The Google Search Appliance Version 7
October 9, 2012
I learned today (October 9, 2012) that Google has upgraded the GSA to Version 7. I have not gotten my hands on a GSA. I did work through the list of enhancements. My first reaction is that Google has invested time and effort in the GSA. Some competitors will have to deal with the GSA in its present form because Google has emphasized some features which will appeal to harried information technology managers. The GSA is, according to the information available to me delivers “Google magic.” As Google’s impact across business sectors becomes more powerful, “Google magic” may be what convinces organizations to embrace an appliance which delivers “powerful simplicity.”
Among the features of Version 7 are:
- Universal search accessible from any device, including smartphones
- Entity recognition, hit clustering, and faceted search
- Ability to identify an “expert”
- More robust access controls
- Support for SharePoint
- Updated language modules and support for Google Translate
- Document previews without opening a viewer or an application like Adobe Reader
- Support for a Vivisimo-style social comment.
Google points out: “Search in the enterprise isn’t a solved problem. 60 percent of workers say it is hard to find information in their organization.” I agree.
I don’t have pricing information. There are some prices for the GB 7007 and GB 9009 available via www.gsaadvantage.gov. You will have to experiment with the search syntax. The US government prices are discounted, so the commercial lease with two or three years of support will vary.
The official Google announcement is at “Introducing the Google Search Appliance, Version 7.” Feature by feature comparisons with other enterprise search systems are tricky. Will the new version address some of the issues that licensees experienced with previous Google Search Appliances? I don’t know. I will update my analysis of the Google Search Appliance as more information becomes available.
From a competitor’s point of view, Google “magic” may be difficult to disprove.
Stephen E Arnold, October 9, 2012
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One Response to “The Google Search Appliance Version 7”
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None of the features seem particularly innovative: the GSA’s competitors have offered them for a long time. It’s also worth considering how long an appliance model is economically feasible in these days of cloud computing and Big Data.