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LITTLETON, Mass., May 5, 1997 -- AltaVista Internet Software, Inc, a subsidiary of Digital Equipment Corporation, today announced that over 200 firms have signed agreements to advertise on the AltaVista Search Service on the World Wide Web in the first 90 days since the service began accepting ads Dec. 19, 1996. Among the advertisers buying space on the AltaVista Search Service are Microsoft, Ziff-Davis, Travelocity, Paramount Entertainment, US Robotics and First USA Bank. "AltaVista's strong suite is delivering product to users globally - especially business users - so we aren't surprised to see the fast buy-in among advertisers. Advertisers go where the money is," said Kathryn Hale, principal analyst at Dataquest. "Our keyword advertising program on AltaVista has proven to be a tremendous success in not only generating high click through rates, but even more importantly, it has led to a number of individuals actually purchasing our life insurance online," said Raj Vaswani, Interactive marketing manager for Allstate Insurance. "By delivering our advertising message when someone enters the key phrase "life insurance," we are engaging the user when they are seeking information and will be the most responsive to our message." "Advertisers have access to many times the keyword inventory on the AltaVista Search site as our nearest competitor. This enables very focused advertising targeted to a user's specific interest," said Ilene H. Lang, president and CEO of AltaVista Internet Software, Inc. "The advantage of focused advertising compared to general profiling is a distinct plus for our advertisers." DoubleClick, AltaVista's advertising partner, incorporates its proprietary, state-of-the-art DART technology and media expertise to offer customized, relevant advertising to Alta Vista users. "AltaVista's large reach, sophisticated technology, established user base and recognizable brand have made the site highly attractive to a full spectrum of advertisers, including Microsoft and Ziff-Davis," said Kevin O'Connor, president and CEO of DoubleClick. "We're also certain that this overwhelming interest will continue, particularly among high-end marketers." In addition to its main site in Palo Alto, Calif., AltaVista maintains a global network of mirror sites throughout the world, called the AltaVista Search Network. The AltaVista Search Network includes leading Internet service providers such as Telia of Sweden, Telstra of Australia, Alam Teknokrat of Malaysia and Telefonica Publicidad e Informacion (TPI) of Spain. The AltaVista Search Network also provides search results to some of the most popular sites on the Web, including Yahoo!, CNET's Search.com and others. AltaVista Search is consistently ranked as one of the most popular sites on the World Wide Web and is the recipient of numerous awards worldwide, including PC Computing's MVP Award as 'Best Search Engine,' Internet World magazine's 'Industry Award for Outstanding Service,' the European Online Users Group (EUROLUG) 'Product of the Year,' and the 'Cool Search Engine of the Year' award. AltaVista's vision is OnSite Computing-leveraging the real benefit of the Internet's universal presence of being able to do business wherever you are. AltaVista's OnSite Computing solutions includes the AltaVista Search Network, AltaVista Search services and software, AltaVista Firewall and Tunnel security solutions, as well as NT-based directory, mail and library solutions, all providing secure, simple and direct access to information and people over the Internet and private intranets. AltaVista Internet Software, Inc. is a Digital company. Further information is available at http://altavista.software.digital.com, or by calling 1-800-336-7890.
Note to Editors: AltaVista and the AltaVista logo are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. Press Contacts:
(AltaVista)
(DoubleClick)   
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