Google Search Appliance gets federated search with help from partners |
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By Colin Steele, News Writer
05 May 2008 | SearchITChannel.com |
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The Google Search Appliance can now access subscription-based Web data, other premium online content and businesses' internal database information using new software announced today.
MuseGlobal, a San Francisco-based content integration vendor, announced the All Access Connector, its federated search software for the Google Search Appliance. The product lets businesses use the Google Search Appliance to access the Lexis-Nexis information databases, online newspapers and other subscription-only sites; data from SAP, Oracle and other line-of-business systems; and more than 5,400 other information sources.
Adhere Solutions, a Chicago-based universal search solution provider, is the Google enterprise partner that will sell MuseGlobal's federated search software and help customers optimize and customize it for their businesses. The Google Search Appliance provides a good amount of functionality out of the box, but not enough for "higher-end" enterprise customers, Adhere director Erik Arnold said.
"People buy a Google Search Appliance and they think search is 'easy,'" he said. "Search is not easy. … There's lots of ways to add value and grow the reach of the Google Search Appliance."
MuseGlobal said its federated search software will help Google compete against Autonomy, Endeca and other enterprise search market leaders.
"We see it as changing user behavior in the enterprise," president Kristina Bivins said. "You're not going to have to jump around to multiple sources to access all the data you need."
The Google Search Appliance differs from most of Google's products and services because it targets business customers and it's a piece of hardware that is deployed on premise. Along with Google Apps and the Postini Communications Suite, it is part of Google's growing enterprise strategy. Google is using these products as entry points into corporate accounts where IT departments tend to be wary of free, ad-based software services, such as Google's Web search.
"We're trying to help enterprises make better use of the Google Search Appliance," Bivins said. "They're going to be able to make Google a platform that they can choose to standardize on."
The appliance and MuseGlobal's federated search also spurred Adhere to join Google's partner program, Arnold said.
"It's exciting because it's new, and they're actually very supportive," he said. "They have a reputation of not answering the phone. That was true before we were a partner, but since we became a partner, it's been a good experience."
Adhere is the only partner now selling the MuseGlobal federated search software, but that could change, said Mark Moorehead, MuseGlobal's senior product management vice president.
"We're always open to partners who would offer more vertical-specific opportunities," he said.
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