OSLO, Norway and Needham, MA - 10 January 2006 - Fast Search & Transfer™ (FAST™), the leading developer of enterprise search and real-time alerting technologies, today announced that MediaNews Group has selected FAST Enterprise Search Platform (FAST ESP™) to power search capabilities for the Web sites of its newspapers, including the Los Angeles Daily News, the Salt Lake Tribune, the Denver Post, InsideBayArea.com, and the Oakland Tribune.
MediaNews Group is one of the largest news organizations in the United States. The company and its affiliates publish 50 daily newspapers and 121 non-daily publications in 12 states with a combined daily and Sunday circulation of approximately 2.1 million and 2.4 million, respectively. Content is hosted by MediaNews Group Interactive, where it can be shared across all sites. FAST ESP enables site visitors to search this expansive database with the world’s most powerful search platform, finding the most relevant results through a series of advanced search capabilities, sub-second query response, and effective relevancy rankings.
“After we rolled out FAST ESP, we saw search traffic triple overnight for some sites, and abandonment rates from search decreased dramatically,” said Eric Grilly, President, MediaNews Group Interactive. “Our online readers now have the search experience they were looking for – instantly finding the information they are looking for through highly relevant, local results. We are currently in the process of expanding search to include the other local content and services provided by our sites. This will integrate editorial content with our classified advertising databases, blogs, local real estate listings, automotive verticals, and recruitment listings. Integrating the content from these marketplace partners will provide our readers with valuable information while providing our organization with additional revenue streams.”
“FAST understands the competitive nature of the newspaper industry and the benefits that can be gained when an organization leverages the full potential of search. For MediaNews Group, our enterprise search platform is enhancing customer satisfaction, increasing customer usage and creating new lucrative revenue opportunities,” said John M. Lervik, CEO of FAST. Traditionally, nearly 98 percent of visitors to online newspapers have not taken advantage of the search box, choosing instead to browse through pages as they would a traditional newspaper. With FAST ESP, MediaNews Group can extend the benefits of a personalized search experience to these users, providing relevant articles, classified ads and links based on articles that they read, all based on one unified cost-effective search solution.
FAST has transformed enterprise search from a powerful, yet narrowly perceived function, into an enterprise-wide strategic and tactical capability of pivotal importance. FAST ESP and FAST’s portfolio of solutions and SDAs supply a complete information retrieval solution ideal for a growing number of key vertical markets and applications including e-Commerce and Internet Portals; Financial Services; Government; Life Sciences; Media and Publishing; and Telecom. For FAST, the search never stops.
About MediaNews Group, Inc.
MediaNews Group, Inc. is the nation’s seventh largest newspaper company, with headquarters in Denver, CO. MediaNews Group and its affiliated companies publish 50 daily newspapers and 121 non-daily publications in 12 states with daily and Sunday circulation of approximately 2.1 million and 2.4 million, respectively. In addition, MediaNews Group owns a CBS affiliate in Anchorage, Alaska and four radio stations in Texas. MediaNews Group maintains 74 Web sites for its daily newspapers and an umbrella site, newschoice.com. For more information, visit www.medianewsgroup.com.
About FAST
FAST creates the real-time search and filtering solutions that are behind the scenes at the world’s best known companies with the most demanding search problems. FAST’s flexible and scalable integrated technology platform elevates the search capabilities of enterprise customers and connects people to the relevant information they seek regardless of medium. This drives revenues and reduces total cost of ownership by effectively leveraging IT infrastructure. FAST’s powerful enterprise search technology solutions are used by more than 1,500 global customers and partners, including America Online (AOL), AT&T, Cardinal Health, CareerBuilder.com, Chordiant, CIGNA, CNET, Dell, Factiva, Fidelity Investments, Findexa, FirstGov.gov (GSA), IBM, Knight Ridder, LexisNexis, Overture, Rakuten, Reed Elsevier, Reuters, Sensis, Stellent, Tenet Healthcare, Thomas Industrial Networks, T-Online, US Army, Virgilio (Telecom Italia), Vodafone, and Wanadoo.
FAST is headquartered in Norway and is publicly traded under the ticker symbol 'FAST' on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The FAST Group operates globally with presence in Europe, the United States, Asia Pacific, Australia, South America, and the Middle East. For further information about FAST, please visit www.fastsearch.com.
© 2005 Fast Search & Transfer ASA - Fast Search & Transfer, FAST, FAST ESP, FAST PSP, FAST Data Search, FAST Marketrac, FAST AdVisor, FAST InStream, FAST ImPulse, FAST Search Best Practices, FAST SBP, FAST ProPublish, FAST mSearch and the FAST four-colored logo are trademarks of Fast Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved. FAST disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
Source: FAST
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