Google upgrades enterprise search products

Juan Carlos Perez   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Business Intelligence Stories  

Google's Universal Search for Business Google Search Appliance - New Features Turning information into a Competitive Advantage Six Project Metrics Every CIO Should Know for Application Delivery Success Project Portfolio Management - Boost the value of IT Putting the Right Model in Place to Better Balance IT Supply and Business Demand Virtual Reality SaaS Solutions for Remote Systems Management Mobility @ the Speed of Business Sign up to receive Business Intelligence Resource Alerts

April 19, 2006 (IDG News Service) -- Google Inc. is revamping its enterprise search devices and today will announce a new version of its Google Mini for small and medium-size businesses and an upgrade to its Search Appliance for larger organizations.

The Search Appliance upgrade includes a feature called OneBox, which lets the engine identify the overall intent of certain queries and compile and present certain data at the top of the search results list that may satisfy the user's information needs.

OneBox, which already exists on the Google.com search engine, is meant to save users from having to click on search results by presenting them with a digest of data.

For example, the Google.com search engine returns at the top of search results a box with current weather data for Dallas if a user enters that city's name along with the term "weather." It has others for stock information, package tracking and airline flight times.

Now, the Search Appliance will be able to replicate this feature for workplace information, such as human resources data, sales transaction details and employee contact and calendar information.

To activate the Search Appliance's OneBox functionality, users need to download free modules built for this purpose. There will be about 20 ready today that will allow the Search Appliance to create OneBox digests of data gathered from applications from Cisco Systems Inc., Cognos Inc., Oracle Corp., Microsoft Corp., SAP AG, SAS and Salesforce.com Inc., among others. Google is also publishing an open application programming interface to let any developer create OneBox modules for the Search Appliance.

Other enhancements to the Search Appliance include improved security and authentication capabilities and the ability to deliver more relevant results. The device's performance has also been improved through software; it now offers a 500% increase in queries per second and a 100% increase in its index size.

The Search Appliance upgrade will be made available to existing customers before the end of the month via a free software download at http://code.google.com/enterprise. On this Web page, users will also find information about the OneBox modules, as well as resources for developers, including software development kits and documentation.

Google also plans to begin shipping a new version of the Google Mini that is half the size and weight of the current one but able to process 25 queries per second, up from 1 query per second. This next-generation Google Mini will cost the same as current versions of the product.

The Search Appliance and Google Mini are hardware devices loaded with search engine software designed to let companies index and retrieve information stored on corporate servers.

The Google Mini starts at $1,995 with a capacity to index as many as 50,000 documents, while the Search Appliance starts at $30,000 with a 500,000-document capacity.

Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2008 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"Between high oil prices and the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the economic situation here in the U.S. has gone from bad..." Read more... "In Monday's IT Blogwatch..." Read more... Read more Business Intelligence posts or See all Blogs

Report: AMD to spin-off manufacturing Microsoft scales out SQL Server 2008, wants to 'democratize BI' Oracle tries to step up on high-end databases More top stories...

IBM launches Bluehouse, a Facebook for business iPhone grabs top smart phone spot Wi-Fi helps college students get better grades, survey says

