Kaltix

Kaltix Corp.

Type	Private
Industry	Internet, Search Engine
Fate	Acquired by Google, Inc. (September 30, 2003)
Founded	Palo Alto, California, U.S. (June 16, 2003 (2003-06-16))
Founder	Taher Haveliwala, Glen Jeh, Sepandar "Sep" Kamvar
Key people	Sep Kamvar (Co-Founder & CEO)

Kaltix Corp., commonly known as Kaltix is a personalized search engine company founded at Stanford University in June 2003 by Sep Kamvar, Taher Haveliwala and Glen Jeh. It was acquired by Google in September 2003.

Description

Kaltix was a startup company formed to commercialize personalized web search technology. It utilized a set of proprietary algorithms the trio developed to speed up the underlying computations of Google's PageRank algorithm and personalize search results by sorting them according to the interests of the individual instead of the consensus approach developed by Google. The technology promised to make Google's search engine as much as 5 times faster and was said, by its founders, to offer a way to compute search results nearly 1,000 times faster than what was possible using current methods in 2003.

History

Kaltix is based on the work of Sep Kamvar, Taher Haveliwala and Glen Jeh when they were members of the PageRank Project at Stanford University as graduate students in 2002-03. Their purpose was to advance the PageRank algorithm developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google. Their efforts resulted in the development of three algorithms: Quadratic Extrapolation, BlockRank and Adaptive PageRank. Together, they formed the foundation of Kaltix.

The first of these algorithms was presented in a paper to the Twelfth International World Wide Web Conference (WWW 2003) in Budapest, Hungary on May 22, 2003. Kaltix Corp was founded a short time later, on June 16, 2003; the same day the trio published their business plan and purchased the Kaltix domain name. By August 2003, the company's PageRank system, which was designed to show results based on the individual preferences of the user, was rumored soon to outrank Google's consensus approach. Just three months after the company's founding, on September 30, 2003, Kaltix was acquired by Google for an undisclosed sum.

Reception

Kaltix was initially met with excitement and mystery by both technology writers (including The New York Times) and the technology industry as a whole. Enthusiasm for the potential of personalized Google search results up to five times faster was accompanied by speculation based on what little anyone knew of the company. Since its founding and acquisition by Google, Kaltix has been noted for its importance and its impact in the area of personalized search.

External links

• Sep Kamvar's Personal Website
• Taher Haveliwala's Personal Website
• Glen Jeh's Personal Google Site

• Olsen, Stefanie. Search for the personal touch. CNET.com. August 11, 2003.
• PageRank Project. pagerank.stanford.edu.
• Olsen, Stefanie. Academia's quest for the ultimate search tool. CNET.com. August 15, 2005.
• Google Acquires Kaltix Corp. Google. September 30, 2003.
• Technology Briefing - Internet: Google Buys Web Search Company. New York Times. October 1, 2003.
• Kaltix to Beat Google?. Rank for Sales. August 12, 2003.
• Google Acquires Kaltix. Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. September 30, 2003.
• Chai, Winston. Scientists propose Google speed boost. ZDNet.com via Google Web Cache. May 27, 2003. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
• Researchers Develop Techniques For Computing Google-Style Web Rankings Up To Five Times Faster; Speed-Up May Make 'Topic-Sensitive' Page Rankings Feasible. Science Daily. May 14, 2003.
• PageRank Team Publications. pagerank.stanford.edu.
• Personalized Search Publications List. kamvar.org.
• Kamvar, Sepandar, Taher Haveliwal, Christopher Manning and Gene Golub. Extrapolation Methods for Accelerating PageRank Computations. Stanford InfoLab Publication Server. February 27, 2003. Last Modified December 24, 2008.
• Kamvar, Sepandar, Taher Haveliwal, Christopher Manning and Gene Golub. Exploiting the Block Structure of the Web for Computing PageRank. Stanford InfoLab Publication Server. March 3, 2003. Last Modified December 24, 2008.
• Kamvar, Sepandar, Taher Haveliwal and Gene Golub. Adaptive Methods for the Computation of PageRank. Stanford InfoLab Publication Server. April 27, 2003. Last Modified December 24, 2008.
• Haveliwala, Taher, Glen Jeh and Sep Kamvar. Kaltix Business Plan. Stanford FTP Database via Google Cache. June 16, 2003.
• Hart, David. Researchers develop ways to compute faster Google-style web rankings. Stanford Reporter. May 21, 2003.
• WWW 2003 Programme. www2003.org.
• Kaltix Domain Registration Information. networksolutions.com. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
• Google's Acquisition of Kaltix. FindTheData.
• Hotchkiss, Gord. Interview with Google's Marissa Mayer on Personalization. WebPro News. February 23, 2007.
• Mernit, Susan. Kaltix: From spin-out to Google purchase in 45 days. SusanMernit.com. September 30, 2003.
• Sullivan, Danny. The Search Engine Update - Number 155. Search Engine Watch. August 17, 2003.
• Moore, Cathleen. Google grabs search start-up. Inforworld. September 30, 2003.
• Google Acquires Kaltix, Looks to Personalize Search. SEO Logic. September 30, 2003.
• Levene, Mark. An Introduction to Search Engines and Web Navigation. John Wiley & Sons via Google. October 18, 2010.
• Langville, Amy and Carl Meyer. Google's PageRank and Beyond: The Science of Search Engine Rankings. Princeton University Press via Google, p 51.
• Tyrsina, Radu. What Companies Have Google, Apple and Facebook Bought so Far?. Technically Personal. February 1, 2012.
• Linden, Greg. Personalized Search Primer. ReadWriteWeb. August 6, 2007.
• Macmanus, Richard. Interview with Sep Kamvar. ReadWriteWeb. August 9, 2007.
• Orlowski, Andrew. Google buys search engine: PageRank RIP?. The Register. September 30, 2003.