The Google Mini is a search appliance developed by Google to allow organizations to run Google's search technology on their internal networks and websites. The Mini indexes documents and makes them searchable via a web interface that mimics Google's standard search page. It is a small, rack-mounted server that can index up to 300,000 documents. The Google Mini provides familiar Google search functionality to organizations to help employees more easily find internal information.

1. GOOGLE MINI
INTRODUCTION
Google Inc is an American public corporation, first incorporated as a privately
held corporation on 7 September 1998, that designed and manages the Internet's most
used search engine. The company employs approximately 8,000 employees and is based
in Mountain View, California. Eric Schmidt, former chief executive officer of Novell,
was named Google's CEO when co-founder Larry Page stepped down.
The name "Google" originated from a misspelling of "googol," which refers to
10100
(a 1 followed by one-hundred zeros). Google has had a major impact on online
culture. The verb "google" was recently added to both the Merriam Webster Collegiate
Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, meaning "to use the Google search engine
to obtain information on the Internet."
Google's services are run on several server farms, each consisting of thousands of
low-cost commodity computers running stripped-down versions of Linux. While the
company does not provide detailed information about its hardware, a 2006 estimate
consisted of over 450,000 servers, racked up in clusters located in data centers around the
world. According to the Nielsen cabinet, Google is the most popular search engine on the
web with a 54% market share, ahead of Yahoo! (23%) and MSN (13%). However,
independent estimates from popular sites indicate that more than 80% of search referrals
come from Google, with Yahoo! a distant second and MSN occupying barely 5%. It
receives about a billion search requests per day.
HISTORY
BEGINNING
Google began as a research project in January, 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey
Brin, two Ph.D. students at Stanford University, California. They hypothesized that a
search engine that analyzed the relationships between websites would produce better
results than existing techniques. It was originally nicknamed "BackRub" because the
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2. system checked backlinks to estimate a site's importance. A small search engine called
RankDex was already exploring a similar strategy.
Convinced that the pages with the most links to them from other highly relevant
web pages must be the most relevant pages associated with the search, Page and Brin
tested their thesis as part of their studies, and laid the foundation for their search engine.
Originally the search engine used the Stanford University website with the domain
google.stanford.edu. The domain google.com was registered on September 14, 1997, and
the company was incorporated as Google Inc. on September 7, 1998 at a friend's garage
in Menlo Park, California. The total initial investment raised for the new company
eventually amounted to almost US$1 million, including a $100,000 check by Andy
Bechtolsheim, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems.
In March, 1999, the company moved into offices at 165 University Avenue in
Palo Alto, home to several other noted Silicon Valley technology startups. After quickly
outgrowing two other sites, the company settled into their current home in a complex of
buildings in Mountain View at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, in 2003. The complex has
since become known as the Googleplex. Silicon Graphics leased the buildings to Google.
The Google search engine attracted a loyal following among the growing number of
Internet users. They were attracted to its simple, uncluttered, clean design — a
competitive advantage to attract users who did not wish to enter searches on web pages
filled with visual distractions. This appearance imitated AltaVista's, but incorporated
Google's unique search capabilities. In 2000, Google began selling advertisements
associated with search keywords. This strategy was important for increasing advertising
revenue, which is based upon the number of hits users make upon ads. The ads were text-
based in order to maintain an uncluttered page design and to maximize page loading
speed. Keywords were sold based on a combination of price bid and clickthroughs, with
bidding starting at $.05 per click.
GROWTH
With Google's increased size comes more competition from large mainstream
technology companies. One such example is the rivalry between Microsoft and Google.
Microsoft has been touting its MSN Search engine, and more recently its Windows Live
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3. search in February, 2006, to counter Google's competitive position. Furthermore, the two
companies are increasingly offering overlapping services, such as webmail (Gmail vs.
Hotmail), search (both online and local desktop searching), and other applications (for
example, Microsoft's Windows Live Local competes with Google Maps).