Health hazards for IT workers -- how that desk job wears your body down Too much junk food, too little exercise and a 24/7 tether to technology? Your body ain't happy, friend. Let us count the pains. NASA robot sends back evidence it's snowing on Mars Instruments on the surface of Mars have detected falling snow that is likely evaporating before it reaches the planet. Wall Street's collapse may be computer science's gain One positive development stemming from the collapse of Wall Street may be a boost in interest in computer science and IT careers among students who were previously interested in financial services jobs. Installing Linux apps: A few good tips Getting new software installed on Linux doesn't have to be hard, but it can differ depending on what you're installing. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland Security Apple's iPhone Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader Bill Gates steps down BlackBerry Legal Battle Data Security Breaches Electronic Voting Firefox H-1B Visas HP's Boardroom Scandal Handheld Devices Hurricane Katrina Aftermath Microsoft Legal Issues Microsoft's Vista Open Source RFID Technology SCO's Linux Fight Sarbanes-Oxley Act Spam Voice Over IP Wi-Fi Windows Meta File Vulnerability Windows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class 2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2006 Salary Survey 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 IT Forecast 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 40 Years of Computerworld ASPs, Take Two Best Places to Work in IT 2003 Best Places to Work in IT 2004 Best Places to Work in IT 2005 Best Places to Work in IT 2006 Business Intelligence Home Runs Business Intelligence: Smarter BI Business Intelligence: The Future of BI CRM Goes Vertical CRM: Sober CRM Career Planning Guide 2005 Careers: IT Profession 2010 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005 Data Management: Mining for Gems Data Management: Taming Data Chaos Development: Hard-Workin' Web Sites Development: New Tools New Choices Development: The New World of Application Development Development: The Web Services Tsunami Development: Web Services Hurdles Disaster Recovery: Preparing for the Worst E-commerce Grows Up E-mail/Groupware: Big Decisions Faces of Mobile IT Forecast 2006 Global Mobile Hardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple Challenges Hardware: On-Demand Un-Hyped Hardware: The Shape of Things to Come Horizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge Technologies IT Management: Guide to Managing Vendors IT Management: Navigating Global IT IT Management: Recovery Ahead IT Management: The Future of IT IT Management: The Resourceful Project Manager Innovative Technology Awards 2004 Management: Reinventing IT Microsoft in Transition Mobile/Wireless Leaders and Laggards Mobile/Wireless: The Untethered Worker Mobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge Costs Network Management: Taking Control Networking: Turbulence Ahead! Networking: VoIP Goes Mainstream Operating Systems: In the Slow Lane Operating Systems: Linux Goes Global Operating Systems: Should You Nix Unix? Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's Guide Outsourcing: Outsourcing Dangers Premier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in Class Premier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in Class ROI: Do the Math! Salary Survey 2003 Salary Survey 2004 Salary Survey 2005 Security Action Plan Security: Compliance Headaches Security: Proactive Security Security: Risk and Reward Security: Tips From Security Pros Souped-up Security Storage: Battling Complexity Storage: Cheap & Secure Data Stores Storage: Stretching Your Storage Dollars Storage: The Lean Storage Machine Storage: The New Rules of Storage Storage: The Ultimate Backup Guide Supply Chain: Missing Links Supply Chain: RFID Reality Check The Business of Security Web 2.0 Security Wireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone The File Data Management Zone Security Management Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone Windows Protection Zone The Enterprise Search Zone Software as a Service Zone See your link here

Speeding the time to intelligence Get this Computerworld report free for a limited time, compliments of SAS. Time To Intelligence -- a concept defining how long it takes to get accurate and timely information into the hands of workers who need it most. Do it slower than your competitors and your company is toast. Do it faster, you scorch them. Business Intelligence is the key to optimizing Time To Intelligence, and success there is a combination of people, policies, and technology. Download this executive briefing  From Laggard to Leader: Transforming the Data Center From Laggard to Leader: Transforming the Data Center Register for this complimentary webcast today! Go to the webcast  Rapid application development, rapid results Download this special report now! (Source: Intersystems) All too many businesses suffer from IT infrastructures that are a hodge-podge of disconnected databases and applications. What's needed is the ability rapidly develop connected applications under a unified service-oriented architecture. InterSystems Ensemble integration environment and Cache database are effective tools in answering this need, delivering a rapid ROI. Download this white paper  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Project Portfolio Management - Boost the value of IT Core Network Services Survey: The Costs and Impacts of DNS and IP Address Management Six Project Metrics Every CIO Should Know for Application Delivery Success View more whitepapers

• Report: AMD to spin-off manufacturing
• IBM launches Bluehouse, a Facebook for business
• Microsoft scales out SQL Server 2008, wants to 'democratize BI'
• More top stories 

SAS Business and Analytics Zone No matter where your organization is on the path toward evolving your IT infrastructure, SAS can adapt to your situation to meet your long-term enterprise intelligence needs. We can help you drive intelligence evolution to the next level, while leveraging and extending the value of your existing IT investments. Learn more in the Business and Analytics Zone See All Zones

Intercept Spam & Viruses With MessageLabs MessageLabs is offering a complimentary 30 day trial of its managed Anti-virus and Anti-spam security solutions. MessageLabs guarantees complete protection against all know and unknown email threats. By providing 24 hour support, your business can increase productivity and decrease risk. Register for a complimentary trial and receive a free datasheet. Download this white paper now!

"Turning information into a Competitive Advantage" Companies today are realizing that competitive advantage is harder to sustain when based solely on gains in productivity and cost efficiency. The focus is shifting to invest more in business optimization initiatives which rely on trusted information to develop new insights that deliver better business results. But how can this be done efficiently in a business environment across multiple applications and processes. The answer is an Information Agenda - an innovative approach to transforming business information into a strategic asset for competitive advantage. View this webcast now!  See more Webcasts

Since You Asked A weekly storage column from storage analyst, Steve Duplessie of the Enterprise Strategy Group Click here to read the latest column by Steve Duplessie