Google extends Mini search tool

Tool can let firms search internet, files and intranets

Google has updated its Google Mini corporate search appliance, which it says could prompt medium-sized firms in Europe to use the engine for web, intranet and internal document searches.

The new versions will have the same features as the standard Mini, but increase the search capacity from 100,000 documents to either 200,000 or 300,000, according to Google’s European enterprise director, Roberto Solimene. They are priced at £3,995 and £5,995.

“When [the original Mini] came out, the traditional enterprise search firms were not interested in tools for small and medium-sized firms,” said Solimene. “But then our customers [started] asking for some functionality for a larger base of documents.”

Angela Ashenden of analyst Ovum suggested that although Google initially intended to market the original Mini as a cut-down version of its enterprise search products, it may have found that the functionality was too limited.