As millions of people tune into the Olympics over the next two weeks, we'd like to highlight the NBCOlympics website with search powered by (can you guess it) the Google Search Appliance. A search for TV will help you keep track of events throughout the Olympics on 5 different channels. Curious where Michelle Kwan was born? (Michelle’s from Torrance, CA.) Or to learn more about Jeremy Bloom – the freestyle mogul skier (and medal contender) who is expected to be drafted into the NFL in April as a wide receiver - after taking 2 years off football!

To get a bird’s eye view of Torino and some of the Olympic terrain, load up Google Earth which has new high resolution imagery for Torino and the surrounding area. Once you have Google Earth installed, you can click on the following KMZ file, which will load placemarks for all the major venues in the Torino area. And if you want to get pumped for the athletic competition check out this Olympic preview video.

We often hear from people when describing their corporate search experience that they want simple... they want easy... they want relevant... they want... well Google. Here in Google Enterprise, we believe that simple is better than complicated. We believe that fast is better than slow. And most of all, we believe that corporate search users are people too, and they don't usually pick up a Ph.D in library sciences before coming into work.

But don't take our word for it, in his report on mental models for search, Jakob Nielsen makes the same point loud and clear. Users expectations for search have been set, they want a search box, a button, and a results list (preferably in that order). And they want the best result to be at the top. To that end, I wanted to share with you some things we think about when building an enterprise search solution.

1. Focus on the user, and all else will follow. - Users are just trying to find something, and they've been spoiled by using Google on the Internet. They are used to typing in a word or two and getting back the right answer. So we don't over complicate the experience, and we give administrators full customization control to tailor the experience to the needs of their users.
   
2. Data silos are bad. - Then why, you ask, are there entire segments of the technology industry focused on creating them? We don't know, but our goal is to break down these walls. Our search team is focused on "effortless reach", that is, the ability to easily reach into any source of information and provide search across it. All from one search box.
   
3. Security is good. - When breaking down artificial barriers, you need to ensure you don't break through real ones. Search must sit "on top of" a company's identity management and access control system, and ensure that users only see in search results documents or data they have access to directly. To that end, we inter operate with basic-auth, NTML, SSO, x509 and SAML-based interfaces.
   

So our focus here in Google Enterprise is going to continue to be on providing a fast, fun, and easy-to-use experience to people everywhere, for search across their corporate network and enterprise information stores.

From time to time, enthusiastic Mini customers such as De Anza College send us pictures of those involved in purchasing and implementing their Mini. Here we've received a double whammy - a love letter plus more Mini hardware than is legal in most states.

"Last Fall we heard about the Google Mini and decided to give it a shot on one of our sites. Previously we were using an open source search technology that worked 'ok'. Our users found it gave poor search results and conversions were low. Once we got the Google Mini up and running, our complaints all but disappeared. The feedback from our users was overwhelming, so much so that we ordered 7 more.

We rolled the Minis out across several of our sites and noticed an instant increase in our conversion ratios. We contribute that to features like spell check and the over all great results that the Mini returns. As a Webmaster, the thing I love most is 'set it and forget it.' The Mini updates our search index on the schedule we set and there is nothing else we need to do to keep our index fresh. Here are 2 thumbs up for the Google Mini!

Thanks again!"

Mike - DirectEssays.com

The Mini six-pack might not be a bad idea for DirectEssays.com, but our new 200,000 and 300,000 Minis should fit the bill for those of you with New York apartment-style server closets.

We want to take a moment to recognize the tireless efforts of corporate IT teams everywhere. These dedicated individuals work day and night to keep employees' computers running safe and secure. However, the very users they serve are constantly asking them for more: "Can you install Google Earth for me?" "Why don't we use Google Desktop for Enterprise here at work?" "Can we use Google Talk on our internal network?"

In an effort to lend a hand, we're making Google Toolbar beta for Enterprise available today. This free application lets your IT team provide the Google Toolbar across the company with all settings configurable at the admin level to meet corporate standards. Users gain access to all the Toolbar features including the new custom buttons which make it easy to create buttons to search frequently visited sites -- anything from the employee directory to research sites.

Will having the Google Toolbar beta for Enterprise lead to users' more active gratitude towards their hardworking IT team? We sure hope so, but in any case, we're willing to bet people will appreciate it more than they do the next ERP system upgrade!

"Google Enterprise." Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? Well, for a few years now, we've been building products for businesses large and small based on Google technology. We're pleased to announce the launch of this, the Google Enterprise Blog - the official blog for our enterprise business. We'll share our thoughts and ideas about enterprise technology, present best practices and tips for developers, and perhaps announce something new now and again.

The Google Enterprise team has a growing list of products that you'll be able to learn more about right here. Most of our team is focused on -- can you guess? -- enterprise search. We have a fundamental belief that it ought to be simple and easy -- just like Google.com. People are people - they don't turn into information scientists when they arrive at work in the morning. Providing simple, fast, and accurate search across all the information in your company can have a profound effect on your business.

But the technology that powers search inside a company is very different. That's why our growing team of search engineers is entirely focused on delivering a quality search experience to business users around the world. Of course, we're never done -- there are always ways to make the search experience more efficient, more comprehensive, or just more fun.

If you have any comments or suggestions about how we can make our enterprise products better, please contact us here.