AltaVista Wednesday launched a German version of its popular search engine,
AltaVista Germany.
Modeled after the company’s American search engine, AltaVista Germany offers a comprehensive Web directory of German, Austrian and Swiss
sites. Based in Munich, its systems are linked with AltaVista’s
headquarters in the U.S.
“AltaVista is recognized as the most powerful and useful guide to the
Internet,” said Mathias Schmitz of AltaVista Search Service, Germany.
“Today AltaVista.de makes its mark as the most comprehensive and up-to-date
German-language search service designed specifically to meet the needs of
the German market.”
AltaVista said that the number of German users searching with AltaVista.com
was enough to justify a spin-off German search engine. According to German
consulting firm GfK, there are now approximately 8.4 million Germans with
Internet access and AltaVista reports that more than 4 million search
queries to its American site came from German users.
AltaVista operates another international search engine, AltaVista Canada.