Aussie Search Engine ‘Wows’ Google

Aussie search engine ‘wows’ Google—A senior Google engineer has described being “wowed” by an Australian search engine tool developed at the University of New South Wales.

“I think it’s pretty special,” said Mr Rob Pike, a principal engineer at the world’s leading internet search company, speaking about the Orion search engine process.

Earlier this year, Google bought the rights to the advanced text search algorithm for an undisclosed sum and hired the doctoral student who developed it, Mr Ori Allon.

Mr. Pike, who splits his year between Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, and the Sydney office, often visits universities and reviews research projects.

“[But] this is the first time I’ve walked out and said: ‘Wow! We should buy this stuff. So it’s pretty unique,” Mr Pike said in an interview.

In summary, Orion improves the relevance of search results and displays a more detailed preview of each file so users can better determine whether it is what they need.

The query results are displayed immediately in the form of expanded text extracts, providing the searcher with relevant information without the need to visit the website, although that option is still available.

Mr Allon was born and raised in Israel and came to Australia in the mid-’90s. He is now an Australian citizen and says he one day hopes to return to his adopted country. After completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Monash University in Melbourne, he moved to the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to further his studies and research.

Mr. Allon’s PhD supervisor, Dr. Eric Martin, will continue to work on the project at UNSW’s Sydney campus. Although Mr Allon developed the process, the university still has intellectual property rights. Speaking at the opening of Google’s Sydney offices earlier this month, Mr. Pike says that while he played no direct role in hiring Mr. Allon or buying the rights to the algorithm, he acted as the “matchmaker.”

He and a colleague, Dr. Rasmussen, attended a university function. Allon demonstrated his search tool.

“We were very impressed,” Mr Pike said. “So I emailed the Mountain View folks and said, ‘you should check this out’. “A few months later, Mr. Pike bumped into Mr. Allon at Google headquarters. “It turns out we hired him.” Mr. Pike, an industry veteran with a long list of credits to his name, said that because Orion was “so unusual,” he couldn’t say for sure how long it would take to integrate Mr. Allon’s work into day-to-day operations.

“You have to decide whether it’s a new product or you integrate it with an existing product,” Mr. Pike said. “It takes time to work these things out.”

Dr Rasmussen, Google Australia’s head of engineering, says he was similarly impressed with Mr Allon and his search process. “I remember meeting him [at the university last year] and then being very excited when I heard he was working for Google in Mountain View.” Google is the world’s leading search engine. In April, it held a 43.1% U.S. market share compared to Yahoo’s 28% share. Microsoft’s MSN is third.

Earlier this month, Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, told reporters that his company wants to maintain its dominance in the search market by making a “heavy investment in new search algorithms.” (An algorithm is a problem-solving computational procedure and is the building block for all search engines.)

Mr. Schmidt said that although the company had expanded in many directions, its core focus was still on search and search-related advertising.

“We have more people working on search than ever before,” the New York Times quoted him as saying. “You will see better search, more personal search, and more international search.” He said Google engineers were being encouraged to spend 70% of their time on search-related projects.

“You have to decide whether it’s a new product or you integrate it with an existing product,” Mr Pike said. “It takes time to work these things out.” Dr Rasmussen, Google Australia’s head of engineering, says he was similarly impressed with Mr Allon and his search process.

“I remember meeting him [at the university last year] and then being very excited when I heard he was working for Google in Mountain View.” Google is the world’s leading search engine. In April, it held a 43.1% U.S. market share compared to Yahoo’s 28% share. Microsoft’s MSN is third.

Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, told reporters that his company wants to maintain its dominance in the search area by making a “heavy investment in new search algorithms.”
(An algorithm is a problem-solving computational procedure and is the building block for all search engines.)

Mr. Schmidt said that although the company had expanded in many directions, its core focus was still on search and search-related advertising.

“We have more people working on search than ever before,” the New York Times quoted him as saying. “You will see better search, more personal search, and more international search.”

He said Google engineers were being encouraged to spend 70% of their time on search-related projects.

Excerpts posted by Stephen Hutcheon.
# Aussie search engine ‘wows’ Google