The news today regarding FAST is big. Perhaps not as historic as the New Hampshire primary, but to the enterprise search teams at FAST and Microsoft, this is a new chapter in the evolution of the search software market.

For those who missed it, Microsoft has tendered an offer to acquire the shares of FAST. FAST’s board of directors has unanimously recommended to the shareholders to accept this offer, and shareholders representing approximately 35 percent of outstanding shares have already accepted, which makes this pretty much a done deal. We expect the acquisition to close in the second quarter, and the deal is valued at about $1.2 billion.

Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division, sums up the rationale for the move this way: “Enterprise search is becoming an indispensable tool to businesses of all sizes… Until now organizations have been forced to choose between powerful, high-end search technologies or more mainstream, infrastructure solutions. The combination of Microsoft and FAST gives customers a new choice: a single vendor with solutions that span the full range of customer needs.”

Quite simply, Microsoft and FAST share the same vision of the importance of search to the enterprise. The companies also have complementary capabilities across the board. The fit has been evident for many to see. Microsoft has said that their reasons for acquiring FAST are threefold: leadership and vision, an extraordinary team of talented people, and best-in-class enterprise search technologies and innovations. We’re blushing with pride. And excited about our joint future.

This deal validates what we’ve been saying all along regarding the importance of search in the enterprise infrastructure. And, it allows FAST to take advantage of Microsoft’s reach. Our CEO, John Lervik, puts it succinctly: “This acquisition gives FAST an exciting way to spread our cutting-edge search technologies and innovations to more and more organizations across the world.”

FAST has been tremendously successful on its own as a trailblazer in search, but the amplification that Microsoft will provide is truly synergistic. And I really don’t like using that word unless it’s apt.

So make sure to book your registration for this blog’s namesake, our industry conference FASTforward ’08 in Orlando! You’ll be watching the evolution of the industry in action. Now, more than ever, you can’t afford to miss it!