July 11, 2008

Dallas-Forth Search Marketers Question the Closing of Google Dallas Office

The board of the Dallas-Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association is scratching their heads over a decision by Google to close their Dallas office. The group says Dallas-Fort Worth are search marketers are responsible for spending $100 million on search advertising, the majority of it going to Google.

“Our association members have worked with many different vertical Google sales offices across the country, and the general consensus is that the Dallas Google office was one of the best, if not the best team to work with,” said Rob Garner, DFW SEM president. “The Dallas Google office has supported the association and the North Texas search industry from the beginning, and their presence will be greatly missed.”

Dallas Googlers must choose between staying in Dallas and leaving Google, or staying with Google and relocating. They are invited to attend the DFW SEM Association's quarterly meeting on July 16 at the Renaissance Hotel in Richardson, Texas. The group says there should be opportunity for networking for those choosing to stay local.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 5, 2008

Google to Build New Offices at NASA

NASA has agreed to Google's plans to build a 1.2 million square foot office complex at the Ames Research Center near its Mountain View, California headquarters. Google will rent 42.2 acres of land for $3.6 million per year. Construction begins in 2013 and the final phase of the project, which is expected to include employee housing, will start in 2022.

The initial lease is set for 40 years, but could be renewed for as much as 50 years. This isn't the only agreement Google has with the government space program. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin park their private planes at Moffett Federal Airfield for a mere $1.3 million per year and an agreement to fly NASA's equipment on research missions.

via AP

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 10, 2008

Google Entertains Real Estate Industry At NYC Offices

The Real Estate Connect conference is in New York this week and participants were invited to hang out at Google HQ East last night, Their invitation says it all:

Google would like to invite you to an evening at our New York office. While you are in town for the 2008 Inman Real Estate Connect, we want to make you feel at home. So we're turning our Caf into a sports bar where everyone will feel like a local. Stop by after the conference and join us for fun, food, and drinks.

Fun - We'll keep you entertained with music and sports highlights. There will be foosball, shuffleboard, hoops, and classic video games. In addition we will be raffling off Flip video cameras, the simple way to shoot and share videos, so you will never have to say "you should have been there" again. Food - We'll be serving a variety of bar friendly fare including wings, mini hamburgers, nachos, and more. Drinks - A sports bar would not be complete without a full bar, wine, and beers on tap. We'll also have soda, juice, and water if you don't want to indulge.

The event was fun. Google put aside their 8th floor cafeteria and balcony area for their visitors.

I have been to a bunch of Google offices and I like the new NYC space. It is spacious - so much so that they have razors scooters that you use and leave for the next person.- and the facilities reflect that youthful aspect of many of its employees. Industrial space gives it a retro feel, while the foosball and other games reinforce it.

Though there was a Wii that proved popular, the older games seemed to be popular. Drinks, snacks and good company made for a cool event. Thanks for the invite Google.

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:51 PM | Permalink

March 26, 2007

Is Google Planning to Expand in Beantown?

It looks like Google's shopping around for space in Boston or nearby Cambridge, according to WebProNews, which spotted some want ads for account reps for its ad sales team.

In addition, rumors among Boston-area real estate agents has Google reportedly looking for 100,000 to 200,000 square feet of space, which would replace the smaller office for sales and engineering groups it currently keeps in Cambridge, according to a Boston Herald story, "Google on search of a Hub: Tech co. fetching multiple results in bid for office space." The Herald story cautions that Google conducted a similar search about a year ago, which ended with no action being taken. A Google spokesperson, of course, declined to comment on rumor or speculation.

The Boston or Cambridge space would give Google a presence close to several universities -- and so tech talent, including Harvard and MIT.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 3:57 PM | Permalink

January 10, 2007

Google Number One Place To Work

Fortune Magazine has Google at the top of the 100 best companies to work for in 2007.

Hey I have been to a few of their offices and just the surroundings make it tempting. The free food, massages, doctors and dentists on the property in Mountain View.... you have to love it.

Well obviously the employees do.

Posted by Frank Watson at 10:27 AM | Permalink

November 15, 2006

Google To Add 500 Jobs In Dublin, Ireland

Reuters reports that Google is going to be adding 500 new jobs in the Dublin, Ireland office. This will make the Dublin office fairly large with 1,300 people, after first opening in 2004. If you are looking for a job in that area, you can check out the job openings page here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:36 AM | Permalink

October 19, 2006

Google To Set Up 2nd R&D Office In Israel

Reuters reports that Google is going to open a second research and development office in Israel. This office will be located in Tel Aviv, the current office is based in Haifa. Yossi Matias, “a scientist and expert on algorithms, databases and Internet technologies,” will head the Tel Aviv office up says Reuters. Matias previously worked at Tel Aviv University and as a research scientist at Bell Laboratories. The Tel Aviv office should be opening in early 2007.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:36 AM | Permalink

