Google’s Chrome browser, now used by 120 million users, is being positioned for the business world, the search giant said. It has introduced new controls for IT administrators and revealed that corporations like Procter & Gamble are deploying it.
“Many businesses asked how they can get the benefits of increased security, speed and the modern browser capabilities that Chrome offers with the configurability and customisations they need,” said Glenn Wilson, Google Chrome product manager.
Google yesterday announced that Chrome offers controls that enable IT administrators to easily configure and deploy the browser on Windows, Mac and Linux, according to their business requirements.
“We’ve created an MSI installer that enables businesses who use standard deployment tools to install Chrome for all their managed users,” Wilson explained.
Google also added support for managed group policy with a list of policies and a set of templates that allow administrators to easily customise browser settings to manage security and privacy.
“For your users that need access to older web applications not yet qualified for Chrome, we also added group policy support to Google Chrome Frame, an Internet Explorer plug in that provides Chrome-quality rendering for the broader web, while defaulting to host rendering for any web applications that still require IE,” he said.
A more secure browser?
The company said that by deploying Google Chrome, organisations can take advantage of improved security and web application performance without needing to upgrade other expensive software licences or buy new hardware.
“Deploying Google Chrome also gives users access to productivity-enhancing HTML5 web applications. Since Google Chrome is the same as the browser on Chrome OS, admins considering Chrome OS for their organisations can start testing their mission-critical web applications by deploying the Google Chrome browser.
“Support for these new administrative features is available to Google Apps for Business admins by phone and email as part of their Apps deployment. For those who are not Google Apps for business customers, we’ve also posted documentation to assist administrators deploying Chrome inside their organisation.”
Wilson said that over the past few months, Google has worked to test Chrome with administrators in a diverse set of large organisations interested in moving to a more secure, modern browser.
“Organisations such as Vanguard, Boise State University and Procter & Gamble (and Google!) have already successfully deployed Chrome to thousands of users. They’ve provided us with excellent feedback, and we’re continuing to work on the next set of features that they’ve requested.
“What we’ve built is just the start of what we’d like to offer businesses with Google Chrome. We’re excited by the features built so far, and we’re working hard on polishing the next set of policies that will make Google Chrome even more customisable and useful to users in the future,” he added.