WHY GOOGLE
Google was founded with a clear vision in mind: To organize the world’s
information and make it universally accessible and useful. And so the world’s leading
search engine was born. It did not take long to realize that to fulfill our mission we must
help organize not only publicly available information, but also the valuable information
residing behind corporate firewalls.
Why is it that you can get the “number of steps in the Statue of Liberty” in under
a second, and yet, you have to waste so much time finding that old presentation in your
intranet, file share or some other place? We believe your information should be just as
easy to find as the stock quotes, weather, movie show times, package tracking and other
general information you’re already used to easily finding on Google.com.
Google Enterprise offers a wide range of products to help you organize your
corporate information and securely make it available regardless of its location or nature.
THE GOOGLE MINI
Google is about as familiar and ubiquitous as a search technology can get, and yet
the Google Mini presents a potent new pitch — why not power your organization's
indexing and searching needs with a Google to call your own? The company packs its
search technology into the Mini's thin blue box and slaps it with a starting sticker price of
$1,995. They call it a search appliance, and it promises to bring the now-familiar Google
experience to your intranet
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4. Next generation version just released. Half the size, 25x performance increases.
The Google Mini is a "pizza box" style computer — flat and wide — and ready to
plug in to a server rack. In IT parlance, the Mini is a 1U-sized server, decorated in an
eye-catching blue with a wrap-around Google logo. While the company doesn't divulge
the exact technical specifications of the Mini, it runs a version of the Red Hat Linux
operating system on what Google describes as "standard" Intel/PC hardware.
The Mini is designed to run headless, meaning without a monitor, and all
interaction with it takes place across the network through a Web browser. Google has
designed the Mini to be as hands-off as a black (or in this case, blue) box can be. You
can't even (legally) open the case if you wanted to.
The Google Mini is an integrated hardware and software solution designed to help
your organization make the most of its digital assets. It does this by delivering the power
and productivity of Google search across your documents and websites – quickly, easily
and affordably. The new smaller, faster Mini includes support for multiple document
collections, search across file servers and improved reporting.
The Google Mini delivers cost-effective, high-quality search for your public
website, intranet, and file servers – and you can be up and running in less than an hour.
Supports from 50,000 to 300,000 documents.
The Google Mini works with over 220 different file formats, can be set up in
under an hour and requires minimal ongoing administration. Just point it at your content,
add a search box to your site, and your organization’s digital assets are instantly
searchable.
Auto Language Detection Arabic, Chinese (Traditional & Simpli. ed), Czech,
Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian,
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5. Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish,Portuguese,
Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
The Mini now comes in multiple versions. The most affordable Mini searches up
to 50,000 documents for $1,995 – including all hardware, software and a year of support.
Additional versions search up to 100,000, 200,000 or 300,000 documents. Since
upgrading's easy, the Mini's a perfect solution for growing organizations.
It's that simple to make your public website or corporate network as easy to
search as Google.com.
Web search titan Google will expose Google Mini, a new search appliance
designed for small and midsize businesses, and an upgrade to its existing Google Search
Appliance for larger organizations.
Google Mini leverages the same technology as the larger appliance but is limited
in search capacity to 50,000 documents. The hardware and software appliance is sold
exclusively online, priced at $4,995, which is a fraction of the cost of the larger capacity
appliance versions.
Companies of all sizes are having a harder time finding information on their
internal intranets and external-facing Web sites than on the Web via search engines such
as Google, said Matthew Glotzbach, business product manager at Google.
The Google Search Appliance and the Google Mini are designed to let you search
your enterprise information. When used inside your corporate firewall, the Google Search
Appliance and the Google Mini make it easy to discover and retrieve the information
stored in your corporate intranet, web servers, file servers, content management systems
and more. They allow you to discover information stored in more than 220 different file
formats and in over 109 different languages.
The Google Search Appliance is designed for customers who in addition to
finding highly relevant results need to search across a larger set of documents (up to 15
Million vs. 300,000 for the Google Mini), serve secure results, search information stored
in third party applications (like ERP, CRM, BI or other systems), and need redundancy.
