Computerworld - Google moved to push further into corporate IT shops when it unveiled the Chromebook netbook computer at its Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco earlier this month.
The new Acer- and Samsung-built computers will run the Google Chrome OS operating system, which was built to run Web-based applications. They will join the company's hosted office applications, the Chrome browser and the Android mobile platform as key components of Google's enterprise effort.
The Chromebook will run cloud-based applications and will receive software and security updates automatically. Analysts said they expect it to attract the attention of IT managers because it could help them cut software, services and security costs.
Further, they said, companies might be intrigued by the fact that the Chromebook will be available on a subscription basis -- businesses can "rent" the devices from Google for $28 per user per month, while schools and government agencies will be charged $20 per user per month.
"[Google isn't] going to make a lot of money in the short term on either the OS or the devices, but they're playing a longer-term game here," said Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group.
Samsung's Chrome OS-based netbooks will be priced from $429, and Acer's will start at $349. They will be available on June 15 from Best Buy and Amazon.com.
Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at Yankee Group, said Chromebooks will let IT shops test cloud apps easily. And he predicts that such tests could help convince IT managers that the cloud is secure.
A purely Web-based computer "is much more secure," Kerravala said. "All the content and apps live in the cloud, so if a device is lost or stolen, there's no risk. It's great for road warriors because it's instant-on and doesn't have the usual issues of having to update patches."
Security professionals, however, suggested that automatic delivery of security updates could give IT managers pause.
"This does concern me," said Jason Miller, data and security team manager at security vendor Shavlik Technologies. Patches should be tested before they're deployed, he said, but with the Chromebook, "you don't get a say, [which] leaves you at the mercy of Google."
"This is never going to fly for IT," contended Jeremiah Grossman, CTO of WhiteHat Security.
That's because administrators are responsible not only for the security of corporate networks, but also for their smooth operation. If a patch in a Chrome OS update leaves the Chromebook incompatible with a Web application or, worse, cripples the machine, it's the administrator's neck on the line, not Google's.
Over the long run, though, any IT resistance to automatic updates may be moot, said Gartner analyst John Pescatore.
"I think that really is the way of the future. It is pretty much how it works in the smartphone and cellphone world," he said. "Enterprises will just have less control in the future. And security strategies will have to evolve to deal with it."
The Samsung Chromebook has a 12.1-in. display, an Intel Atom dual-core processor, two USB ports, and a full-size keyboard and trackpad. Acer's machine has an 11.6-in. display, an Atom dual-core processor, two USB ports, an HDMI port, and a full-size keyboard and trackpad.
During a press conference at the Google conference, Sundar Pichai, senior vice president for Chrome at Google, said the company doesn't plan to introduce a Chrome OS tablet computer in the near future. "We have no other plans at this time [for] any other form factors," he said.
Juan Carlos Perez of the IDG News Service contributed to this story.
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