The Google Mini Search Appliance box just arrived for the Mitsui O.S.K Lines project we’re working on with our good friends over at Longwater & Company. This is a nifty little piece of hardware and we’re very excited to work on this project. This appliance will be used to search their database of PDF’s that they send out on a daily basis to all their customers informing them of changes in tariffs, surcharges, and other advisories.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Google Mini Appliance, the solution is a self-contained server that is powered by the exact same algorithm that powers Google.com. It can search and index up 50,000 documents of your choosing, be it standard HTML pages, or 219 other different file formats. From PDF’s to Word Docs, HTML to CSV files, this can search, rank, and display them all. The real killer application for this solution is that you can apply your own custom look and feel to the system, so it can blend in seamlessly with your current site. The reason this is so important is that sadly search is usually the red headed step child of features with most content management systems on the market today. When the developers are faced with the choice between implementing exciting new features like AJAX menu drop-downs in their product, or work on something boring like improving the search results engine, they invariably choose to work on the sexy new AJAX menu drop-down feature. But, as the old saw goes, every cloud has a silver lining, and in this case, the lining is a deep shade of Google Blue. Being able to customize the interface allows you to quickly integrate it into your existing site infrastructure without having to rebuild your site from the ground up to take advantage of it.

We’re right now configuring it before we cart it over to our data center, take a look at the pictures below:

Interested in what the Google Mini Search Appliance can do you for your site and/or company? Give us a ring at 912-228-3265 and we’d be happy to answer any and all questions for you!