"I want to give you a good feel of what's going on without giving too much away so I don't get shot," he told the conference audience.

Customers of the enterprise search tool will have to buy a specific licence and purchase a dedicated search server. Enterprise search is not something you install on your PC or laptop, he says.

A third common use for high-end search capabilities, Microsoft predicts, will be in monetising website offerings by guiding users to content for which they will be willing to pay, and bringing up relevant advertising messages.

Letford confirmed, in answer to a question from the audience, that Microsoft's public search-engine, Bing, will evolve to use FAST-style technology.