The search engine giant Google (www.google.com) announced on January 14 the release of Google Mini (www.google.com/enterprise/mini/), a search engine hardware device for the Web sites and internal networks of small businesses. The Google Mini is a smaller, cheaper version of the Google Search Appliance (www.google.com/enterprise/gsa/index.html) that has been sold to larger businesses who have massive internal networks and public Web pages to search.
The mini can search up to 50 000 documents, as compared to the regular version's 15 million, and costs just under $5000. The larger search appliance starts at $32 000. The mini can be used by both employees and customers of a small or medium business, to search either the outside-facing Web page or the company intranet. Unlike the free "search this page with Google" function that companies can use, the Google Mini will display no sponsored links, and won't even include the Google name.
