Business Tech

Google CEO Eric Schmidt in an onstage interview Wednesday at the Gartner Symposium in Orlando, Fla.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

ORLANDO, Fla.--Eric Schmidt runs a company that earns most of its money from consumers, but the Google chief executive believes business customers are the company's next big opportunity for growth after selling ads.

"Enterprise is a huge priority for the management team and me personally," Schmidt said Wednesday in an onstage interview in the belly of the enterprise technology beast, the Gartner Symposium here. "It's the next big billion-dollar opportunity after our display (ad) business."

Google might not be at the core of every company's operations, but Schmidt has some roots in the information technology community that assembles in force at Gartner Symposium. Before Google, he was chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems and CEO of Novell.

Google has a variety of business-oriented products and services--Postini for security, Checkout for online shopping, a search appliance for in-house search. But the highest profile effort is Google Apps, which in its premium incarnation delivers Gmail and an online office application suite for $50 per user per year.

Schmidt argues there's not so much difference between enterprise and consumer markets as there once was, and the gap is narrowing. Gmail is one example:

"Gmail's growth is accelerating from its current position of users as we seem to be gaining share from everybody else," Schmidt said. "That's a good example of the consumer and enterprise growing together."

And Google is primarily interested in areas where the two worlds collide. "We'll keep trying to find ways to span enterprise and consumer," he said.

When it comes to pricing, Google wants to fund its own work but not charge much. The biggest constraint from customers is feature availability, not price, he said.

"Most of the sales activity is a discussion about strategy. Our prices are so much lower than everybody else's, there's never a price discussion," Schmidt said.

The company considered giving its enterprise applications away for free but rejected the idea, he said.

"We looked at ad-supported enterprise applications and decided most corporations would not be comfortable with random ads showing up on somebody's desktop," Schmidt said.

Schmidt also said the era of the Netbook is arriving--in particular, Netbooks running Google's forthcoming Chrome OS, a browser-based operating system.

With advancements such high-speed networks and browsers that can store data on a local computers and display hardware-accelerated graphics, the PC is growing obsolete, he argued.

"Maybe in a year it'll be possible for procuring a Netbook that costs a factor of five or 10 times cheaper than what you're getting today," he said.

Chrome OS is due to arrive on Netbooks in about a year, he said, reaffirming the existing schedule.

Editor's note: This blog was updated several times during Schmidt's live interview. The final update was published at 2:50 p.m. PDT .

Google claims more than 2 million businesses and 20 million people have switched to Google Apps, a movement the company is touting through its expanding "Gone Google" marketing program.

Google's official blog on Monday put in a plug for the ongoing flow of companies that have adopted its services, including not just Google Apps, but also the Postini spam filtering and Google's Enterprise Search Appliance.

In August, Google asked customers to tweet the benefits of using its online apps and services, and now the company has gathered together those tweets in its GoogleAtWork Twitter page.

Through its "Gone Google" marketing campaign, the company has been able to relate the stories of corporate customers who have switched to Google Apps and "no longer have to deal with the hassles of managing e-mail servers or rolling out software updates."

The "Gone Google" campaign has also included billboard advertising in high-traffic spots like airports and train stations. Pleased with the results, Google said it's expanding the campaign to other countries, including the U.K., France, Canada, Japan, Australia, and Singapore.

With a portfolio that includes Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Calendar, Google Apps has been adopted by more large businesses in need of software that costs less and is easier to maintain. Converts to Google Apps include Motorola with 20,000 users, Genentech with 16,300 users, and Valeo with 30,000 users.

Google has also been more creative in nudging businesses toward its services. As one example, the company's Apps Sync for Outlook plug-in lets users keep Outlook but move away from Microsoft Exchange.

Even Google's response toward advertising has been evolving. In the past, the company has typically avoided promoting its own services, relying more on word of mouth to grow its search and ad businesses. But it's recently become less shy about tapping into the ad market, using TV, billboards, and other unique arenas to tout Google Apps and its Chrome browser.

If recent research is any indication, Amazon.com and Google are winning the cloud game.

Evans Data on Tuesday released a report (registration required) on how developers perceive cloud service providers related to cloud services offerings, including their completeness and the companies' ability to execute on the vision.

Janel Garvin, the founder of Evans Data and the author of the report, provides excellent insight into the current state of the market and how quickly things could change, if certain large vendors (notably AT&T and Microsoft) got their acts together more quickly.

Given their robust services, it isn't surprising that Amazon and Google top the list. And although IBM, VMware, and Microsoft trail, each offers important components of cloud infrastructure.

Google Apps Script automates processes such as sending e-mails regarding spreadsheet data.

(Credit: Google Enterprise Blog)

Google officially rolled out its Apps Script functionality for enterprise users Wednesday, following a limited pilot release earlier this year.

Google Apps Script works mainly within the Spreadsheets app to automate various processes. For example, users can automate the sending of e-mails based on data held in a spreadsheet, or create scripts that communicate with other Web services.

