End of the line for Google Mini-appliance?

Techcrunch is reporting a rumour that Google is ramping down on production and sales of its mini search appliance, in favour of a new SME-targetted virtual service delivered from the cloud.

If true, this makes all kind of sense. The GSAs have always been an odd fit with Google’s strategy, involving a very labour-intesnsive sales and implementation process. One can see that the high-end product is necessary in large enterprises to preserve data privacy, but smaller orgs tend to be less sensitive to these issues and can easily be served by a cloud-based service. Hence the transfer of focus away from the tin is logical all round – the customer doesn’t need to maintain it, Google doesn’t need to have it manufactured; the service can be switched on pretty-much instantaneously. A much lower barrier to entry.

Lets’ see if it’s true.