October 17, 2006

Google To Install Solar Panels To Help Power The Googleplex

The Google Blog announced that Google's next ambitious project is to install solar panels on the rooftops of the Googleplex to help power the company on sunny days. Google says they will be placing these 1.6 megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels at their Mountain View headquarters to help offset "approximately 30% of [Google's] peak electricity consumption at those buildings." This is supposedly one of the largest, if not the largest installation of solar power by any corporation in the US. Google will be installing about 9,200 solar panels, reports the Associated Press.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:03 AM | Permalink

October 10, 2006

Google To Set Up R&D Office In South Korea

The Associated Press reports that Google is setting up a research and development center in South Korea. The details of the size of the office were not disclosed. Robert A. Eustace, Google's senior vice president, said "South Korean government's strong encouragement persuaded the company to make the investment." DNS India adds that Google also has research centers in Britain, Israel, Norway, Japan, Switzerland, India, Russia and the Americas.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:45 AM | Permalink

October 2, 2006

Google Buys Birthplace Garage

Google has purchased the garage where the company developed after its initial birth at Stanford University. Actually, they've purchased the home of Google vice president of product management Susan Wojcicki. Before she became a Google VP, Wojcicki rented the garage attached to her home to Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Google buys garage that launched Internet's top search engine from the Associated Press has details about the sale, which was probably in the $1.2 million range. As of yet, Google doesn't know what exactly it may do with the home the article reports. It's already a tourist attraction, it seems.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:23 AM | Permalink

August 28, 2006

Google Seeks Offices In Seattle Again

The Seattle Pi reports that Google is seeking new office space in Seattle. Google is highly expected to sign a lease for Tower 333, a 430,000-square- foot office building that was formerly known as the Bellevue Technology Tower. They are reportedly looking to occupy seventy-five percent of that building. The Seattle Pi takes this office as an advance at encouraging Microsoft employees to jump ship to Google. As an FYI, Google has office space in Seattle, as Gary Price reported back in 2004.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:08 AM | Permalink

August 14, 2006

Google To Build Data Center In India

The Money Times reports that Google is continuing their efforts to build a data center in India. The data center will house e-mails, blogs, photos, documents and chat records and most likely be based in Andhra Pradesh state. Google has other offices in India, more on that here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:14 AM | Permalink

August 11, 2006

Google Looking For Canadian R&D Office

Globe and Mail reports that Google is looking for office space in the southern part of Ontario, Canada. The new office will house as many as 200 employees, and be focused around research and development.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:12 AM | Permalink

August 9, 2006

Google To Open Research Center In Shanghai

Vnunet reports that Google will be opening a research center in Shanghai, China. Kaifu Lee, a Google vice-president in China, gave this information to Shanghai Daily. Numbers of Google hires for that location has not been disclosed, instead Lee said, "we will hire people who are qualified, without any limit."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:20 AM | Permalink

July 17, 2006

Google Hiring Television Engineers & Wireless Software Engineer

Search Engine Watch Forums moderator evilgreenmonkey (brand new moderator) has informed me that Google posted two new interesting jobs for the London office for Software Engineer, Television Technology & Wireless Software Engineer in Test.

The television technology job does not say much;

We are hiring well-rounded Software Engineers with a proven track record in creating and deploying robust, high-volume applications for consumer devices.

Responsibilities: To develop robust, high-volume applications for consumer devices. To develop prototype applications and manage the evolution of these to scalable, shipping products.

Seems as if they are looking for ways to create mobile solutions and methods to distribute television programming over devices other than televisions.

The wireless engineer is for QA (quality assurance) work on wireless applications.

We are looking for software QA engineers to work with the testing team and the development team to investigate, report and track defects and expand our automated test suites. Your duties will focus on creating test plans, setting up test environments, developing automated tests, executing and maintaining automated test suites and the analysis of the results. They would also include leading test efforts and exploring new ways of UI test automation. If you love coding and testing, are a quick learner, a great team player and able to work independently, this is your chance to join us in our quest to make all the worlds information accessible from the palm of your hand.

Related? I dunno.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:34 AM | Permalink

July 11, 2006

Google To Set Up Offices In Michigan

The NY Times reports (also try Reuters) that Google will house up to 1,000 employees in a new facility in Michigan. The office is to reside in downtown Ann Arbor, "the hometown of the University of Michigan, where Larry Page, one of Googles founders, earned his undergraduate degree in engineering." The Times reports that the majority of the building will be used for "technology and call center, with about 40,000 square feet needed to house the library digitization project."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:13 AM | Permalink

July 3, 2006

New York Times Looks At Google's Hardware & Infrastructure

A New York Times article has a detailed analysis of Google's infrastructure and discussion with Urs Hölzle, senior vice president for operations at Google. Here are some of the key points I pulled from that article.