"Back in May we announced a pilot release of Google Apps Script, and after thousands of hours of use, and lots of valuable feedback, we're excited to launch Google Apps Script to all Google Apps Premier and Education Edition customers today," Google Apps products manager Evin Levey wrote in a blog post Wednesday.

Giving an example of how Apps Script can be used, Levey described an expense approval scenario, in which the script automatically converts foreign currency to local currency, pulls historical exchange rates from external Web services, picks up on missing data, and flags certain expense categories for review.

"Even more useful, the script can figure out whose approvals are needed and automatically request approval from those people," Levey wrote. "And once approved, the script sends a note to the finance department for payment -- all without writing a single e-mail."

Google Apps Premier and Education Edition customers can locate the scripts functionality through the Tools menu in the Spreadsheets app. Levey wrote that the Apps team is seeking feedback on what customers come up with in their use of the tool.

Also on Wednesday, Google's enterprise team announced another tool called Side-by-Side search. The tool allows users to compare the results of two separate searches based on the same body of data, which the team said would allow the evaluation of the Google Search Appliance (GSA) against a company's existing enterprise search product.

The team also announced an upgraded suite of GSA Connectors, including an Enterprise Labs release of a connector for the Salesforce CRM system.

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.

Google has developed a way to help companies move onto Google Apps--and away from Microsoft's Exchange e-mail software--without forcing a migration to the Gmail user interface.

Google's Dave Girouard discusses how Google is making a play for more and more business customers for Google Apps.

(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET News)

Microsoft's Outlook has been the dominant e-mail client within the business world for years, and Google's new Apps Sync for Outlook plug-in acknowledges that some business workers just aren't ready to give up that familiar interface, even if their CIOs are anxious to get everybody onto Google's version of the cloud. Businesses who have already signed up for Google Apps Premier Edition--as well as Education Edition customers--will be able to roll out this plug-in across their networks and allow Outlook messages, contacts, and calendar appointments to sync with Google Apps.

Google is trying to expand its presence inside the world's corporate IT departments with products like Google Apps, which the company says offers a cheaper and more reliable alternative to traditional IT software companies. Quoting data from Forrester, Google's David Girouard, president of Enterprise products, said companies who chose to use Google's hosted Gmail service save about $17 per user per month as compared to companies that build and host their own e-mail servers.

However, there apparently is a sizable enough number of workers that refuse to move off Outlook, meaning that IT directors who want to sign up with Google were forced to maintain a Microsoft Exchange server to placate those folks while moving everybody else to Gmail. An alternative where Outlook users are connected to Gmail through IMAP got the job done, but at the expense of a severe performance hit, said Chris Vander Mey, a senior product manager with Google.

Now, they can let those people continue to use Outlook but allow IT managers to move completely away from Exchange servers. "We've made it pretty easy to exchange your Exchange server for Google," Girouard said.

Google's eye is squarely on Microsoft's cozy position in the enterprise when it comes to products such as Google Apps. Around 1.75 million businesses are using Google Apps, Girouard said, although he declined to clarify how many of those businesses are Premier Edition customers.

CIOs invited by Google to a press event in San Francisco were naturally bullish on Google's version of cloud computing, and downplayed any concerns about security, reliability or the loss of a competitive advantage when it comes to giving up control of their IT.

"At most businesses, IT is not core. I'm not in the IT business to make money, I'm here to enable (my company) to win," said Bob Rudy, vice president and CIO for semiconductor designer Avago Technologies in San Jose.

The plug-in only works for Outlook users on Windows; Mac users on Entourage will have to wait.

In a bid to make its online Google Apps more appealing to corporate customers, Google plans to release software in July to make its e-mail and calendar services work well on BlackBerry mobile phones.

Google Apps' e-mail and calendar services now get along better with BlackBerry phones.

(Credit: Google)

Today, corporate users can set up BlackBerry devices to check mail from Google's Gmail service, a part of Google Apps, but it works only in relatively rudimentary form. With a new product called--brace yourself--Google Apps Connector for Blackberry Enterprise Server, the company is adding much tighter integration with Research in Motion's BlackBerry technology.

Specifically, it synchronizes mail so a message marked as read on the BlackBerry will show that way on Gmail, and vice-versa, said Raju Gulabani, project management director for Google Apps. It also means people will be able to star, archive, and file messages in folders in either location.

In addition, people's BlackBerrys will be able to tap into corporate contact information, letting people use the device to retrieve e-mail addresses or phone numbers from the company directory. And calendar entries will be pushed to the device--though people won't be able to accept event invitations with the device until an update to the software is issued later this year, he said.

"In terms of the features we're delivering, (it's) not just nice to have, it's pretty critical," Gulabani said, because it means Google Apps users will get the full BlackBerry experience.

One reason for the change is because Google wants to make it easier for companies to switch from their own e-mail, contacts, and calendar systems--Microsoft Exchange being the most prominent example--to the Google-hosted replacement. "We want to make that change easier, and make it easier to deploy Google apps. One way is by giving them existing interfaces," so they don't have to use Google-specific software such as the downloadable Gmail for Mobile application for BlackBerry devices, he said.

