Google Chrome Gets Tool for Enterprise Deployment

Google Dec. 15 made its Chrome Web browser enterprise friendly, launching a tool that lets IT administrators provision the software to Windows,

Mac and Linux computers across a business. 

Chrome has more than 120 million users who have downloaded the browser to their personal computers and laptops. Yet Chrome has been largely

limited to consumer use for a couple reasons.

First, some admins lock down their corporate desktops and laptops to prevent workers from installing unauthorized Web apps. Second Google

offered no way to deploy the browser across an enterprise the way Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox are provisioned.   

To fill that hole Google has crafted an MSI Installer lets admins install Chrome for all of their business users using software deployment tools from

BMC Software, Computer Associates and others.
Google also added support for managed group policy to allow admins to customize Chrome settings to manage security and privacy.
Support for the new Chrome admin features is available to Google Apps for Business admins by phone and e-mail. Non Google Apps admins
interested in deploying Chrome in their shops may view documentation here.
Rajen Sheth, group product manager for Google Enterprise, told eWEEK that Chrome will give companies the security they need to run HTML5
Web applications without requiring expensive software licenses or new hardware.
"As HTML5 takes more and more hold amongst the developer community, more and more enterprise applications will leverage the power of
HTML5," Sheth said. "We think that Chrome is an ideal solutions because of that. Businesses now have options for browsing the modern Web."
Google has another reason for creating a Chrome deployment tool. Google is polishing Chrome Operating System, the support system for the
Chrome browser and Web apps.
The company launched a pilot program for Chrome OS last week, but Samsung and Acer are expected to release official machines in mid-2011.
Getting Chrome into businesses now will help businesses run their important Web applications in the browser, setting Google and its computer
maker partners up nicely for getting Chrome OS machines into businesses when they're ready to launch.These are all important steps as Google seeks to provide that cloud-based operating system alternative to Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac

machines in the future.