+ Google tends builds from ground up versus buying. + Google's computing costs are half those of other large Internet companies and a tenth those of traditional corporate technology users. + Critics call Google's philosophy "unnecessary and inefficient." + "Google is reducing cost while maintaining performance by shifting the burden of reliability from hardware to software individual hardware components can fail, but software automatically shifts the local task and the data to other machines." + Google is among Advanced Micro's five largest clients.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:51 AM | Permalink

June 15, 2006

Google Buys Headquarters For $319 Million

Last night I was notified of a SEC Filing showing Google has entered into an agreement to purchase their headquarters (The GooglePlex) for $319 million. Of the $319 million, $10 million was already placed into escrow on June 9. Google is technically buying 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway and 1200-1500 Crittenden Lane, Mountain View, California, about 978,066 square feet of land. In addition to the $319 million price tag, Google has to pay $315,000 per month to the city; $140,000 per month for ground lease and $175,000 per month for rent with rent increases of 4 percent to 7 percent. More details also in an AP article.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:50 AM | Permalink

June 14, 2006

A Look At Google's Oregon Operation & Yahoo Leaves Pasadena

Niall Kennedy summarizes a NY Times article about Google's Oregon center and Yahoo and Microsoft's exploration in areas like that. The Google Oregon center would be one of the largest data centers, taking up about two football fields. The NY Times article also estimated Google having "450,000 servers spread over at least 25 locations around the world." Microsoft with an estimated 200,000 servers is expected to grow to 800,000 by 2011.

Yahoo is on the move as well, moving to Burbank by end of June. There is no doubt that energy costs will be on the mind of these search companies new locations.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:26 AM | Permalink

June 13, 2006

Search Companies Energetically Seeking Electricity

The Wall Street Journal reports that the search companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Ask and possibly Google are looking to find cheap electricity to power all the computers and hardware that power the companies. The article says that one large data center can use as much energy as a city of 40,000 people! The search companies are looking for locations next to cheap energy sources such as former defense bunkers, near hydroelectric plants, and other locations where electricity is cheaper. Microsoft's data center consumption of power doubled over the past four years, so this is a serious concern for Microsoft and other search companies.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:02 AM | Permalink

April 12, 2006

Google Buys Dulance; To Open Russian Research Center

Sergei Burkov, Founder & CEO of Dulance will run Google's development center in Russia. This was first reported by TechWorld yesterday and brought to my attention by Googlist this morning.

I asked Sergei if Dulance was acquired by Google, and he forwarded me to Google's PR department which just confirmed the acquisition.

To provide some context to the acquisition, Google's shopping comparison engine, Froogle, originally started out as a crawler but switched to taking data feeds fairly early on. Because the service is completely free, Froogle probably has around 50,000 data feeds (no confirmation), although the quality of those feeds isn't always that great.

For comparison, many of the leading shopping comparison engines (by traffic) only have 5,000 - 10,000 data feeds, so I've argued for a while that these comparison engines are not truly comprehensive and therefore don't always provide a valuable user experience. In fact, some of the leading shopping comparison engines rely on Google AdSense ads to supplement search results.

Dulance was the first of a new breed of shopping search engine which was based on crawling technology. Today there are a number of these engines inclduding Pronto, FatLens, and ShopWiki.

When I've had time to digest the news and do more research, I'll update you with how Google might use Dulance. In the meantime, here's the official Google press release:

Monday April 10th 2006 ? Moscow: Google announced today that it is to open a research and development centre in Russia later this year as part of its ongoing investment in Europe.

The centre will be based in Moscow and run by Sergei Burkov Ph.D. Dr. Burkov is a former research physicist who has worked at both Cornell and the University of Wisconsin. In addition he co-founded three companies, Bilbo Innovations (computer pedals, distributed through Fry's Electronics), Invincible Data Systems (acquired by VASCO Data Security) and Dulance.

Google plans to use Russia?s phenomenal engineering talent to help develop great new products both for the Russian market and globally. According to the Russian Software Developers Association (RUSSOFT) Russia has the third highest number of scientists and engineers per head of any country in the world. Google also hopes to establish long-term partnerships leading with Russian institutes and universities.

Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President Engineering and Research at Google said: "It?s great to have Sergei on board. Technology is at the heart of everything we do at Google - we?re looking forward to working with our new Moscow team to develop great products for Russian users?.

Google's Russian R&D centre is the latest addition to a growing number of global engineering offices, which include the UK, Israel, Norway, Tokyo, Japan, Zurich, Switzerland, India and America (New York, Santa Monica, California, Kirkland, Washington and Mountain View).

Posted by Brian Smith at 12:27 PM | Permalink

March 6, 2006

Temporary Googleplex In Tempe, Arizona

The Business Journal of Phoenix reported Friday that Google will be setting up temporary offices Tempe, Arizona.

Google is reportedly going to "occupy 100,000 square feet to 120,000 square feet" that will eventually house 600 Google employees.

As Gary Price wrote back in October, they are still unsure where the permanent location will be; it may be in Tempe or South Scottsdale.

The attraction for Google to set up offices in that area of Arizona is Arizona State University and a "new high-tech research center -- dubbed SkySong." Both Google and the Mayor of Tempe were not able to provide any confirmation on the location Google will ultimately select.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:13 AM | Permalink

February 1, 2006

Google Cofounders Visit Brazil Office

On their way back from Davos, Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stopped by Google's offices in Brazil. Marcelo Sant'Iago has a brief on it here, along with a picture of the duo decked out in Google Brazil football jerseys and some news links.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:45 AM | Permalink

January 31, 2006

January 30, 2006

Google Has Plans to Open R&D Office in Israel

In June, we blogged that Google planned to open a business office in Israel. Today, news that Google is in the process of also opening an R&D center there.

