Google Search Appliance
v.s. FUSE Search
First introduced in 2002, Google Search Appliance is a rack-mounted device was an operating system based on CentOS. Google announced its phase out in 2016 with a final discontinuation in 2019 after all active license agreements end. Google will continue to issue bug fixes, security updates, and technical support up until that point. If you’re running GSA, it’s FUSE o’clock - contact us for a demonstration or send us a note.
What’s different about FUSE Search?
Google Search Appliance was priced on a two-year contract for maintenance, support and software updates. Besides no longer being supported/made, FUSE differentiates itself from Google Search Appliance in several ways:
1. Facets
Since FUSE gets at your content over the content sources’ API, we get all sorts of juicy filters we can show to your users. Google search results are just the results. FUSE presents a set of tools that allow searchers to further refine.
2. No Black (erm, Yellow?) Box
Google’s legendary search algorithm(s) are most welcome when surfing the internet. On your organization’s website, however, experience tells us operators want more control. Google’s algorithm is a black box - no one knows what’s inside or how content decisions are made. This forces content editors to work around the algorithm (e.g. removing or renaming content) instead of the algorithm working for them.
With FUSE, we’ve removed the so-called “black box” mentality from enterprise search. Want to have your annual meeting be the number one search result no matter what someone searches for? DONE. Want to favor results from your journal over everything else? GOT IT. If someone searches for ‘Twinkies,’ want to show them the confectionaries white paper you released last summer? ROGER THAT.
3. User Interface
FUSE comes out of the box with a beautiful user interface - replete with facets. This is an important distinction since using GSA requires custom development to replicate this type of functionality. Our search results UI is also rich with content - thumbnails for videos or publication covers, voting/feedback mechanisms, flags that represent which source the content is from - all completely customizable using any of the metadata collected.
4. API Connectivity
GSA is point and shoot - point it at a URL and GSA crawls it. Sounds pretty appealing, doesn’t it? Except when you see how FUSE goes deeper. We use your sources’ APIs to gather content at its root level allowing us to gather taxonomical and other metadata that we can use as filters/facets. These facets allow searchers to sort your content to suit their needs. Yes, FUSE can crawl sites as well if we must but only as a last resort.