Inktomi
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software, Internet services |
| Founded | January 1996 |
| Founder | Eric Brewer, Paul Gauthier |
| Defunct | 2003 |
| Fate | Acquired by Yahoo! |
| Headquarters | California , United States |
Area served | Internet service providers |
Key people | David Peterschmidt (CEO), Keyur Patel (SVP) |
| Products | Traffic Server, HotBot, Ultraseek Server, FastForward Networks technology, Content Bridge Business Unit, eScene Networks technology |
| Parent | Yahoo! (from 2003) |
Inktomi Corporation was a software company headquartered in California that specialized in solutions for Internet service providers (ISPs). Its clientele featured prominent firms such as Microsoft, Amazon.com, eBay, Walmart, and HotBot.
The company created Traffic Server, a proxy server and web caching system aimed at improving the efficiency of World Wide Web traffic and streaming media on demand. This software also converted images for users on dial-up connections to enhance their browsing experience. Notable ISPs like AOL implemented Traffic Server.
After the collapse of the dot-com bubble, Inktomi was purchased by Yahoo! in 2003 for $241 million.
The name "Inktomi," pronounced "INK-tuh-me," was derived from the Lakota trickster spider legend of Iktomi, representing ingenuity in outsmarting larger adversaries. Its logo, featuring a tri-colored nested cube, was created by Tom Lamar in 1996.
History
Inktomi was established in January 1996 by Eric Brewer, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, along with graduate student Paul Gauthier. The company originated from a web search engine developed at Berkeley. HotBot became the first search engine to implement Inktomi’s technology.
1998 to 1999
In June 1998, Inktomi conducted its initial public offering, raising $36 million. The success of HotBot led to partnerships with companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Disney.
By September 1998, Inktomi expanded into shopping engine technology through the acquisition of C2B Technologies for $95 million in stock.
In November 1998, the company secured further funding at a valuation 688% higher than its IPO price.
CEO David Peterschmidt outlined Inktomi’s approach in March 1999 as positioning itself as an "arms merchant" for content delivery networks, generating income via revenue sharing and pay-per-click arrangements.
In April 1999, the acquisition of Impulse Buy Network added approximately 400 merchants to Inktomi’s shopping engine offerings.
Later that year, in November 1999, Inktomi acquired Webspective for $106 million in stock, obtaining technology focused on content management and load balancing across distributed servers.
21st century
In March 2000, Inktomi’s stock price reached its highest point at $241 per share.
August 2000 saw Inktomi purchase Ultraseek Server from The Walt Disney Company's Go.com. The following month, it acquired FastForward Networks—a firm specializing in live streaming media distribution using "app-level" multicast technology—for $1.3 billion in stock. By December 2000, Inktomi had also taken over the Content Bridge Business Unit from Adero, a content delivery network partner earlier that year.
In October 2001, it was disclosed that Inktomi had unintentionally exposed a database containing over one million spam websites through rival search engine AlltheWeb, marking a serious security lapse.
In July 2001, Inktomi expanded its video content capabilities by acquiring eScene Networks, known for integrated video content management and publishing solutions.
Following the dot-com crash, Keyur Patel joined Inktomi in 2002 as an investor and senior vice president responsible for strategy, marketing, and technology. His restructuring initiatives resulted in the sale of Ultraseek Server (renamed Inktomi Enterprise Search) to Verity by late 2002. Subsequently, Yahoo! completed its acquisition of the remaining Inktomi assets for $241 million ($1.63 per share) on March 19, 2003.
In 2006, Websense purchased the technology underlying the Inktomi Proxy Server and integrated it into its Security Gateway product. Later on, in 2009, Yahoo! contributed Traffic Server technology to the Apache Software Foundation.
External links
- Companies founded in California in 1996
- Initial public offerings in 1998
- California-based companies dissolved in 2003
- Businesses established in 1996
- Businesses closed in 2003
- Former American software firms
- Yahoo! services that have been discontinued
- Companies affected by the dot-com bubble
- Obsolete internet search engines
- Acquisitions by Yahoo!
- Mergers and acquisitions in 2003
- Defunct software companies of the United States