Inktomi to buy C2B
The search engine company announces that it is buying C2B Technologies, developer of online comparison shopping software.
The move into e-commerce is a new one for Inktomi, which has focused its business of late on developing back-end technologies for search engines and caching.
While other search engines such as Compaq's AltaVista have been transforming their search engines into portals--sites intended to bring users online, Inktomi has focused on providing back-end technology for other companies.
It will use C2B to provide sites with a private-label shopping product, the company stated.
C2B's technology, according to the company, allows users to compare products by price, user reviews, and other criteria. More than 170 merchants use CTB, including CNNfn, which announced last month plans to launch a retail channel on its business news and information Web site using C2B technologies.