A story in The Marker Online (an Israeli business newspapers) says that's what Sergey Brin told the paper at the World Economic Development Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Israel has a very active IT seen.

For example, well-known vertical search company that's based Israel is Answers.com. Thank you (Todah robah, as they say in Hebrew) to Uri at the ICT blog for the tip.

Posted by Gary Price at 4:41 PM | Permalink

December 15, 2005

Google Announces Plan to Open Pittsburgh Engineering Office; Yahoo Opens NYC Research Center

Both Google and Yahoo today have annoucements about new offices and research facilities.

First, Google is announcing that they will open an office in Pittsburgh.

Work at Google Pittsburgh will focus on engineering, research and development and will be the working home to about 100 people. No specific dates were provided by Google and a location of the office is still being decided.

Dr. Andrew Moore from Carnegie Mellon has been hired by Google to run the Pittsburgh office. At the university, Dr. Moore was Professor of Robotics and Computer Science and co-founder and Director of the Auton Lab. Additional details about Dr. Moore in this news release from CMU.

Both the hiring of Dr. Moore from CMU and the following glowing statement by Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. Cohon, leads me to believe that CMU students will be at the least interning and doing other work at Google Pittsburgh.

Cohon said: "Google is one of the world's great companies. By any measure?in creating value to shareholders, in making significant technical contributions, in setting high standards for ethical business practices?it has an outstanding record. We could not be more delighted and honored that Google has chosen to set up an engineering office in our city."

In case you're wondering, site search on CMU.edu is powered by Google. (-:

Don't forget that Pittsburgh is also home to Vivisimo/Clusty which was started by Carnegie Mellon computer science students and faculty members including Vivisimo CEO, Raul Valdes-Perez. and Jerome Pesenti, Chief Scientist & Co-founder. Earlier this year, Vivisimo moved into new research and sales offices in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood

Carnegie Mellon was also the birthplace of Lycos. Here's the news release from 1995 that announces the formation of Lycos Inc.

Now, let's move 318 miles east (as the crow flies) and report that Yahoo has opened an East Coast research center in New York City. It will be run by new Yahoo's new Vice President of Worldwide Research Operations, Dr. Ron Brachman who comes to Yahoo from DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and AT&T Labs.

The center will focus on key technologies in the areas of computer science and social media relevant to Yahoo!'s products and services.

Brachman will report directly to Prabhakar Raghavan, Head of Yahoo! Research.

A quote in the announcement makes it appear that Yahoo's new facility in NYC will eventually have some sort of relationship with Columbia University.

"The presence of Yahoo! Research on the East Coast will greatly benefit the research community," said Prof. Zvi Galil, Morris A. and Alma Schapiro Professor and Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University. "We look forward to Yahoo!'s close proximity to our campus and the potential to work with distinguished researchers and scientists like Ron Brachman who have made seminal contributions to the scientific community."

Google also has an East Coast research facility in NYC. Of course, both Google and Yahoo Search Marketing have New York offices.

Thanks to Andy at Marketing Pilgrim for the news tip.

Postscript: Here's a just posted job description for software engineers at Google Pittsburgh

Posted by Gary Price at 3:18 PM | Permalink

November 21, 2005

Google's Portable Data Centers & Alternative Internet Speculation

Google-Mart from PBS's Robert X. Cringely covers Google apparently having developed incredibly compact data centers that can fit into a shipping container, suitable for perhaps dropping at internet nexus points. Purpose? Cringely speculates that high speed data centers plus its own bandwidth means Google will effectively have its own internet, giving it a competitive advantage that others can't meet.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:51 AM | Permalink

November 18, 2005

Google Opens Offices in Mexico and Brazil

Brad Hill from the theunofficialgoogleweblog posts that Google has recently opened offices in Mexico City and Sao Paulo, Brazil. In July, we posted that Google had acquired San Paulo-based, Akwan Information Technologies and planned to open a research and development center there. Btw, the theunofficialgoogleweblog post also points out that Google is now trading at over $400/share. As I post this item, it's trading at $403.84, an all-time high.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:32 PM | Permalink

November 16, 2005

London Kids Doodle For Google As Part Of New Office Opening

The News.com article, Schoolgirl wins Doodle 4 Google competition, reports the story of the just completed Doodle 4 Google "doodling" or drawing contest (you know, Google's famous "special logos" or "dooodles" usually drawn by Googler Dennis Hwang) that just ended.

The contest was open to students from London,UK area schools. The winner, Lisa Wainaina, aged 11, won a upper case "G" of frosted glass, and an interactive whiteboard for her school. You can see her winning doodle as well as other doodles of note on this page.

Hwang, who judged the entries, said: "I thought I had a pretty secure job, but these kids are competition I wasn't aware of," Hwang joked. "My job security just went out the window."

