Beefier Google Minis for corporate sites

Google is launching two new versions of the Google Mini budget search appliance for small and midsize companies. The appliances offer double and triple the capacity of the existing Mini for double and triple the price, a Google product manager said Wednesday.

One of the new Google Minis will be priced at just under $6,000 and will be able to search up to 200,000 documents on corporate Web sites and intranets. The second will be priced at just under $9,000 and will be able to handle 300,000 documents, said Rajen Sheth, product manager of Google's enterprise division.

The original Mini, released almost exactly a year ago, handles 100,000 documents and sells for just under $3,000.

Google also sells the Google Search Appliance, which starts at $30,000 and searches up to 500,000 documents. It runs as high as $500,000 for handling 15 million documents.

"We were finding that with the original Google Mini...people were running up against the limit," Sheth said, declining to say how many customers have purchased the Google Mini.