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BY ANGELA NAVARRETE Searching the Stanford web just got easier. On Monday, Stanford replaced its UltraSeek/Inktomi web search engine with the Google search appliance. The improvement has been a long time coming and will make a dramatic difference when it comes to accessing online information at Stanford. "The main purpose of the university is to generate knowledge and learning," said Scott Stocker, director of web communications. "With more than a million web pages indexed at Stanford, the amount of information available online is staggering and continues to grow. The need for a sophisticated search engine such as Google is greater than ever." Google, the most popular web search engine, uses a page-ranking algorithm that ensures the most relevant search results are returned first, so users spend less time clicking through page after page of useless URLs to find what they're looking for. Users can search for specific document types -- PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations -- as well as conduct more complex Boolean searches. Google also features spell-checking and multilingual searches. Google's relationship with Stanford isn't new. Google was developed here in the mid-1990s by graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who transformed a dorm-room project into the largest search engine in the world. Tom Cramer, director of technology infrastructure for Information Technology Systems and Services (ITSS), said the homecoming is welcomed. "It's great to be able to bring something back to the campus that will benefit everyone." The Google search engine is available now on the university home page as well as at http://google.stanford.edu. Google integrates easily into department websites, and webmasters are encouraged to convert UltraSeek search pages as soon as possible -- instructions are available online. ITSS will continue to support UltraSeek through the summer; after that time, Google will be available on the main search page at http://search.stanford.edu.
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Stanford Report, March 19, 2003