You can read more about Dennis Hwang in these blog postings:

+ Special Holiday Logos for Mother's Day; Google Artist Profiled + He's a Googler and a Doodler

Postscript: The story also covers how the contest was part of Google opening a new, larger office in London.

Posted by Gary Price at 6:03 PM | Permalink

November 8, 2005

Google Plans to Open Office in Manchester, UK

Another day and another Google office story to post. A story from Cambridge Reports alerts us to the fact that Manchester will serve as Google's main "base" (no pun intended) "outside of London" for the English Midlands, northern England, Wales and Scotland.

The company, which employs nearly 5,000 people worldwide, will open its Manchester office with a small number of specialist staff, but plans to recruit a larger team as demand for its services grows.

Posted by Gary Price at 6:28 PM | Permalink

October 18, 2005

Google Ready to do Some Lobbying in D.C.

Zachary Rodgers offers some analysis of Google's new Washington D.C. lobbying office in the article: The Search Engine's Lobbyist.

Some companies do their own lobbying. Among enormous bubble-era start-ups, Google is actually late to the table. Yahoo!, eBay, America Online (through Time Warner) and MSN (through Microsoft) all have people in Washington. Naturally, not all these staffers work full-time to influence policy...Especially interesting for Google is that they're getting into businesses where the legislation is sketchy at best," said Stein. "They could clearly go the wrong way in Google's mind. It certainly makes sense for them to keep participating in the same way that GM is there thinking about mileage per gallon for SUVs."

We first blogged about Google's intentions to open a D.C. office about 11 days ago.

Posted by Gary Price at 2:01 PM | Permalink

October 11, 2005

Are You Ready for a New Googleplex? This Time Google Heads to Arizona

This evening, The Business Journal of Phoenix is reporting that Google will annnounce on Wednesday that they plan "major new operations in the Phoenix area."

Sources tell The Business Journal that search engine titan Google is the company in question and that Valley plans will likely include operations related to online auctions and expanded Internet and technology services... It is unclear, however, where Google will be landing its Valley tech operations. Some sources indicate that it will likely be Tempe but others say the company may also be looking at locations in other cities, including Scottsdale.

A specific number of jobs that Google will bring to Arizona will not be announced tomorrow but according to newspaper sources it will be "substantial." Update: A Google news release today said they plan to hire "hundreds of people."

Ok, now let the Google Auction speculation roll into high gear. Might the Phoenix area also be the home of Google's payment services?

The Arizona office is only the latest in a string. The other day I blogged about Google recruiting for some sort of office/GooglePlex in Michigan and of course, we're well aware of the project that incldues more space NASA.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our forum thread, A New Googleplex: This Time in Arizona.

Postscript: Google has just posted a few job openings for their office in Arizona ? Software Engineering (2 types of openings) ? Financial Applications Engineering (2 types of openings) ? Helpdesk (1 type of opening) ? IT (1 type of opening) ? Security (4 types of openings) ? Systems Administration (1 type of opening) ? Internal Systems Production Engineer - Phoenix

Postscript 2: A bit more from the official Google news release: The new Google office will be primarily focused on engineering, operations and IT support functions and is part of our worldwide effort to build engineering centers in locations where there are great engineers. We plan to hire hundreds of people for the new office in the coming years and have set up temporary offices in Phoenix to begin building out our local team. We are currently considering a variety of options for more permanent facilities, including occupying existing office space or perhaps building our own offices.

Posted by Gary Price at 8:47 PM | Permalink

October 9, 2005

Google Begins Hiring for Some Sort of Facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan

In early June we blogged about Google looking for large amounts of office space throughout the country. One location mentioned was Ann Arbor, Michigan. A great city that's home to the University of Michigan (Larry Page's alma mater) and an academic library that Google plans to completely digitize, Another new Googleplex? An off-campus location to scan books? Both? Whatever the case, Google is now looking for people to work at their Ann Arbor facility or facilities. This late September article from the Michigan Business Review has more.

Google has been looking for up to 40,000 square feet of space for the digitization project, as well as up to 250,000 square feet capable of housing a Googleplex, its name for a combined technology/call center.

At the moment, Google is hiring Service Room Technicians for their Ann Arbor location(s). Btw, Google also has a sales office in Detroit.

Postscript: Feel like reminiscing with Larry Page about his days in and around Ann Arbor. This alumni profile contains several of them and is also a good bio. What's his favorite Michigan memory?

?Working the doughnut stand in the EECS Building run by Eta Kappa Nu.?

Posted by Gary Price at 5:33 PM | Permalink

October 7, 2005

Google Opens Lobbying Office In Washington D.C.

It looks like I have some new company here in DC, Google. According to Andrew McLaughlin, a Google Senior Policy Advocate, big "G" has opened an office here.

