Research, Technology & engineering

Search engine solution

By Public Affairs

Eric Brewer, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, laid the foundations for today’s giant server farms, using clusters of computers to create a cost-effective, scalable Web-search platform. Building on the prototype, Brewer co-founded Inktomi and helped lead the startup onto the NASDAQ 100. Adopted by Internet giants, including Yahoo, Google, MSN and Amazon, Inktomi’s search engine technology led the market for more than a decade. At its peak, the company had a market value of $25 billion and revenues of $300 million. In 2003, Yahoo acquired Inktomi for $235 million.