By: Chris Sherman, Associate Editor of SearchEngineWatch.com
Google is introducing its new search “appliance” today, a pizza-box size unit that contains the full Google search functionality for internal networks and intranets.
Designed to compete head-to-head with site search tools offered by industry titans such as Verity and Inktomi‘s
, the Google appliance differs in that it’s an integrated hardware/software product that needs comparatively little configuration to put into action.
“Companies have a lot of content behind the firewall and struggle with how to get access to all that content to make employees more productive,” Google vice president of search services at Google told Reuters. “This is an extension of our Internet site search business. Many of our Web site customers have been asking us, ‘Can you give me Google in a box?'”
Mountain View, Calif.-based Google is offering two versions of the search appliance: The GB-1001, a single Linux-based machine that’s very similar to one of the thousands of computers in Google’s data centers, and the GB-8008, essentially a rack of eight GB-1001s.
The GB-1001 is designed for departments or small to medium sized companies, capable of indexing 150,000 documents. It’s priced at $20,000, which includes hardware and two years of updates and support, after which the purchaser owns the unit.
The GB-8008 is designed for large enterprises and centralized services, and can handle millions of documents. The GB-8008 costs $200,000 for a two-year support and upgrade contract.
