Centraal Corp.,
creators of the RealNames Web addressing system, Wednesday signed a
strategic distribution and reseller agreement with Inktomi Corp., developers of Internet
infrastructure software.
The news comes one day after Centraal announced it had prevailed in a
lawsuit filed against it by competitor Netword LLC.
Inktomi will license RealNames, making it available to its portal and Web
site customers. Inktomi will also enable companies that purchase its Web
search technology to promote RealNames subscriptions through links embedded
in search results pages.
Keith Teare, Centraal’s founder and chief executive officer, said Inktomi’s
interest in the system serves as a strong endorsement that will likely be a
catalyst for growth.
“This agreement allows existing and future Inktomi customers to easily
deploy RealNames functionality in an integrated fashion, providing users
with the benefit of intuitive navigation and companies with a compelling
way to reach their customers,” he said.
David Peterschmidt, Inktomi’s chief executive officer, said the RealNames
system will be another tool that will help users conduct searches quickly
and easily.
“Both companies are committed to improving the Internet navigation
experience across the Web’s largest sites and we believe the agreement
strengthens Inktomi’s position as the leading provider of private-label
searches,” he said.
On Tuesday, Centraal announced a patent infringement lawsuit filed over the
summer by competitor Netword had been tossed out by a Virginia federal judge.
On July 22, Netword sued Centraal, seeking unspecified damages, alleging
that Centraal “implemented their system in a way that directly infringes on
our patent claims.”
Centraal’s RealNames Navigation System and its RealNames Enabler browser
extension were cited as infringing on Netword’s patent. However, the court
disagreed.