The Google Blog says that Alan Davidson, will lead Google's lobbying efforts. Key issues that Davidson will be working on many issues including:

+ Net neutrality From the blog, "hould network operators be able to block their customers from reaching competing websites and services (such as Internet voice calls and video-on-demand)? Should they be able to speed up their own sites and services, while degrading those offered by competitors? Should an innovator with a new online service or application be forced to get permission from each broadband cable and DSL provider before rolling it out?"

+ Copyrights and fair use Quite the popular issue these days given the Google Library Project

+ Intermediary liability From the blog, "Not surprisingly, we don?t believe the Internet works well if intermediaries and ISPs are held liable for things created by others but made searchable through us."

Much more in the Google Blog post: Google goes to Washington.

Postscript: Yahoo has had an government affairs office here in D.C. since 1999. You can read a bit about it in here and here.

Posted by Gary Price at 10:53 AM | Permalink

September 29, 2005

Tax Assessor Wants Google To Pay Property Taxes Even Though New Facility Will Be on Federal Land

We've blogged several items about the new Googleplex and Google/NASA relationship that's we be built on NASA Ames property in Mountain View. One story even has Google's Peter Norvig saying that he woild love to see Google Mars and Google Moon. Note to Peter: Google already has these "space" domains already registered.

So, why am I mentioning the Google/NASA story again? Property taxes, that's why?

According to a San Jose Mercury News article: Assessor will try to make Google pay property taxes, the Santa Clara County Assessor wants Google to still pay property taxes even though NASA Ames is located on federal propery.

As part of the deal, Google plans to build hundreds of new homes and carve out roads on a stretch of the 213-acre research campus. In 2002, Mountain View cleared the research park's bid for 4.2 million square feet of new construction, including up to 2,000 homes for any new tenant. "Obviously if they are building enough housing for workers, that's wonderful," said Mountain View City Councilman Greg Perry. But Perry was wistful that the company decided to duck inside the federal borders and deny the city property tax revenue. By building on federal land, Google would avoid potentially millions of dollars in annual property taxes.

Of course, many are thrilled by Google's recent announcement. However, Lee Stone, a negotiator for Ames Federal Employees Union, is not so sure about the deal to bring Google to Ames.

``I fear this could be just about a real estate deal and avoiding the regulatory problems of building in the Bay Area and a moneymaking deal for Ames,'' Stone said. ``Unless there's a bona fide intellectual interaction between the government and Google, then I would be disappointed.''

Posted by Gary Price at 12:24 PM | Permalink

Google Partners With NASA For Expansion Space, Space Data & Supercomputing Talent

Google, NASA sign `a very big deal' from the San Jose Mercury News gives the rundown on the aforementioned plans by Google to expand onto NASA's Ames facility in Mountain View. It's not just getting more space. It's also about collaborating with NASA scientists and getting NASA data, as well. So literally, the sky's not the limit, for Google.

In particular, Google will get access to scientists behind to supercomputing technology that NASA has developed, the article says. Google also gets more access to NASA space data and images, additional fodder for Google Maps and Google Earth, no doubt.

"We already have Google Earth....We'd like to have Google Mars and Google Moon," Google's Peter Norvig is quoted as saying.

NASA Takes Google on Journey Into Space is the official press release from Google with more details, and the NASA version is here.

Postscript from Gary: Google already owns many of the domains that they might need for outer space exploration. See this collection of domains that Google registered a few months ago including GoogleMoon, GoogleMars, and GoogleNeptune.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:14 AM | Permalink

September 28, 2005

Google Going To NASA -- NASA Ames, That Is

Silicon Beat said earlier this week (and Gary last month) that Google was to open a research center at NASA Ames in Mountain View, California. Now it's more official. Google expected to build campus at NASA Ames 1 million-square-foot complex envisioned as heart of Valley from the San Francisco Chronicle has more details now, with a news conference scheduled for 4:30pm Pacific Time today about the move. It's not clear whether the location is designed to help tie into the space interests of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin or simply that NASA has a lot of land, and Google needs space to expand. I'll I know is that I love the big WWII blimp hangars near by at Moffett Field, reminding me of the ones in Tustin at home in Orange County! I've got a print of them hanging on my wall right now :)

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:09 AM | Permalink

September 22, 2005

Google: The Telecom Provider, Leases Massive Amount of Space in NYC

The NY Post article (reg. required, free): Google Feeling Lucky, offers a massive amount of fuel to the Google, your telecom company story. According to The Post, Google is leasing 270,000 sq. feet in a Chelsea office building that's known as a telecom carrier "hotel" because the Eighth Avenue building is home to thousands of servers (from many carriers including BellSouth, MCI, Qwest, and Sprint) and the critical infrastructure to support them.

"111 Eighth Avenue is the premier telecom and data facility in the United States," said Neal McGraw, the chief financial officer of NYC Connect LLC, which operates a facility in the building that allows tenants to connect their networks efficiently and at a low cost.

Also worth noting: [The buildings] concentration of interconnected networks would allow Google to offer its new voice-over-Internet service, Google Talk, more efficiently and at lower cost because it would be able to connect directly to the networks of many of the world's leading telecom firms that are also housed there.

One telecom analyst tells The Post that he and his colleagues have never seen a network buildup on this scale.