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6. ENABLING SECURE ENTERPRISE SEARCH
At Google, we understand that organizations have two kinds of information: that
available to anyone behind the firewall and privileged information that is only accessed
by a limited subset of people. The Google Search Appliance easily integrates with
existing industry standard authentication and authorization mechanisms – such as LDAP,
Active Directory, NTLM, X.509, Single Sign-On systems and more. Access control
checks are performed in real-time, thus always guaranteeing that only authorized users
view your information.
SETTING UP
Along with the Mini, Google ships a well-written printed manual, a power cord
and two network cables — one a crossover cable used for initial setup. The Mini has only
a power button on its face, but being a server, it's designed to run continuously. Powerful
fans keep its insides cool, which is another way of saying that it's loud: Very Loud. You
won't mind as long as you can keep it in an already-noisy, closed-off server room or other
out-of-the-way location.
The Mini features two LAN ports, one of which is used only for initial setup. The
setup LAN port assigns a DHCP IP address to whatever computer you've connected to it.
You then open a browser and connect to the Mini's static setup address.
In the initial setup process you configure the Mini's network settings for your
organization. You'll need to know what IP address to assign it, its host name, subnet
mask, DNS servers, SMTP server and an NTP server. Because the Mini will need to
"see" all the parts of your network that you want indexed and searchable, a network
administrator will need to check that any firewalls or routing tables are properly
configured.
DOING THE CRAWL
Putting the Google Mini to work basically involves two kinds of activities: telling
it what to index and providing search access to your users.
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7. First things first: the Mini needs to index — or "crawl" — your organization's
documents. It can access your documents three ways: HTTP (standard Web browsing),
HTTPS (secure Web browsing), and CIFS, or shared network folders. Documents
restricted to access by other protocols, such as FTP, cannot be seen by the Mini, unless
they are also accessible by one of the above three supported methods.
Using its administration interface, you supply the Mini with a list of URLs to start
its crawl. The Mini will follow links within those documents to build up a Web of
indexed files. You restrict which links the Mini follows by specifying pattern
requirements — for example, you typically setup a pattern so that the Mini follows links
only to documents in your network rather than at third-party external sites.
We can also manage global rules to allow or prevent the Mini from indexing
certain kinds of files, such as Excel documents or images. By default the Mini has dozens
of rules already in place covering a wide variety of file types, and you can easily enable
or disable each rule to suit your company's particular needs.
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8. The Mini can index the content of 220 types of files, including HTML, PDF,
Microsoft Office, Microsoft PowerPoint, WordPerfect, Lotus Domino, Lotus 1-2-3,
compressed archives, all common e-mail formats and many more. But with convenience
comes risk. Be sure not to inadvertently expose sensitive information.
SEARCH IS KING
One of Google's marketing pitches for the Mini reads "familiarity breeds
contentment." Smartly, they're leveraging Google's existing popularity. Your customers
probably use Google to search the Web, so why not give them that same experience
inside your network?
To that end, the Google Mini provides several means for making search available
to your customers. While the Mini is primarily pitched for indexing your Intranet, you
really can index any of your sites — even those located elsewhere on the Web — and
serve your search either internally or onto the Internet.
The simplest way to provide search is to direct visitors to the Mini's default search
page. You can do this as a standalone page, or integrate the default search box into an
existing Web page. Google designed its default search to look just like its Web-based
search, with the added feature of including your Mini in its search results.
A slightly more advanced, but also more customizable, method to provide search
is to create your own HTML search forms. Google's online Mini support documentation
provides code and specifications. It's easy work for anyone familiar with coding Web
pages.
The Google Mini also includes tools for integrating searches into other
applications. For example, you can integrate the Google Mini directly into your
company's Web browser, the same way people can add the standard Google Toolbar to
their PC browsers. The difference, of course, is that the Google Mini "Toolbar for
Enterprise" searches your company's site(s), not the entire Internet.
