When I listened in on the Xerox conference call a few weeks ago, they mentioned a slew of innovative new products scheduled for the first half of 2007, but they didn't mention anything about this: an expanded initiative to develop a Google-killer. As Xerox slowly rebuilds itself into a global titan once again, it looks like the legendary Xerox PARC in Palo Alto is working on a natural language search engine to rival anything created by Google or Yahoo:
"A subsidiary of Xerox has signed an agreement to jointly develop and license search engine technology that they hope could lead to the next Google or Yahoo!. The agreement between Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center and Powerset, both based in California, includes a long-term collaboration and technology licensing, with the Xerox subsidiary providing technology in exchange for royalties and an equity stake in Powerset.
Powerset’s search engine work focuses on “natural language,” which involves using ordinary, familiar sentence structure in searches, leading to easier, more accurate search results. The two firms have been working together since 2005."
[image: The Xerox Showroom]
Comments