Microsoft Offers to Buy FAST for $1.2 Billion

Microsoft said that it will offer $1.2 billion in cash for Fast Search and Transfer (FAST), a big player in the enterprise search market. The move is sure to shake up the enterprise search market, which thus far has been dominated by a series of smaller players like FAST, Autonomy and Vivisimo. Google has made some inroads, but for the most part the market is the realm of niche players. Microsoft is about to change that with FAST. You can expect Google to make a purchase in enterprise search along with traditional enterprise players like HP, IBM and the usual suspects