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September 06, 2011

Google's Fall-Spring Cleanup Continues to Streamline Operations

By Ashok Bindra, TMCnet Contributor

In an effort to streamline company operations, Google’s chief executive Larry Page (News - Alert) continues to axe unsuccessful acquisitions. In this fall-spring clean-up, Page is expected to shut down nearly 10 or more new products to move the search engine giant away from niche businesses. The aim is to focus on the bigger products offered by the company.



Hence, over the next few months, the company will be shutting down a number of products and services, as well as merging others into existing ones. In an official company blog post titled "A fall spring-clean", Alan Eustace, senior vice president of search said, "This will make things much simpler for our users, improving the overall Google (News - Alert) experience. It will also mean we can devote more resources to high impact products—the ones that improve the lives of billions of people." In his blog post, Eustace noted that all those Googlers working on these projects will be moved to other posts throughout the company.

“As for our users, we’ll communicate directly with them as we make these changes, giving sufficient time to make the transition and enabling them to take their data with them,” the senior vice president posted in the blog.

A top on this list is Aardvark, a start-up that Google acquired in 2010 to experiment in a new kind of social search. “While Aardvark will be closing, we’ll continue to work on tools that enable people to connect and discover richer knowledge about the world,” noted Eustace.

Other products going out the door include Desktop, Fast Flip, Google Maps API for Flash, Google Pack, Google Web Security, Image Labeller, Notebook, Sidewiki and Subscribed Links. Although, these products and services are being discontinued due to declining support, further details about their intended closure dates are provided in Google's blog post.

Towards the end, Eustace commented, "We’ve never been afraid to try big, bold things, and that won’t change. We’ll continue to take risks on interesting new technologies with a lot of potential.”

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.


Ashok Bindra is a veteran writer and editor with more than 25 years of editorial experience covering RF/wireless technologies, semiconductors and power electronics. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Rich Steeves
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