Google Apps consists of a number of online services: e-mail, calendar, and the Google Docs suite for word processing, spreadsheets, forms, and presentations. Google Apps Standard Edition is free but limited to customers with 50 or fewer accounts; the Premier Edition costs $50 per user per year but doesn't have those limits. Google also offers a free version for customers in education that doesn't have any user limits.

The BlackBerry connector software comes free with the Premier or Education editions, Gulabani said.

Corrected at 11:53 a.m. PDT. See below for details.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--In a case of converging technologies, Google App Engine took several steps toward the mainstream on its first birthday Tuesday at the same time that the concept of cloud computing in general is becoming more accepted.

Cloud computing presents applications as Internet-accessible services rather than software that runs on corporate servers or people's own PCs. It can mean anything from raw computing services that can be bolted together, as in the case of Amazon Web Services, to finished products such as the Picnik photo-editing site or SalesForce.com customer-management service. Google App Engine is an intermediate level, offering a general-purpose foundation.

Thus far, App Engine had been limited to Web applications written in the Python programming language favored internally at Google but not as much elsewhere. But on Tuesday, the top-requested App Engine feature, support for Java programs, arrived--albeit only in a preview form initially available only to the first 10,000 developers who sign up.

"It's the language of the enterprise," said Ryan Nichols, leader of product management and marketing at Appirio, a 140-person start-up that builds software for clients who want cloud computing applications. "It allows us to have a different level of conversation with our customers."

Graham Spencer, a Google engineering director, announces new features of Google App Engine at a Campfire One event Tuesday.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Google announced the Java support and a handful of other new App Engine features on its blog and at a Campfire One event for developers at its headquarters here. As with the regular App Engine service, use within certain limits is free, but developers must pay for heavy-duty App Engine use.

... Read more

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Google announced Tuesday it's adding support for Java to App Engine, its service for running software on Google's own computing infrastructure.

Today, Google offers only applications written in Python, a language that's popular among the search giant's engineers but not as widely used in the outside world. Java, though, is commonplace among organizations' server software, and Java support was the top-requested feature for Google App Engine.

"I'm really excited to give you an early preview of Java language support on App Engine," Graham Spencer, a Google engineering director, said at the company's Campfire One event for developers Tuesday evening, one year after the initial Google App Engine launch.

Google also announced other features for Google App Engine, including a "cron" feature that lets people schedule specific jobs such as sending weekly reports, and a Secure Data Connector that lets Google App Engine employ private data stored behind a company firewall, said Kevin Gibbs, App Engine's technical leader. Also new is a large-scale data import tool designed to ease the movement of gigabytes of data to App Engine, which uses Google's BigTable technology for storing information.

The Java support is in a testing mode so Google can iron out issues such as compatibility with existing Java software development tools and frameworks, Gibbs said.

"We feel the support we're launching is not yet complete," Gibbs said.

The software is running a full version 1.6 Java virtual machine (JVM), the Java software component that actually runs Java programs once they're converted into an intermediate form called bytecode, Gibbs said. Because the JVM is running bytecode, other programming languages that can be converted to bytecode, including Ruby and JavaScript, also can run on App Engine, though Gibbs cautioned there could be bumps on that particular road.

Google App Engine is growing a step more mature, with Google planning on Tuesday to begin allowing people using the cloud-computing foundation to pay for heavy use.

When Google launched App Engine last April, it was available only as a free service with caps on computing and network resource usage. Free use is still available for lower-traffic sites, but Google now lets users pay for higher access as needed.

"It's been one of our biggest developer requests," said Pete Koomen, Google App Engine product manager.

The billing feature makes Google App Engine useful for those who want to run real applications on the site, not just kick the tires, as long as they're willing to pay and to put up with the continued "preview release" status. However, the service hasn't even attained "beta" level, much less a service level agreement (SLA) that promises refunds if the service goes down for too long.

Google offers such an agreement for its Google Apps online tools. "It is something we are exploring" for Google App Engine, spokesman Jon Murchinson said.

Google App Engine competes with various other cloud-computing efforts, including Amazon's lower-level suite of Web services components, but mostly with the alternative of hosting applications on one's own equipment. Amazon Web services also uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model.

Here's Google's description of how billing will work:

• $0.10 per CPU core hour. This covers the actual CPU time an application uses to process a given request, as well as the CPU used for any Datastore usage.

• $0.10 per GB bandwidth incoming, $0.12 per GB bandwidth outgoing. This covers traffic directly to/from users, traffic between the app and any external servers accessed using the URLFetch API, and data sent via the Email API.

• $0.15 per GB of data stored by the application per month.

• $0.0001 per email recipient for emails sent by the application

Koomen wouldn't comment on the matter, so you'll have to decide for yourself whether Google is trying to set prices low to attract users, medium to cover expenses, or high to generate revenue during Google's new era of financial discipline.

App Engine is designed to run Web applications written in the Python programming language, though Google plans to add other language support in the future. One of its chief selling points is that it's built on Google's computing infrastructure, letting applications rapidly scale if demand for them spikes without the organization running the application having to scare up a large number of new servers and network capacity.