Another plus to this story is that while NOVL will provide technology and $$ CMGI will manage the new company..
Tuesday April 11 10:29 AM ET
CMGI Forms New Firm to Improve the Internet
ANDOVER, Mass. (Reuters) - Internet investment firm CMGI Inc. (NasdaqNM:CMGI - news) said Tuesday it has formed
a new majority-owned operating company, ``CMGion,' that will develop a new Internet operating network designed to
improve the performance of the Internet.
Novell Inc. (NasdaqNM:NOVL - news) and Sun Microsystems Inc. (NasdaqNM:SUNW - news) will each invest $20
million in CMGion. Novell also plans to provide a software platform that includes protocol, directory and caching services.
Sun plans to provide appliance and server platforms and key operating system components.
CMGion will ``mine the flow' of Internet traffic by profiling and delivering content and creating a system to support personal
portals that are privacy-enabled and profile-driven, the Internet venture capital firm said in a statement about the new
company.
CMGI Chairman and Chief Executive David Wetherell will serve interim chief executive of the new company, which will be
based in Andover, Mass.
The new company will incorporate anonymous profiling technology from Engage
Technologies Inc. (NasdaqNM:ENGA - news) and application hosting and management
services from partners such as Internet application service provider NaviSite
Inc.(NasdaqNM:NAVI - news).
One of CMGion's primary roles will be to act as an 'infomediary' between clients and
servers, which represents an important role in the business-to-business Internet economy because it links content, consumers
and information flow, CMGI said.
``Never before have users demanded so much refinement from a technology base that is commercially only five years old.
The introduction of wireless Internet access, new forms of Internet access tools, and increasingly complex content such as
voice and video, represent a new gauntlet for service providers to recognize and overcome,' Wetherell said in a statement.
``We see CMGion as introducing a next generation solution to a current generation problem.
Shares of CMGI, an Internet hothouse with about 65 developing companies within its portfolio, were off 4 1/2 at 79 7/16 trade
on Nasdaq. |
