AltaVista to Offer “Real Name” Searches

Digital Equipment Corp. signed a deal with centraal corp. to provide the latter’s Real Name System search capabilities on its AltaVista search service.

The Real Name System is a way to locate Web sites using a technology that
allows consumers to navigate using real words and phrases instead of URLs.

For users, Real Name addresses make it easy to go directly to a Web site or
page. For brand owners, the Real Name System provides a straightforward way to promote their Web sites, brands and even copyrighted phrases to users.
Companies can maintain Real Name addresses for $40 per year, per address and
can subscribe to the Real Name System from AltaVista’s search results page.

Said Bob Hult, vice president and general manager of Digital’s AltaVista
Search service:
“Now advertisers can leverage a direct association with a users search for a
brand or product by registering with the Real Name System and having the
direct links to that brand or product available on AltaVista result pages.”

“centraal chose to partner first with AltaVista because they get more searches
per day than any other search engine and therefore are in a position to
understand the pressing need for the Real Name System,” said Keith Teare,
founder and CEO of centraal. “This endorsement by Digital’s AltaVista
demonstrates confidence in centraal to provide highly scaleable and innovative
technology with exceptionally relevant result sets.”

Palo Alto, CA-based centraal is a start up company that created Real Name, an Internet naming solution for its customers and partners and an intuitive navigation system for Internet users who merely type
the name instead of a URL.