Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced Google Video for business, a new application in Google Apps for sharing video in an organization in two easy steps - simply upload a video to Google Apps, and then invite others to view it. With Google Video for business, anyone can upload a video - on anything ranging from executive communications to product training to trip reports - and share it securely with individuals or the entire company. Google Video for business is now available as part of Google Apps Premier Edition at no additional cost.

“YouTube has enabled millions of consumers to easily capture and share video at an unprecedented level, yet corporate video has remained expensive and complicated,” said Dave Girouard, president of enterprise, Google. “With Google Video for business, our customers get the ease of YouTube combined with the simple and secure sharing of Google Apps.”

With Google Video for business, companies can leverage the power and intimacy of video to communicate all flavors of corporate information including:

• Leadership communications such as business updates and corporate announcements
• Training and how-to videos to share product knowledge and business expertise
• Customer insight derived from site visits, interviews, or focus groups
• Social videos that evangelize relevant activity and initiatives across an organization

“Productivity and other improvements driven by the telephone over the last hundred years, and email within the last 20, will now continue with broad use of video in the business environment,” said Manesh Patel, chief information officer and senior vice president of IT, Sanmina-SCI. “Cost and complexity have until now limited the effective use of video to improve business functions. The integration of video into Google Apps, combined with continuing improvements in video devices and network infrastructure, provides significant opportunities for innovation and saving throughout our global teams.”

Sharing video is as simple as clicking “browse” to find a video and “upload” to start sharing. Google Apps gives video owners multiple controls for sharing videos such as:

• share videos with individuals, groups, or the entire organization
• add descriptions and tags
• embed videos in any internal web page, including Google Sites

Viewers across the organization can:

• search for any video to which they have access
• view high-quality video from popular browsers (including Safari on iPhone)
• submit ratings, comments and additional tags
• optionally download videos for viewing offline or on portable devices

Google Video for business is available now in English to Google Apps Premier Edition accounts at no additional cost. Each Google Apps Premier Edition domain gets 3GB of Video storage per user account. Existing Premier Edition administrators can enable Google Video for business immediately from the Google Apps control panel. A version for Google Apps Education Edition customers that allows faculty and staff to upload and share videos with students will be available on September 8 for free trial until March 9, 2009, at which point it will cost $10 per user/year.

Google Apps brings simple, powerful communication and collaboration tools to organizations. With Google Apps, users can use tools such as Gmail webmail service, Google Talk instant messaging service, Google Calendar calendaring service, Google Docs program, Google Sites web application, the Start Page for creating a customizable homepage, and now Google Video for business on their own domain to work together more effectively.