Centraal Corp says it has enhanced the databases underneath its RealNames System by adding names from several important categories of commonly used web sites. An internal team reviewed thousands of web sites to choose the RealName that most appropriately reflects each site. The company has added trademarks owned by the Fortune 500 and their subsidiaries (so much for the internet as level playing field); stock ticker symbols for every company on Nasdaq and NYSE (so much for the world wide web); NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League soccer teams; two hundred North American radio stations; and major universities in the US and (it says) abroad. Even so, it’s all just a little parochial, with a search on Trinity College resolving in Hartford, Connecticut, rather than, say, the somewhat older establishment in Dublin, Ireland. In its defense, Centraal says it has made the enhancements based on feedback from the service it offers through Compaq’s Altavista search engine. Nearly 25% of all those searches were brand- related, 10% were entertainment-related, 10% requested large web sites and 15% were looking for download information. Presumably few or none were from outside the United States.
Content from our partners
