Companies Plan Portal for Info Appliances

Software developer Planetweb is parterning with Excite Inc. and Infospace.com Inc. to build an Internet
portal designed especially for information appliances.

Unlike today’s Web-only portal sites, Planetweb’s platform portal is
intended to offer fully customized features and services designed for
consumer devices ranging from set-top boxes to video game systems.

The agreement with Excite allows Planetweb to incorporate search and
navigation capability to its operating software. In addition, Planetweb
will enrich the current information resources provided by InfoSpace.com to
include categories such as news, weather and local information.

The company plans to fully launch the new portal in the first quarter of
next year.

“Planetweb is in an excellent position to allow it to leverage its existing
software to provide more targeted services to each of its user bases,” said
Brett Bullington, Excite’s executive vice president. “Offering Excite’s
award-winning search as part of Planetweb’s overall Internet solution will
provide Planetweb’s users access to one of the best Internet search
experiences available online.”