FOCUS-Inktomi unveils new wireless strategy
(Adds details, byline, comments from Chief Executive, pvs FOSTER CITY)
By Andrea Orr
PALO ALTO, Calif., March 14 (Reuters) - Inktomi Corp. (NasdaqNM:INKT - news),
which makes the software behind many Internet search engines, Tuesday unveiled a major new strategy to deliver more online
content to cellular phones and other wireless devices.
In a new initiative involving alliances with six other technology companies, Inktomi will seek to accelerate the deployment of
wireless devices equipped with Internet content and commerce functions.
Inktomi stock surged 17-1/8 to 206-1/8 on the news, as investors focused on the vast potential for the new wireless market.
``I think wireless holds the possibility for being larger than the Internet today,' Inktomi Chief Executive Dave Peterschmidt said,
explaining the enthusiasm.
Although wireless has become one of the buzzwords of high-tech with virtually all Internet companies working on hand-held
devices or related services, Inktomi said it thinks it can build some superior wireless solutions.
Peterschmidt said that while most Internet-enabled wireless devices are offering the same basic data available from a PC, he
hopes the new alliance will deliver data and services customized for the specific needs of mobile users.
``What you really want in a mobile device is for it to be mobile-relevant,' he said. ``You want the device to acknowledge
where you are really located.'
He said the new strategy came together after more than a year of planning and studying the markets in Japan and Europe,
where wireless devices are more ubiquitous than in the United States and typically used for many functions beyond talking.
Some European countries have cellphones that can be used to charge purchases from vending machines, and Peterschmidt
said, he discovered one service in Germany where drivers could use their cellphones to get directions to parking garages that
had vacancies.
One of Inktomi's new partners is AirFlash Inc., whose technology helps deliver more practical mobile content, not just
identifying the nearest restaurant or coffee shop for the mobile user on the go, but also taking account any rivers or other
barriers in between. Inktomi said this level of precision will be critical in the deployment of mobile devices that consumers can
use as a kind of compact yellow-pages service that adjusts its content based on the user's location.
Inktomi also partnered with Portal Software Inc. (NasdaqNM:PRSF - news) and Cap Gemini , to deliver wireless billing
solutions, and with Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HWP - news) and Sun Microsystems Inc. (NasdaqNM:SUNW - news),
which have agreed to use Inktomi's technology in its own wireless products to help move toward a uniform standard. The final
partner in the alliance, Spyglass (NasdaqNM:SPYG - news), will provide technology to adapt rich Internet content to smaller
hand-held devices.
Inktomi said its role in the alliance will be to apply its same Internet search and traffic management technology to wireless
devices so that consumers will be able to locate the information they are looking for in seconds.
``That involves a supercomputer architecture that is incredibly fast and scalable,' Peterschmidt said. ``That is the real value
proposition that we bring.' |
