FAST ACQUIRES ALTAVISTA ENTERPRISE SEARCH BUSINESS
Latest search market consolidation expands FAST`s worldwide presence, and provides AltaVista customers with improved support and opportunity to adopt FAST`s real-time search solutions
OSLO, Norway – 17 June 2003 – Fast Search & Transfer™ (FAST™), the leading developer of enterprise search and real-time alerting technologies, today announced the acquisition of the AltaVista enterprise search business, including more than two hundred customers, from Overture Services, Inc. for an undisclosed cash amount. Overture obtained the enterprise search business as part of the acquisition of the business of AltaVista, which was announced on April 28, 2003. FAST`s acquisition of AltaVista`s enterprise search business will allow FAST to provide AltaVista`s customers uninterrupted support and maintenance on their current platform and an opportunity to migrate to FAST Data Search™, FAST`s powerful suite of enterprise search and real-time filter solutions.
"This acquisition presents a winning situation for everyone involved and aligns perfectly with our strategy to set new standards in the enterprise search market," commented Ali I. Riaz, FAST`s chief operating officer. "In addition to providing dedicated support and maintenance to the newly acquired customers, this acquisition gives AltaVista enterprise search customers and partners the opportunity to experience the power of FAST`s highly-scalable and flexible suite of enterprise search solutions. As the enterprise search market continues to consolidate, this milestone further strengthens our position in the market, and enables FAST to broaden its market presence worldwide."
This acquisition will not affect FAST`s product direction, as there are no plans to integrate the AltaVista enterprise search technology with FAST Data Search. As FAST continues the support and maintenance of current AltaVista enterprise search customers without interruption, it will encourage these customers to migrate to the FAST Data Search platform. The FAST platform provides all of the features and benefits of the AltaVista enterprise search solution, allowing for a smooth and effective migration, while also offering an attractive opportunity to enhance their current search offerings with a comprehensive combination of powerful, real-time search technology, business search management tools, and information analysis capabilities.
The unique, single-platform approach of FAST Data Search is setting new, enterprise search standards for customers and partners worldwide by providing them with flexible and scalable, industrial strength search solutions that address their needs and allow them to migrate from smaller installations to enterprise-wide deployments, as required, without changing software platform.
Ideal for smaller installations to the most demanding search and retrieval cases, FAST Data Search enables companies and organizations to develop information transparency and utilization across organizational units and geographical areas. This results in improved efficiency through collaboration, information sharing, and real-time data monitoring and filtering. With advanced linguistic technologies, categorization, dynamic result clustering, and support for over 225 file formats and 54 languages, the FAST Data Search product suite supplies a complete information retrieval solution ideal for key vertical markets including Financial Services; Government and Intelligence; Media and Publishing; Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals; and e-Commerce and portal applications.
About FAST
Fast Search & Transfer (FAST) creates the real-time search and filter technology solutions that are behind the scenes at the world`s best known companies with the most demanding search problems. FAST`s flexible and scalable integrated technology platform enables enterprise customers to elevate their search capabilities to unprecedented levels. FAST closes the gap between information and action, connecting people to the relevant information they seek regardless of medium, in turn driving revenue and reducing total cost of ownership by effectively leveraging IT infrastructure for our clients and world-class partners. A wide range of Global 3000 customers and partners, including AT&T, Cardinal Health, CareerBuilder, Chordiant, CIGNA, Dell, FirstGov.gov (GSA), Freeserve, IBM, Matrix (Italia Telecom), Overture, Reed Elsevier, Reuters, and T-Online (Deutsche Telecom) currently use FAST`s powerful enterprise search technology solutions.
FAST operates globally with offices in the United States (Boston, San Francisco), Europe (Norway, France, Germany, Italy, UK), and Japan. FAST is publicly traded under the ticker symbol `FAST` on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Please visit www.fastsearch.com for more information.
©2003 Fast Search & Transfer ASA - Fast Search & Transfer, FAST, and the FAST four-colored logo are trademarks of Fast Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved. FAST disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
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