We've created a plugin and search mechanism that is fast on the fronte-end and elegant to work with in the back-end of the website. Using the apache Solr api we've managed to search within a database of more than 45.000 records and counting.
Using several caching methods and clean code we got the job done!
This was our first encounter with the cms Craft. And we love it!
It has been an absolute breeze building a custom plugin for this cms. Craft is well documented and not hard to work with at all. Coming from expression engine we might consider using Craft as a standard cms from now on.
pssst... (We're using it for this website as well)