America Online Inc. and Excite Inc. announced an agreement today to provide AOL Japan and AOL Canada with local versions of AOL’s NetFind search engine and directory which is powered by Excite.
Under the agreement, the companies said they will share advertising revenues generated by the integrated services.
For AOL Japan, launced in 1997, Excite plans to tailor its technology so
that it is compatible with Japanese language characters and the double-byte
operating system used in that country.
The AOL NetFind search engine by Excite is incorporated into the AOL home
page and enables users to search for Web content by inputting words or
phrases, delivering a list of matching Web sites.
“Excite’s smart search technology will fundamentally improve the
Web searching experience for AOL Canada and AOL Japan members,” said Jack
Davies, President of AOL International, in a statement.
“With Excite’s leadership, AOL NetFind technology is a proven leader in Web-based searching in the United States, and we are very much looking forward to bringing our experience and technology to our members in Canada and Japan.”