Language-based search engine by Arexera soon

Arexera Information Technologies, a company controlled by Aftek Infosys Ltd, is all set to launch a customised language-based search engine, Seekport, in India as well as in the European Union and west Asian markets.

"The first (Seekport) version in three Arabic scripts will be released in the Middle-East market in May, while the versions based on Indian languages will be launched towards the end of the year," Mahesh Vaidya, chief technology officer at Aftek Infosys, told media persons today.

Seekport Espania, the Spanish version of the search engine, will also be released during the year, he added.

Seekport is a search engine directed at non-English internet surfers, developed by Arexera Information Technologies GmbH, in which Aftek Infosys holds over 60 per cent equity. Aftek acquired 49 per cent in Arexera in 1998 and completed 100 per cent acquisition in 2006.

Seekport has been developed jointly by Arexera's software engineers in Germany and India.

"About one-third of the development happened in India," Vaidya said. Arexera Chief Operating Officer Simon Khosla said the increasing number of middle-class internet users has triggered the company's plans to venture into the non-English search engine market in India.

"With the ongoing networking of non-urban towns and villages to district headquarters through communication kiosks, Seekport sees an exponential rise in the number of Net users here and a major role in this area," Khosla said.

"Seekport is the only search engine catering to non-English speaking people with region-specific customised information through 126 million indexed pages," he added.

Vaidya informed that the company would introduce Seekport in English and a few Indian languages including Hindi, Tamil and Bengali.

"We are currently in the process of tying up with strategic partners for the language capabilities. One of these is C-DAC, which has developed significant capabilities in Indian language software. We are also talking to universities," Vaidya said.

With an increasing thrust by the provincial governments to put local language data on the Net, the user response is likely to be high, he hoped. "The search engine will be marketed by Seekport India, a subsidiary of Arexera Information Technologies, in which Aftek, together with Arexera, will hold 60 per cent stake," Vaidya said.

He hinted at a possibility of bringing in a local strategic investor for the rest 40 per cent of the stake. For Seekport, the principal revenue stream will be the advertisements on its home page and the commission on the B2B or B2C transactions taking place on the website, he said.

Although Seekport will operate only as a search engine, the company may seek arrangements with portals for other Net-based information or transactions, he informed.

As an initiative to expand its research and development activities in India, Arexera has planned a two lakh sq ft centre at Hinjawdi. "The centre will accommodate around 1,500 software professionals over the next couple of years," Vaidya said.