The most advanced way to integrate the Mini into your company (that is, if you
have the need and the Web development savvy) is to take the Mini's raw search results (in
XML format) and customize the look to match your company's existing Web site design.
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9. One last customization point: The Mini provides limited control over the order in
which it returns search results. Google offers a feature called KeyMatch that lets you
assign a set of search terms to a document so that if anyone searches those terms, that
document will be promoted to the top of the results list.
SPECIFICATIONS
Google Mini Search Appliance
• Form factor: 1U rack mountable server
• Dimensions: 1.75”x19”x25.13”
• Weight: 26 pounds
• Voltage: 90V-250V
• Electrical Frequency: 47-63Hz
• Max input line current: 6 amps @ 120 V, 3 amps at 240 volts
• Thermal requirement: 515 BTU/hour
• Environmental requirements: 50-86 degrees Fahrenheit
FEATURES
END USERS
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SEARCH.
There’s a reason why Google is the undisputed leader when it comes to search:
Google search quality. The same great search that you . nd on Google.com has been
optimized for use on public websites and intranets, and it delivers relevant search results
at record speed.
FAMILIAR INTERFACE.
A key measure of a search solution’s effectiveness is how frequently it’s actually
used. And by providing the same familiar user interface and functionality as Google.com,
the Google Mini eliminates the need for training and increases user adoption.
Organizations that want to weave Google Mini functionality into their site design can
give their sites a “mini” make-over using a built-in wizard interface. Or they can go for a
full facelift, using the Google Mini’s available XML feed.
BOOSTING USER PRODUCTIVITY.
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10. Productivity-enhancing extras include a self-learning smart spell checker, the
ability to view documents in HTML (instead of having to download the required plug-
ins) and accessing cached versions of documents.
GOOGLE SEARCH QUALITY.
We've taken Google web search and optimized it for use on public websites and
corporate networks to deliver relevant search results at record speed.
FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTENTMENT.
By providing the same familiar look and feel as Google.com, the Google Mini
offers a search solution that your users can actually use. You can weave Google into your
site design either by giving the Google Mini interface a “mini” makeover, using a built-in
wizard interface, or by doing a full facelift via the Mini's XML feed.
HELPING USERS WORK SMARTER.
The Google Mini's productivity-enhancing extras include a self-learning spell
checker, the ability to view documents in HTML (instead of having to download plug-
ins), and accessing cached versions of documents - even the ones that are offline.
SEARCH ACROSS ALL YOUR CONTENT - EVEN EMAIL.
The Google Mini's integration with Google Desktop for Enterprise makes it easy
for users to find documents on their computers, your intranet and the Internet via a single
search interface. And with Google Toolbar for Enterprise you can have a search box tied
to the Google Mini right in your browser.
ADMINISTRATORS
TRUE PLUG-AND-PLAY INSTALLATION.
As a tightly integrated hardware and software solution, the Google Mini requires
no additional components or tinkering to get started. The initial con. Duration was
streamlined so you can complete it in as little as a half-hour.
NO MANUAL DOCUMENT TAGGING OR SEARCH CUSTOMIZATION
REQUIRED.
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11. Google believes the technology itself should do the heavy lifting – not you, the
administrator. To that end, Google’s search relevance technology automatically considers
over 100 different factors when determining search results, eliminating the need for
costly and confusing manual search customization.
MINIMAL ONGOING ADMINISTRATION.
Once con. Gured, the Google Mini can be set to crawl and index content at
regular intervals, leaving you time for that tropical vacation you’ve always meant to take.
However, if you need to make any changes or want to check in while away, the Google
Mini’s web-interface gives you full remote access to all administrator functionality.
INSIGHT INTO USER SEARCH BEHAVIOR.
Besides providing a great search experience, the Google Mini can also improve
your site. The Google Mini generates reports on whatever page errors and broken links
it . nds in your site, allowing you to quickly . x things and improve overall site usability.
