Verity Inc. and Inktomi Corp. jointly announced that they have entered into an agreement under which Verity will purchase Inktomi's enterprise search software business. Under the terms of the deal, Verity, a provider of infrastructure software that powers corporate intranets and ecommerce sites as well as OEM technology used in more than 250 ebusiness applications, will acquire from Inktomi, a provider of Web search and enterprise information retrieval solutions, the assets relating to Inktomi's enterprise search software business, which includes basic search, categorization, and content refinement capabilities, as well as its XML technology assets. Verity will pay a purchase price of $25 million in cash, and will also assume Inktomi's obligations under certain existing enterprise search business contracts, including customer support obligations. In addition, Verity intends to offer employment to selected development, sales and marketing, and support personnel from Inktomi's enterprise search business unit. The companies currently anticipate closing the transaction in the next 30 to 60 days, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Verity will provide continued product development and support for enterprise search customers. According to David Peterschmidt, Inktomi's president and CEO, the company will apply the proceeds from this transaction to an increased focus on its core Web search business.
|
