Leading search engine Google Inc. has released software that will offer IBM Lotus Notes users the ability to search the full text of their Notes messages, both in email and instant messaging, as well as non-Lotus desktop files. The product is called Google Desktop Search for Enterprise.
Some viewers have pegged desktop search as an important user-side technology in years to come. Google, Microsoft and others have been at work on such software for some time.
In recent years, IBM has worked to increase the searchability of its DB2 relational stores, as well as unstructured data and text applications running in WebSphere and other environments. The deal with Google suggests the company is ready to forge deals with powerful outsiders in order to promote its Lotus Notes and Workplace product lines, as well as to gain better security, configuration and deployment controls than what currently exists.
The deal with Google was possible because, said Ambuj Goyal, general manager of IBM Lotus Software, the IBM Lotus Group was "not in the search engine business."
"We leverage Google desktop search," said Goyal, speaking to SearchDomino.com outside the Admin2005 conference in Boston. "Google is seeing the strength of our platform," he added.
Goyal indicated teams from Google and IBM worked rapidly to forge the deal. "The two teams saw value and developed the capability," he said.
Google Desktop Search for Enterprise is now being offered as
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a free download from the Google.com website. An attendee at Admin2005 said he planned on wasting no time downloading the software as soon as he returned to his office. Of the currently offered Domino search facility, Mike Bravo, systems administrator, application servers for Fujifilm Medical Systems USA, Inc., in Stamford, Conn., said, "It's very resource-intensive."
Centralized administration and security could be an important function for corporate IT departments that are wary of too many user-specific browser plug-ins. The ability to administer control of all configuration settings -- which means restrictions on indexing of secure sites, specific file types and particular domains -- is touted for the Google Enterprise search software. One security capabilities that could interest locations with many IBM Lotus e-mail users is support for index encryption, which would protect search indexes from unauthorized access.