This Bright Yellow Box Puts A Mini Version Of Google Inside Any Business

Google today has released a new version of its Google Search Appliance. That's one of the first products it ever created for the enterprise.

It helps companies search through all of the documents they store on their own websites and in their own data centers using the same search tech that Google uses to search the Internet.

The new device includes several new tweaks that help enterprise do a better job of indexing content (i.e. sorting things) and helps employees find documents with less effort. It includes, for instance, Google's famous autosuggest, and it interprets search terms to find closely related things.

More importantly, this is the first update to this product since October 2012. And that represents Google's increasing focus on selling more products to businesses.

Google makes nearly all of its money selling ads. But in the company's last conference call, Google particularly singled out enterprise products as an area for investment and future growth.

As CFO Patrick Pichette told analysts during its quarterly conference call:

... Strong results and an optimism that provides us the confidence to fund strategic growth opportunities, including Android, Chrome, YouTube, Enterprise just to name a few. ... Our enterprise business continues to grow steadily as more businesses than ever want their employees to work the way they live.

And we're seeing Google hop to it. For instance, this month alone so far:

• It launched a new line of Chromebox videoconferencing products with its PC/Chrombox partners.
• It launched a new iPhone app for IT professionals that manage a company's Google App's account.
• It announced that its cloud has been certified as OK for health apps covered by HIPPA.
• And, since January, it's been showcasing an increasing number of big companies that choose Google Apps over Microsoft.