Alphabet Inc (GOOG)

[SeriousMoney]

Google's Corporate Makeover
Forbes.com, Dan Frommer, 04.18.06, 6:50 PM ET

Google, which wants to expand its fledgling enterprise line, is asking some of Silicon Valley's biggest names for their help. The search giant will announce Wednesday that it has struck partnerships with big-name business software vendors to integrate their offerings into Google's "Search Appliance."

The device, aimed at large businesses who want to sort through mounds of their own data using the same interface that Google has popularized for Internet searches, sells for $30,000. Now a new upgrade allows users to search data they've created using other firms' software, which will be displayed in a field called "OneBox." Initial partners include Oracle, Salesforce.com, Cognos and Cisco Systems.

Google's enterprise division is small, but "very profitable," says Dave Girouard, the group's general manager. Girouard says his group accounts for up to 2% of the company's overall revenue, which means it could generate some $28 million this quarter if Google meets analysts' predictions of $1.4 billion in total revenue.

Girouard says his unit has doubled its revenue in the last year. More than 3,000 customers already use Google's enterprise search tools for their corporate information, both on private, internal networks and on public Web sites.

Google's move to open up its enterprise offering to big software developers is parallel to moves the company has made with other products, like giving outsiders the ability to create "mash-ups" with their software and Google Maps. The company said it will also allow smaller players to create add-ons for the enterprise line. They're already showing off some examples, such as the ability to search and display someone's Microsoft Exchange contact information within the Google interface, and even inviting a co-worker to a meeting without leaving your Web browser.

"Search to me is really the next big move to get people access to all the information--not just the documents, but the data--in the enterprise context," says Robert Ashe, chief executive of Cognos, whose business software data will now be accessible through OneBox.

Google hopes its new partnerships, which were first reported Tuesday by Business 2.0, will help boost its share in the enterprise search and information access market which research firm Gartner estimates will hit almost $370 million worldwide this year.

Gartner analyst Whit Andrews estimates that Google accounted for between 10% and 20% of new search licenses sold last year, amid competition from business-software giants Microsoft, IBM and Oracle and smaller companies like Norway-based Fast. "But other vendors either cost a lot more money or don't have the Google brand," Andrews says, adding that Google's share of new license sales could grow to 40% by the end of 2007 if companies latch on to enterprise search.

http://www.forbes.com/intelligentinfrastructure/2006/04/18/google-enterprise-search_cx_df_0418google...