The InfoSeek Net Search Service

Press Release


New, fast information retrieval service sets the standard for Web searches; InfoSeek, Netscape and Sun sponsor free service
Business Wire, May 22, 1995 11:20 (3K)
Wire Services

Business Editors/Computer Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 1995-- InfoSeek(TM) Corporation today announced that it has teamed up with Netscape Communications Corporation and Sun Microsystems to provide a new, free World Wide Web search service that delivers extremely fast, accurate results to users. The service, which is accessible from Netscape's home page on the Internet, is accessed over one million times a day and processes more than 500,000 full-text queries from over 100,000 different sites. During peak periods, more than 500 queries are processed per minute. InfoSeek believes that the service, which started on March 26, is now the most popular Web search service on the Internet.

According to InfoSeek President Steven T. Kirsch, "We knew that a free search service on Netscape's site would be very popular and would result in high loads on our search server. We wanted to be sure that users wouldn't get a busy signal at peak periods, so we needed a high-performance, dedicated server. We chose the SPARCserver 1000(TM), which uses Solaris(R), and its performance has been outstanding. With the combination of our software and the SPARC/Solaris machine, most searches take less than a second."

Kirsch explained that the high performance is due in part to the multithreading capabilities of the Solaris operating environment, which complements InfoSeek's software. The number of transactions that are processed per second scales linearly, with additional CPUs providing excellent throughput and performance.

Katherine D. Webster, manager of Internet market development at Sun, said, "This project lets us show how well our server performs in a high-stress environment; InfoSeek's load statistics demonstrate the performance our server delivers."

"We were interested in working with InfoSeek because we wanted to give Netscape users access to a high-quality search-the-Web service," said Hugh W. Hempel, Netscape's director of electronic marketing. "It's one of the services we offer that makes users want to return frequently to our site."

Kirsch said that InfoSeek's commercial search service, which includes databases on a wide variety of topics, is available for a $9.95 monthly subscription charge. But like other Internet companies, InfoSeek is discovering that advertisers are interested in Web sites that attract a high volume of users. InfoSeek users on Netscape now see a logo from Sun, Internet Shopping Network, or Storage Computer at the top of their search results page.

InfoSeek Corporation is a privately-held company in Santa Clara, Calif. It was started in 1994 by Steve Kirsch, the founder and former president of Frame Technology as well as the founder and former president of Mouse Systems. InfoSeek Search is a service on the Internet's World-Wide Web that enables users to find and retrieve relevant information quickly, easily and at a low cost.

Additional information on InfoSeek is available by accessing URL http://www.infoseek.com. Those interested can also send e-mail to info@infoseek.com or telephone (408) 982-4450. The InfoSeek Netscape search service can be accessed at http://home.netscape.com/home/ internet-search.html.

InfoSeek is a trademark of InfoSeek Corporation. Other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.

CONTACT: Hamilton Communications

Nancy Teater, 415/321-0252

E-mail: nrt@hamilton.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED PRODUCT

Copyright 1995, Business Wire

This article is copyrighted. Any unauthorized access, reproduction or distribution is strictly prohibited.


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