Posted by Gary Price at 10:30 AM | Permalink

September 8, 2005

Google Appoints Former Microsoft Employee Head Of Google Israel Office

Gary wrote earlier that Google was to open an office in Israel. Via the SearchMarketing.co.il blog, Google opens Israel branch at Globes has further news that a branch is planned and that Meir Brand has been named as the first Israeli employee there, apparently to head up operations as the Google Israel "country manager." Brand formerly worked AOL and Microsoft.

Want to discuss? Visit our forum thread, Google To Announce Israel Country Manager.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:12 AM | Permalink

August 31, 2005

Searching for Relevant RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are becoming ubiquitous, though ironically good content isn't always easy to find. None of he major search engines have yet to launch a major RSS search application. There are specialized RSS search services available, however, and part two of our in-depth look at RSS describes them. For more, see today's SearchDay article, RSS Search Engines.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 12:50 AM | Permalink

August 29, 2005

Yahoo Finds Office Space in San Francisco ; 966 Job Openings at Yahoo and Google

I've blogged several stories about Google looking for more office space both in and out of Silicon Valley. A new article in the SF Business Times: Yahoo search leads to San Francisco, reports that Yahoo plans to lease 20,000 sq. feet of office space in San Francisco. Doing so will make Yahoo the "biggest tech company" in the city. The article also points out that Yahoo currently has 612 job openings at their hq in Sunnyvale while Google has 354 open positions in Mountain View. These numbers don't include jobs at non-hq offices.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:33 AM | Permalink

August 2, 2005

Is Google Planning to Open an Office in Russia?

Like I said yesterday, hardly a week goes by without hearing about potential new locations for Google offices and research facilities. Today, The Moscow Times is reporting that Google might open an office in a St. Petersburg, Russia research park employing up to 3000 workers.

Google would not comment on the story but told the Moscow Times that: "We are very interested in Russia and are working to learn more about this important market. We will continue ... exploring business opportunities in Russia."

Posted by Gary Price at 9:04 AM | Permalink

August 1, 2005

Google Considering 1 Million Sq. Foot Googleplex in Valley

It's hard for a week to go by without a report about Google searching (no pun intended) for more office space as the company continues to expand. This week will be no different. The Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal story: On hiring binge, Google prowling for additional office space, discusses Google's efforts to find more space in the Mountain View/Silicon Valley area. The article notes that the company is, "probing development of a million-square-foot headquarters-type campus."

Representatives for Google have talked to the city of Mountain View and NASA/Ames Research Park about developing in those locations, according to executives affiliated with both. Google declined comment, saying through a spokesman that it had "no plans to announce about additional facilities in any location." It also declined to reveal how many of its more than 4,100 full-time employees worked in Silicon Valley or what percentage of those hired this spring were working in the valley.

During Google's recent conference call, we learned that the company hired 701 new employees in the first quarter of 2005. They did not say how many of these new employees work at the Mountain View Googleplex.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:51 AM | Permalink

July 19, 2005

Google Will Open Research Center in China, Hire Microsoft VP to Run China Operation

News from the Googleplex today that the company is increasing their presence in China by opening a product research and development center sometime this quarter.

And now an item for your Google vs. Microsoft file.

Google also announced today that they've hired away Dr. Kai-Fu Lee from Microsoft (ouch!) to run Google's operations in China. Dr. Lee was most recently an MS corporate vice-president and also the founder of Microsoft's research lab in Beijing. It will be interesting to see if Dr. Lee brings some/many/all of his MS colleagues with him to Google.

Posted by Gary Price at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 9, 2005

A Googleplex in Michigan?

About ten days ago I posted an item about Google looking for a large amount of office space in Boston to build a Googleplex. That article also mentioned that other cities were being discussed.

Today, an article in the Michigan Business Review lets us know that Ann Arbor is one of the other locations.

Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan where Larry Page attended school. Page was also a commencement speaker at the U of M this year.

One search reportedly focuses on up to 200,000 square feet for a "Googleplex," described as a technology/call center that could land either in Ann Arbor or a handful of other cities.

This article also points out that Google is also looking for 40,000 square feet, "for work related to the company's work at the University of Michigan as Google digitizes the entire library collection."

Posted by Gary Price at 3:07 PM | Permalink

June 5, 2005

Israel Will Soon Say Shalom to Google, Office in the Works

Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, reports that Google will open an office in Israel soon and perhaps expand its existing Hebrew-language Google Israel site into a content-bearing portal.

Internet portal giant Google is about to open an Israeli subsidiary and broaden its business here, Haaretz has learned...Last week, two business development managers from the Google branch in London visited Israel and met with managers of major portals and Hebrew language Web sites to find future business partners.

If Google indeed expands its operations to Israel, it would provide tough competition to Israeli portals, which include Ynet, Walla!, NRG, Nana, and Golden Pages. Google would compete directly with MSN Israel, which is the only content portal in Israel that belongs to a international company, Microsoft...The Israeli search engine market currently generates $6 million in annual revenues, up almost 100 percent from a year ago. The total Israeli Internet advertising market stands at around $30 million annually.

