Should your enterprise outsource search?
Thunderstone's technology provides stemming, high-volume processing, near real-time index updates and a fully configurable system. The administrative interface allows point-and-click access to such essential configuration options as relevance weighting. Thunderstone's appliance supports file server crawling without Web enablement and automatic index replication for redundancy and automatic failover.
Thunderstone powers search at eBay, Amazon, Ziff-Davis and Corbis. Google's Appliance customers include Boeing, Cisco, Intel, and Morgan Stanley, among others.
The Google Mini can be purchased online at mini.google.com. The Google Search Appliance is sold by Google's direct sales force. In addition, Google recently created a partner program to offer value-added service to Google customers. A current list of authorized Google partners is located at google.com/enterprise/gep/directory.html. The key feature of the Google Appliance is its easy setup and rapid deployment design. A basic system can be serving results three hours after the box is opened. The partner program is focused on providing value-added services to customers.
Google's appliance comes in four "flavors": the Mini, the GB-1001, the GB-5005 and the GB-8008. Pricing begins at about $3,000. However, customers of Autonomy who replace their existing search solution with a Google Search Appliance will receive a free Google Mini.
The Google Appliance's search system is in Version 4 with Version 5 expected this year. Some resellers are going to introduce a hosted search option. Information will appear at google.com/enterprise/gep/index.html, according to David Bercovich, product marketing manager, Google Enterprise. With each release, the appliance has been improved to deliver relevant results based on factors in addition to the PageRank popularity algorithm, adapters to allow the appliance's search function to be more easily integrated into portals and Intranets.
The principal difference between the two systems, apart from starting price, is that the Thunderstone Search Appliance offers a wider range of configuration options for licensees. In comparison, the Google Appliance allows fewer options for tweaking relevance ranking. Customer support has been Thunderstone's strength for many years. Google is expanding its customer support for its appliance.
In head-to-head comparisons, both the Thunderstone Search Appliance and Google Appliance perform indexing, query processing and results ranking with aplomb. Response time is typically in the second and sub-second range. An apples-to-apples price comparison for appliances for 500,000 documents indicates that a Thunderstone appliance would cost about $15,000 and a Google appliance, about $30,000.
Either appliance is a solid alternative where easy setup and minimal administrative work are essential for implementing Web site search.