It also captures your organization’s zeitgeist, providing reports on the most frequent
search terms that you can use to identify your users’ hot button issues. And that in turn
helps you improve site navigation and plan marketing initiatives.
BUSINESS OWNERS
SEARCH R&D LEADERS.
Google is recognized as the global leader in innovative search technology. We
invest more in search research and development than any other company, and we’re
known for standing by our products and customers. At Google, we’re committed to
constantly wowing you, ensuring that now and in the future we’ll be your best search
partner.
IMMEDIATE ROI.
The Google Mini’s combination of plug-and-play installation and familiar user
interface means your organization will realize the benefits of Google search in record
time.
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12. LOW COST
The Google Mini delivers phenomenal price-performance value. In addition to all
hardware and software, the Mini also includes one year of support and hardware
replacement coverage. The Mini comes in four versions that enable you to search up to:
50,000 documents for $1,995
100,000 documents for $2,995
200,000 documents for $5,995
300,000 documents for $8,995
WHAT’S NEW
SMALLER SIZE
At about half the size of the original version, the new Mini is easier to install in a
rack or under a desk and looks much cooler.
FILE SYSTEM CRAWLER
Turn your networked file servers into a searchable company knowledge base. The
new Mini natively crawls CIFS file systems as simply and easily as crawling web pages.
UNLIMITED COLLECTIONS AND FRONT ENDS
Power search across multiple sites with increased security and control over the
user interface of each site.
HIGHER QUERIES PER SECOND
Deliver results faster and support higher traffic levels.
ADDITIONAL CRAWLING OPTIONS
Now the Mini can automatically detect sections of your site that change and crawl
them more frequently. Or you can schedule the Mini to crawl across all of your content
on a recurring basis.
ENHANCED ADMINISTRATOR INTERFACE
Now the Mini is even easier to set-up and configure via a new administrator
interface redesigned by usability engineers.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING OPTIONS
Easily access more detailed reports on website errors that the Mini found when
crawling as well as reports on what users are searching for on your site.
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13. GOOGLE TOOLBAR FOR ENTERPRISE
Put a Google search box in your corporate browser. Installer package enables
deployment across your enterprise and custom search buttons enable integration with
your Google Mini.
GOOGLE DESKTOP FOR ENTERPRISE
Search content on your local hard drive - files, email, IM chats, web pages
viewed, etc. Integrates with the Google Mini to provide search results from your
computer, the intranet and the Internet in a unified interface.
GOOGLE'S MINI SLIMS DOWN, SPEEDS UP
When it comes to its Mini search appliance, no one can accuse Google of standing
still. Since announcing the network appliance back in January 2005, the Mountain View,
Calif.-based sultan of search has lowered prices while expanding the number of
documents that small businesses and e-commerce shops can search.
Today, though, Google announced the biggest Mini changes to date. Actually,
you could say the smallest changes since part of the news is that the appliance is now
roughly half the size and half the weight of its predecessor. Google Enterprise. Small
businesses are often cramped for space, and it's important that the Mini be small enough
to slip under a desk or fit into a rack.
Not only is the footprint smaller, the foot speed is quicker as the new search box
is designed to crawl Web sites faster and return queries results quicker. The Mini now
supports up to 25 queries per second, which is 25 times faster than the previous version.
The performance increases are important, because workers in the office expect the
same performance, features and experience they have when they use Google at home.
"Consumers, customers, employees are all the same. It's a new user paradigm. IT needs
are the same as consumer needs.
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14. Google claims that a small business can set up the plug-and-play Mini in about an
hour.
Mini also now searches multiple sites and can help businesses create an instant
intranet by searching the contents of shared Windows file systems. The new Mini
can also crawl your documents in one of two ways. We can choose to implement real-
time options, and the Mini will detect how often content changes and crawl the most-
changed areas more often — an approach designed to keep content fresh while reducing
the network traffic.
Google said the new Mini also boasts an improved administrator dashboard and
Simple Network Management Protocol monitoring for remote management. Also, new
diagnostics reporting is designed to help small businesses and e-commerce operations
better understand what people are looking for and to discover site errors such as dead
links.
