Stories about: Inktomi

Google's recent foray into the enterprise search market may have raised the profile of the technology, but the tools are nothing new to Jeff Watts and National Instruments's 3,500 employees and 25,000 customers.

Yahoo this week plans to unveil a new program designed to improve the size of its Web index and the relevancy of its search engine results, the Sunnyvale, California company said Tuesday.

Yahoo Inc. unveiled a new search engine technology Wednesday, and began phasing out services from Google Inc., in a move likely to increase competition between the Internet giants.

Yahoo Inc. may continue with the AltaVista Web site (www.altavista.com) after it completes its acquisition of Overture Services Inc., and may use some of AltaVista's search technologies on its own portal sites, according to an executive of Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo. AltaVista, a provider of Web search services and technology, is currently a business of Overture.

Microsoft is beefing up its MSN search engine to go head-to-head with Google Inc., but at the same time has no immediate plans to cancel its agreement for paid search listings with Overture Services, which was recently bought by MSN rival Yahoo.

Yahoo Inc. said Monday that it is scooping up paid search service provider Overture Services in a US$1.63 billion deal expected to ramp up competition in the search market.

Yahoo rolled out an updated search engine Monday in a bid to regain its place in the competitive search market, which has been dominated recently by the presence of rival Google.

Overture Services has agreed to acquire search technology company AltaVista Co. for US$140 million in cash and stock, the companies announced Tuesday.

Yahoo's year-end announcement to acquire Inktomi comes at an interesting time. It has been using Google to provide web search, integrated into Yahoo's portal. Over the last year, though, Google has begun to leverage its popularity in search and has introduced portal-like offerings. Google News, for example, presents information pulled from thousands of news sources. Other new services include a catalog search, discussion groups, a web directory and Froogle, a search tool for online commerce.

Terra Lycos SA unveiled a new version of its HotBot search site on Monday that integrates catalogs from Google Inc., Fast Search & Transfer ASA, Inktomi Corp. and Teoma, offering search addicts a one-stop spot to find what they're looking for.