Google makes its move on the enterprise

The scrappy little startup, the starving artist, the Chicago Cubs -- America just can’t resist an underdog. Conversely, there’s scorn aplenty for big, successful ventures -- just ask Microsoft, or my own beloved New York Yankees, for that matter. Think of it this way: Striving is good; succeeding wildly, not so.

Which brings us to the great exception: Google, the behemoth that everyone loves to love. Despite years of phenomenal growth, a staggering stock run-up, and domination of the lucrative Web search market, Google enjoys a healthy residue of goodwill. Or perhaps I should say “enjoyed,” because the bloom has suddenly faded from Google’s rose. First Amendment advocates are pointing fingers, privacy activists are carping, and even day traders are clicking on the “sell” button.

Yup, Google is embattled. Not exactly the greatest time to tackle a new market, especially not the notoriously hard-to-crack enterprise business. Yet that’s exactly what the search giant is attempting, according to InfoWorld Senior Editor Cathleen Moore, who wrote this week’s cover story. Google has maintained an enterprise presence for a few years, “but their real strength has been in the consumer space,” Moore says. The just-announced partnership with consultancy BearingPoint, though, greatly extends the Google Search Appliance, enabling it to comb data from enterprise applications, databases, and the like. “By combining those capabilities with new services, beefed-up support, and security integration,” says Moore, “Google gains entrée into the corporate world.”

The big question is whether the enterprise will bite. The temptation is to say yes. After all, Google’s technology has a great reputation. It just works, and techies -- as well as consumers and Wall Streeters -- love that. In addition, “People want to trust Google,” Moore says. “Part of their corporate philosophy is, ‘You can make money without doing evil.’ ”

Still, Google hasn’t been all that Google-icious recently. A few months back, the company was caught in a copyright catfight with publishers, who howled at a plan to scan in books and make the searchable text available online. Then came the China mess. Google agreed to alter search results on Google.cn to censor information the Chinese government didn’t want its citizens to see. And last week, there was the launch of Google Desktop 3.0, which allows users to store all their data on Google servers. Distrustful types everywhere, including InfoWorld’s resident paranoiac, Robert X. Cringely, balked, citing potential security threats.

Throw in a recent stock correction that saw shares tumble precipitously, and even Google fans may be wondering whether the magic is gone. Yet despite the bad press, Google forges ahead, following its stated mission: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” I suspect the enterprise will respond well to that mission, even if Google isn’t the favored underdog anymore.