June 2, 2004

Google is polishing and increasing the number of search tools that it sells to companies, schools and government agencies, hoping to mine new revenue sources as it strives to become less dependent on online advertising.

AP Wire reports that Google on Wednesday took another small step beyond its renowned online search engine releasing its most significant upgrade of a 2-year-old kit that’s sometimes called “Google in a box.”

The hardware-and-software package is supposed to provide prospective customers with everything they need to do a better job indexing and searching the information on intranets - a cluster of Web sites maintained behind security shields known as firewalls.

Google’s top-of-the-line system, priced at $175,000, will index up to 1.5 million Web pages and perform 300 search queries per minute - five times the capacity and speed of the earlier version, said Dave Girouard the company’s general manager of enterprise.

A less sophisticated version of the kit will sell for $32,000.

The original version of Google’s search kit is being used by “several hundred” customers, Girouard said. Google is hoping to drum up more demand by offering a more powerful product and making it even simpler to run - the company says the kit can be installed in about 30 minutes.

The market for intranet search products remains relatively small. The industry leaders, Verity Inc. and Autonomy Corp., combined to generate slightly less than $200 million last year. Google, meanwhile, posted 2003 revenue of $962 million.

Online advertising accounted for all but 4 percent of Google’s first-quarter revenue - a heavy concentration that has raised mild concerns among some industry analysts as the company prepares for a highly anticipated initial public offering of stock. The IPO is still several months away.

Although online advertising is expected remain its financial foundation, Google is trying to diversify.

The company reportedly is working on a product, code named “Puffin,” that would search information stored on the hard drives on individual computer users - an initiative that would intensify Google’s rivalry with software giant Microsoft Corp.

Google so far has declined to discuss the Puffin project.

Source: Search Engine Journal

        

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