ALONG COME GOOGLE
1. The Mini arrived in a box with Google printed in large letters along the side. Our
UPS courier asked us what was in the box; it's not too often that you see Google
on anything physical.
2. Opening the box reveals a decent packing job, similar to just about any other 1U
server made by any reputable manufacturer.
3. Just inside, you'll find two Ethernet cables (one orange crossover cable and one
yellow straight-through cable) and a power cord for the unit.
4. Below the cardboard tray of cables, you'll find the server itself:
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15. 5. Beneath the server, you'll find a box containing a modem:
6. The modem is used for Google to gain remote access to the machine if it needs
remote maintenance
EXAMINING THE GOOGLE MINI
1. The Mini itself is actually your run-of-the-mill 1U server, with the chassis painted
blue.
2. The front of the machine features both the front mounting hardware as well as an
exposed grill for ventilation.
3. Behind the grill is a fully functional CD-ROM drive that you can’t access without
taking apart the machine.
4. You see two PS/2 ports (keyboard/mouse), two USB ports, a parallel port, a serial
port, VGA output, two Ethernet ports (color-coded to match the cables) and a
single slot cover.
5. The two Ethernet ports are color-coded to match the cables provided with the
Google Mini.
GETTING INSIDE THE MINI
1. It’s very clear that Google doesn’t want you playing around with the innards of
the Mini as most of the screws have no usable head.
2. The grey screw above the rightmost Ethernet port features no usable head.
Luckily, removing the screw only requires a little patience and some pliers.
3. The mounting brackets are attached to the Mini using regular screws, so those can
be installed/removed without any trouble. Once you get the screws off of the back
of the Mini, there’s one last step to getting inside the unit.
4. The top of the Mini is actually one large piece of plastic with adhesive on its back
that not only makes the unit look better, but also acts as another safeguard against
curious users gaining access to the internals of the machine. Peeling back the front
edge of the top breaks the adhesive and allows us to slide off the front cover.
5. With the cover off, the internals of the Mini are no different than your standard
1U server. There are three drive bays and a large shroud channeling air to the
processors underneath.
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16. 6. A closer look at the fan shroud tells us the original manufacturer of the server,
Gigabyte
7. Removing the shroud reveals a pair of processors and the rest of the motherboard.
The motherboard, like the server, is manufactured by Gigabyte.
8. The CPU heatsinks themselves also carry the Gigabyte brand.
9. The heatsinks have no fans on them. Instead, they rely on the chassis fans and the
fan shroud to remove heat from them.
10. We were curious to see what was under those heatsinks, so of course, we pulled
one off.
11. The Google Mini uses a pair of Pentium III-S processors running at 1.26GHz. It’s
been a while since we’ve seen these used in a server, but they are most likely
more than enough for the job at hand.
12. The motherboard features a VIA chipset, as is evident by the VIA South Bridge.
13. All of the drive bays in the server feature PATA interfaces and are handled
directly by a Promise IDE RAID controller.
14. The system shipped with a single hard drive, a 120GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.7
15. The Google Mini ships with 2GB of PC133 SDRAM (4 x 512MB sticks);
interestingly enough, the memory uses Micron chips and is labeled as Dell
memory.
Powering the system up reveals a normal AMI BIOS, but of course, entering the
BIOS is password protected - and you’re not given the password.
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17. CONCLUSION
My conclusion would be that the mini is a nice out-of-the-box solution for "usual"
search requirements. The Google Mini brought the excellent results of the web search to
our intranet. The Google Mini works with over 220 different file formats, can be set up in
under an hour and requires minimal ongoing administration. The Mini is designed to run
headless, meaning without a monitor, and all interaction with it takes place across the
network through a Web browser.
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18. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. www.anandtech.com
2. www.infoworld.com
3. www.smallbusinesscomputing.com
4. www.googlestore.com
5. www.google.com
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