Google selected Ingram Micro to distribute in the US the Google Mini and Google Search Appliance, the search solutions that offers to the companies and organizations a simple and efficient way to find information behind the firewall.

According to the agreement, Ingram Micro will provide key competencies of sales, reseller credit, marketing, technical support and logistics to reach target markets in a cost-effective manner.

"This emerging relationship between Google and Ingram Micro marks the beginning of greater opportunities and benefits, especially for small and mid-sized business owners around the world," said Kevin Murai, president and COO, Ingram Micro Inc. "As Google makes a much anticipated entrance into the channel we look forward to contributing to Google's mission by making its products universally accessible."

The Google Mini is designed for website and departmental search or to enable smaller businesses to add Google search to their corporate networks. With plug-and-play simplicity, Google Mini can be set up in under an hour and requires minimal ongoing administration. Google Mini is priced at US$1,995 with a capacity to index 50,000 documents with a maximum of 300.000 documents.

The Google Search Appliance can index millions of documents, and its security features ensure that users can only search the information that they have permission to view. Its price starts at US$30,000 with a 500,000-document capacity and tops out at 30 million documents.

Both products offers the Google "OneBox for Enterprise" feature which retrieves real-time information securely from any business application, including employee directories and calendars, CRM, ERP and BI systems.

"This relationship with Ingram Micro marks an important milestone in the evolution of Google's enterprise search business, giving customers around the world better access to our products and support," said Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager of Google Enterprise. "Today, more than 9,000 companies of all sizes use the Google Mini or the Google Search Appliance to help employees and customers find information in their business as easily as they find information on the web using Google.com."