Editor's Choice: Google CEO talks about services for smaller firms

Google has seen an increase in the use of its service for locating corporate data and its hosted business software suite, said CEO Eric Schmidt. Speaking at the recent Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco, Schmidt noted that companies with smaller IT budgets are using its Search Appliance and Google Apps.

Search Appliance is increasingly being used by smaller firms that lack the capital or IT expertise needed for traditional enterprise search services. Google Apps is enjoying a wave of interest in hosted business software, which does not cost as much to implement as conventional, on-premise software. Microsoft and IBM are also developing this software-as-a-service (SAAS) approach. In a wide-ranging discussion,  Schmidt also talked about how the recession will affect Google, netbooks and their search business rivalry with Microsoft and Yahoo.