Globes [online] also has a story.

Posted by Gary Price at 9:47 AM | Permalink

May 30, 2005

Is Google Planning to Open a New Googleplex in Boston?

According to the Boston Business Journal article: Google goggles Hub for major expansion, that the Boston area is one of four cities that Google is considering for a new Googleplex. Company representative have looked at more than 10 Boston/Cambridge locations in the past seven days.

The three other cities in the running aren't listed in the article but as far as Boston goes, Google wants 75,000 sq. feet of office space with an option to expand to over 200,000 sq. feet in the next 18 months.

The article goes on to mention that Google would hire up to 1,000 "mid-salary workers." The company already has a small sales office in Boston.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:17 PM | Permalink

March 8, 2005

A Visit to Google's Hyderabad Center in India

If you're interested in learning about some of Google's operation in India, the rediff.com article: Google Hyderabad sets global trend!, is worthy of your attention.

"The Hyderabad centre of Google is unique when compared with our other global centres as it is only here that we provide conveyance facility to our employees," [Roy] Gilbert [head of online sales and operations of Google Online India] says. The Hyderabad centre of Google provides engineering, online sales and human resources functions. The online sales and service team in Hyderabad supports Google's English language advertisers across the world. "At present, we employ around 3,000 across 20 countries and as far as I am aware of, we do not provide pick-up and drop facilities at any of our operations elsewhere," Gilbert says. More in the article: Google Hyderabad sets global trend!

Posted by Gary Price at 11:33 AM | Permalink

February 17, 2005

Google Plans to Open Facility in Oregon

It appears that Google will be opening a facility in The Dalles, Oregon according to an article in The Business Journal (Portland, OR). Google will pay $1.87 million for 30 acres of industrial land.

Both parties have signed off on a sales agreement. But the Chronicle reported it's contingent on conditions in the agreement being met -- such as tax incentives and power supply.

Google confirmed that the deal was "in the works" but "declined to provide more details about why The Dalles was chosen or what type of work would be done at the site."

Posted by Gary Price at 6:06 PM | Permalink

December 9, 2004

Google Goes Down to Georgia

Walter Woods, a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, does some investigating to learn more about Google's new data center near Atlanta. You can read his findings in the article: Searching for Google -- Shhhhh, it's a secret.

Almost without notice, the Internet search company has tiptoed about 100 employees and a significant investment into a windowless building in a Douglas County industrial park near Six Flags Over Georgia...But despite Google's best efforts, the secret has trickled out.

Posted by Gary Price at 1:07 PM | Permalink

December 3, 2004

Google Research Centre Opens in Tokyo

A new Google Research Centre has just opened in Tokyo according to this Computer Weekly story.

If you're wondering: 1) What type of R&D research the centre will focus on? 2) How many people Google plans to hire in Tokyo?

The answer is the company doesn't know (or isn't saying).

The centre's role in Google's global R&D network is yet to be defined and will be shaped by the people who are hired to work there, said Howard Gobioff, the centre's engineering director and principal engineer...Google does not have a set number of engineers it is looking to hire for the Tokyo centre and this will depend largely on the quality of people who apply, Gobioff said. The company is looking for "really smart people" who have an interest in building things, are flexible and want to take on new problems in new domains, he said.

This is Google's fourth R&D centere. The others are in the US, Switzerland and India.

Posted by Gary Price at 8:22 AM | Permalink

November 11, 2004

Google Signs Lease for Seattle Area Software Development Office

The King County Journal has info about Google's new Seattle area software development office in the article: Google plans to develop new software in Kirkland. It's a 5.6 mile drive from MS HQ. (-:

Google Inc., operator of the world's most widely used Internet search engine, plans to open a software development office here that will eventually employ up to 200 workers.

The Silicon Valley company recently signed a multiyear lease to initially occupy the entire fourth floor of the Central Way Plaza building at 720 Fourth Ave. in downtown Kirkland.

Google also agreed to take an option to occupy the third floor of the building as well by the end of November 2006, which would give the company a total of 46,000 square feet of office space.

Posted by Gary Price at 2:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 12, 2004

Google Will Expand Operations in India

During a vist to India by Sergey Brin and Larry Page the company has announced plans to expand their operations in the country.

"We are committed to substantial growth in terms of both manpower and infrastructure at both these offices," Sergey Brin, co-founder of the search engine, told reporters at a press conference here.

He said the expansions are scheduled to take place by the end of the year but refused to give details on numbers or figures.

Google's Bangalore office will focus on research and development while the Hyderabad centre will look after online sales and operations and human resource functions, Brin added.

More in the article: Google plans big expansion in India

Posted by Gary Price at 9:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 6, 2004

Google Opens European HQ

Google Blog and this Channel News Asia article: Google sets up shop in tech-oriented Ireland, informs us that Google has just opened it's "European Headquarters" today in Dublin. Sergey, Larry, and the Irish Deputy Prime Minister were in attendance.

Posted by Gary Price at 8:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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