Google Search Appliance was supposed to be "deploy and forget" (at least in its earliest version) but it still had a connection (over phone line, IIRC) so that

Google Search Appliance was supposed to be "deploy and forget" (at least in its earliest version) but it still had a connection (over phone line, IIRC) so that Google support could reach it in case of need. Such a design makes sense only if the work the system has to do is predictably static though. Even in the case of Google Search Appliance, the moment your company adds a document in a new format the device will require some kind of external intervention to keep working.