LookSmart Goes Broadband; Search Infrastructure Leader Signs Strategic Partnership with Road Runner
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 29, 2000--LookSmart (Nasdaq:LOOK), a global leader of Internet search infrastructure, today announced an agreement with Road Runner, a leading high speed online service provider with over 550,000 customers. LookSmart will build a high quality custom directory for Road Runner's broadband content, and integrate the directory into LookSmart's world class search solutions.
LookSmart also announced today that it is extending its leadership position in Internet search infrastructure through the offering of a broadband search solution. LookSmart, in collaboration with its partners, is building a premier directory of quality broadband content that it will syndicate throughout its extensive distribution network, which reaches over 45 million unique users each month. LookSmart is also developing new user interfaces and search environments to leverage the rich media content that will be accessible through the broadband search solution.
"Being a leader of search infrastructure requires us to provide the best search and directory offering for partners and their users," said Chris Tucher, senior vice president of business development at LookSmart. "In our continuing effort to help people find everything they're looking for on the Web, including media-rich content, we are forging alliances with leading providers of interactive content and commerce, and will be offering our partners access to the richest multi-media search experience on the Internet."
It is the combination of LookSmart's proprietary technologies, partnerships with leading technology providers such as Inktomi (Nasdaq:INKT), and through LookSmart's team of Webrarians that organize and prioritize content that allows LookSmart to be a global leader of Internet search and navigation infrastructure.
"We chose the LookSmart-Inktomi solution because they have built a world class search product that can seamlessly integrate our content with the best of the Web," said Audra Kalench, director of business development at Road Runner. "This partnership will help us provide our users with the ultimate search experience as part of our premier high-speed online service."
The broadband market in the U.S. is comprised of over 3 million residential users across several delivery platforms. The total number of broadband subscribers is expected to double by 2001. LookSmart's broadband products will enable broadband users to search by media type, to download best of breed software in each user-selected category, and in time to find individual video clips or songs.
About LookSmart
LookSmart (Nasdaq:LOOK) is a global leader of Internet search infrastructure, dedicated to helping the world find useful stuff quickly. LookSmart's search and directory service reaches over 45 million people a month nearly 70 percent of all Internet users in the U.S. -- through LookSmart's partner sites. LookSmart has launched Web sites for the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand, and has built directories for 17 countries, including, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Brazil.
LookSmart's search solutions include a collection of over 1.5 million high quality URLs organized into more than 100,000 categories. LookSmart currently provides its search solutions to leading Internet portals, ISPs and Web sites including The Microsoft Network, Netscape Netcenter, Time Warner Inc., Excite@Home, Sony, British Telecom, US West, AltaVista, NetZero, over 370 Internet Service Providers, and 600,000 Web sites.
Through its partnership with Cox Interactive Media, LookSmart also offers one of the largest collections of quality local Web content in more than 70 U.S. markets. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and can be contacted at 415/348-7000 or visited at www.looksmart.com.
About Road Runner
Road Runner (www.rr.com) is a leading cable broadband online service, serving in excess of 550,000 customers in the communities where it is available. It is a joint venture among affiliates of Time Warner Inc., MediaOne Group, Microsoft Corp., Compaq Corp. and Advance/Newhouse. It combines the resources and strategic talent of five partners who are world leaders in media, broadband communications, computer software and hardware and publishing. The Road Runner character is a trademark and copyright of Warner Bros., a division of Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P.
CONTACT: LookSmart
Liz Connaghan, 415/348-7185
lconnaghan@looksmart.net