and Nickname search Expertise location | Same Capabilities |
Site Search | Tuned for SharePoint collaboration sites | Same Capabilities, plus: · Visual, conversational UX · Visual Best Bets · Deep refiners |
Research Portal (market research, competitive research, product research, …) |
| · Advanced Content Processing · User Context · Custom Relevance · Enterprise Web Crawler |
Customer Management (call center portal, sales portal, voice of the customer, CRM portal,…) |
| · Advanced Content Processing · Deep Refiners · Structured Data Handling |
Parts Search (shop floor, manufacturing, shipping, logistics, Chemical names,…) |
| · Query Expressiveness · Structured Data Handling · Advanced Content Processing |
Intelligence (Analyst Workbench, Law Enforcement, fusion center, …) |
| · Advanced Content Processing · User Context · Deep Refiners · Custom Relevance · Enterprise Web Crawler |
IP protection (patent search, trademarks, copyrights, research & development) |
| · Extreme Scale · Custom Relevance · Integration flexibility (BI dashboard, Workflow, Visualization) |
Compliance (drug approval, e-Discovery) |
| · Deep Refiners · Extreme Scale · Integration flexibility (e-mail, BI dashboard, Workflow, Visualization) |
Intranet search - can be served by either product, with differences in degree.
· SharePoint Server 2010 Search can handle the full scale and search needs of a typical intranet, provides broad, secure connectivity to structured and unstructured content sources, and offers a great user experience out-of-the-box.
· FAST Search for SharePoint provides a better user experience, more flexibility for IT, and a strategic platform to grow on.
A global enterprise looking to do intranet search will likely want FAST Search for SharePoint.
· User Context means different groups (different native language speakers, geographies, departments, etc) can get different, context-driven, search experiences and be fully satisfied while sharing a single system.
· Advanced Content Processing means large volumes of content can be made much more findable and explorable, by ensuring that content shares metadata (through property extraction), and surfacing this in deep refiners, through sorting, and in relevance ranking.
· The visual, conversational UI provides a more intuitive, productive experience as well as happier users.
· Search in a large global enterprise is likely to be strategic, and FAST Search for SharePoint is the platform for strategic growth.
Research portals - should be served by FAST Search for SharePoint.
These are found in many functions (financial research, market research, competitive research, product research, medical research, etc) - and are recognized because there are staff who search intensively for a large portion of their time…’search’ is a huge part of ‘research’.
· Visual UI provides both higher productivity in finding AND more ‘synergy’ when exploring information.
· Deep refiners, sorting, and similarity search provide much quicker exploration across a large amount of content - which may be unfamiliar yet contain crucial nuggets of information.
· Advanced Content processing means large volumes of content can be found much more easily, by ensuring that content shares metadata (through property extraction),and surfacing this in deep refiners, through sorting, and in relevance ranking. It also adds structure to unstructured information….improving the user experience and findability. Techniques such as taxonomies, classification, ontologies, etc are found often in research settings.
· Custom Relevance ranking is usually crucial for research. Tuning search for high recall (to be sure that you don’t miss anything) and supporting multiple ranking profiles that the end user can choose between are capabilities only found in FAST Search for SharePoint