Dell To Sell Google Search Appliance, Google Mini

Dell reported Tuesday that it will sell Google's Search Appliance and the Google Mini. Dell has been manufacturing both devices for Google for several months.

Both devices are aimed at IT users. The $30,000 Search Appliance is targeted at IT enterprise users and the $1,995 Google Mini at smaller operations.

Dell noted that its OEM Industry Solutions Group has worked with Google to customize Dell PowerEdge 2950 servers upon which the foundation of the Google Search Appliance is based. "Dell's OEM division," Dell said in a release, "supports Google's Enterprise division with an end-to-end appliance program providing sales and technical expertise, worldwide regulatory compliance, and order fulfillment."

Previously, Google operated its own manufacturing and assembling operation for the bright yellow rack server Search Appliance while Super Micro Computer manufactured the Google Mini box.

Google's Search Appliance creates a master index that its crawler develops. After a search query is typed into the device, the collected data is integrated in Google's proprietary hardware and software system in a way that ensures that only authorized users can access the information. The $30,000 Search Appliance enables customers to search up to 500,000 documents.

Dell noted that both appliances deliver search results from data sources within a customer's firewall.

"Having the Google Search Appliance and Google Mini available from Dell bolsters our enterprise offerings and helps simplify the search engine process for our commercial and public customers," said Terry Klein, VP of Dell's Americas Advanced Solutions Group, in a statement. "Google's turnkey search appliances align well with Dell's priority to simplify information technology in the data center."