Kaltix Corporation was a

personalized search Personalized search is a web search tailored specifically to an individual's interests by incorporating information about the individual beyond the specific query provided. There are two general approaches to Personalization, personalizing search ...

engine company founded at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in June 2003 by Sepandar Kamvar, Taher Haveliwala and Glen Jeh.Olsen, Stefanie
Search for the personal touch
CNET.com. August 11, 2003.
''pagerank.stanford.edu''. It was acquired by

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

in September 2003.Olsen, Stefanie
Academia's quest for the ultimate search tool
CNET.com. August 15, 2005.
''Google''. September 30, 2003.
''New York Times''. October 1, 2003.

Description

Kaltix was a

startup company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses tha ...

that was formed to commercialize personalized web search technology by utilizing a set of proprietary

algorithms In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for per ...

. The company had developed a system to speed up the computation of Google's

PageRank PageRank (PR) is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank web pages in their search engine results. It is named after both the term "web page" and co-founder Larry Page. PageRank is a way of measuring the importance of website pages. Accordin ...

algorithm and personalize search results by sorting them according to the interests of the individual instead of the consensus approach developed by Google.Kaltix to Beat Google?
. ''Rank for Sales''. August 12, 2003.
Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. September 30, 2003. It was claimed by the founders of the company that the algorithm offered a way to compute search results nearly 1,000 times faster than what was possible using current methods in 2003.Chai, Winston

ZDNet.com via Google Web Cache. May 27, 2003. ''Retrieved July 16, 2012''.
''Science Daily''. May 14, 2003.

History

Kaltix was based on the work of Sep Kamvar, Taher Haveliwala and Glen Jeh, who were alumni from Stanford University and participants of their alma mater's

Project as

graduate students Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

from 2002 to 2003.PageRank Team Publications
''pagerank.stanford.edu''.Personalized Search Publications List
. ''kamvar.org''. The project's aim was to advance the

algorithm, developed by

Larry Page Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American businessman, computer engineer and computer scientist best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin. Page was chief executive officer of Google from 1997 until August 2001 when ...

and

Sergey Brin Sergey Mikhailovich Brin (; born August 21, 1973) is an American computer scientist and businessman who co-founded Google with Larry Page. He was the president of Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., until stepping down from the role on D ...

, the co-founders of

. Their collective efforts resulted in the development of three algorithms: Quadratic Extrapolation, BlackRock and Adaptive

.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''. Together, the algorithms formed the foundation of Kaltix.Haveliwala, Taher, Glen Jeh and Sep Kamvar
Kaltix Business Plan
Stanford FTP Database via Google Cache. June 16, 2003. The first algorithm was presented in a paper to the 12th

International World Wide Web Conference The ACM Web Conference (formerly known as International World Wide Web Conference, abbreviated as WWW) is a yearly international academic conference on the topic of the future direction of the World Wide Web. The first conference of many was h ...

(WWW 2003) in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

on May 22, 2003.Hart, David
Researchers develop ways to compute faster Google-style web rankings
''Stanford Reporter''. May 21, 2003.
''www2003.org''. Kaltix Corp was later established on June 16, 2003, and the trio published their

business plan A business plan is a formal written document containing the goals of a business, the methods for attaining those goals, and the time-frame for the achievement of the goals. It also describes the nature of the business, background information on ...

and purchased the Kaltix

domain name In the Internet, a domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services, and more. ...

the same day.Kaltix Domain Registration Information
networksolutions.com. Retrieved July 15, 2012. 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 ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'') and the technology industry as a whole.Mernit, Susan
Kaltix: From spin-out to Google purchase in 45 days
''SusanMernit.com''. September 30, 2003. Enthusiasm for the potential of personalized search results obtained up to five times faster than Google was accompanied by speculation due to the lack of public information about the company at the time.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. Since its founding and acquisition by Google, Kaltix has been noted for its significance due to its impact towards the development of personalized search. 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.

References

External links

Sep Kamvar's Personal Website

Taher Haveliwala's Personal Website

Glen Jeh's Personal Google Site
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