"The Search Story, Chapter Two": Media Companies Take Back Control of Their Businesses.

FAST Unveils the First Search-Based Business Platform for Driving and Monetizing Online Media Properties

The FAST Media Network is Already as Big as Yahoo! and Growing Faster

OSLO, Norway & NEEDHAM, Mass. -- Fast Search & Transfer[TM] (OSEAX: FAST.OL) (FAST[TM]), a leading developer of search technologies, today unveiled FASTMedia, the first end-to-end, search-based business platform for media companies. Developed in partnership with several dozen top media companies from diverse markets -- broadcasting, newspapers, publishing, cable, and portals -- FASTMedia provides media companies with a complete platform to showcase their content, serve their customer, partner and employee communities, protect their brands, and monetize their assets. In short, FASTMedia enables media companies to better compete and win in the digital marketplace.

The FASTMedia platform underscores the evolution of search as a strategic business driver for media companies.

"The battle for Web hegemony is far from over," said Sue Feldman, IDC's Vice President for Search and Digital Marketplace Technologies. "Our latest research shows that users are not wedded to using Web search engines. Most of them go directly to favorite sites and bypass Web search engines. Monetizing that search traffic requires sophisticated ad matching platforms that can analyze user behavior, match queries to ads, handle ad auctions, and track advertising transactions. Media companies that want to take back their leaking ad revenue have a unique opportunity to do so by implementing what we call a 'digital marketplace in a box.'"

"Developing a differentiated local search product is one of the key elements of our audience development strategy," said Bob Kempf, Vice President of Products at Boston.com, the online site for The Boston Globe. "We have utilized technology from FAST to power a search product that surfaces results from our own content as well as from a strategically defined set of other local web sources to produce a new utility for our local audience."

"FASTMedia is changing the game in the media marketplace," said FAST CEO and Co-founder John Lervik. "There are already dozens of media companies using elements of this business platform to develop profitable new business models, take better advantage of their media assets, introduce new services and tighten their customer relationships. The FASTMedia platform delivers innovation at the next level by providing an end-to-end business platform developed with media companies to serve their specific needs. This platform enables media companies to declare their independence from the web search engines and reclaim their customer relationships, better leverage their assets and improve their operating profits."

FAST Media Customer Network is Already as Big as Yahoo! and Growing Faster

Industry data suggests that media companies are already embracing search technologies to serve their audiences and are well-poised to grow their use of search technologies to stake out leadership in the online world. A recent independent study by IDC concluded that more than 70% of search queries do not originate on search engines. Instead, people are choosing to bypass search engines and are going directly to their preferred information sources, retailers, and other websites and searching there. Reinforcing this IDC finding is a survey of FAST's top 35 U.S. media customers. Together this "FAST Media Network" is generating as much search traffic as Yahoo!, with search traffic growing more than twice as quickly. At the current pace, searches within the "FAST Media Network" collectively will surpass Google in two years, representing a profound shift in the market. FAST is helping hundreds of other media companies turn search from the disrupter of their worlds into the platform that will enable them to grow their businesses successfully in the future.

"The numbers tell a powerful story," said Perry Solomon, Vice President and General Manager of the Media Solutions Group at FAST. "The search traffic numbers which we're seeing across FAST's media customer base is a true expression of the 'long tail' -- the aggregate volume of search traffic for media companies will soon overtake the traffic at any search engine. Now the challenge is to help media companies make better and more profitable use of that search traffic. Innovation is critical, and search technology has proven again and again to be the most effective approach to connect people to the content, products, services and experts they are looking for. Search connects - and the leading media companies understand this concept and are changing the way we consumers interact with our digital world."

FASTMedia comprises a broad set of proven solutions based on the foundation of the FAST ESP[TM] platform and leveraging the FAST Adaptive Information Warehouse[TM] (FAST AIW[TM]):

* FAST AdMomentum: the industry's most robust and flexible private label contextual advertising platform, enabling media companies to deliver targeted, relevant advertising to their audiences.

* FAST Multimedia Miner: enables media companies to leverage multi-media assets in highly adaptive, personalized customer-facing environments, enabling audiences to search and discover relevant content in any format - audio, video, images, text - through a single search interface.

* FAST Featured Content: enables media companies to provide search driven content merchandizing, driving premium content and subscription up-selling through targeted promotions and dynamic navigation.

* FAST Unity: enables media companies to provide federated content and search-driven portal experiences, delivering convenience and ease-of-use for their audiences and additional search-based traffic to their content and commerce partners.

* FAST Mobile Search Platform[TM] (FAST MSP[TM]): enables media companies to deliver targeted and personalized content and advertising to mobile devices.

"The major search engines have disrupted the relationships that media companies have with their audiences, as well as their relationships with advertisers," said Solomon. "With FAST AdMomentum, publishers can regain control of those advertising relationships - and develop new relationships with small and medium-sized advertisers - while serving their audiences with more appropriate site-specific content, offers and ads. There is no longer any reason to use third-party advertising networks; no longer a need to share revenue or customers."

About FAST

FAST creates the real-time search and business intelligence solutions that are behind the scenes at the world's best- known companies with the most demanding information challenges. FAST's flexible and scalable integrated technology platform and personalized portal connects users, regardless of medium, to the relevant information they need.

FAST is headquartered in Norway and is publicly traded under the ticker symbol 'FAST' on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The FAST Group operates globally with presence in Europe, the United States, Asia, Australia, the Americas, and the Middle East. For further information about FAST, please visit www.fastsearch.com.

(c) 2007 Fast Search & Transfer ASA - Fast Search & Transfer, FAST, Adaptive Information Warehouse, AIW, AdMomentum, Impulse and Hubway are trademarks of Fast Search & Transfer ASA. The FAST logo, FAST ESP, FAST InStream, FAST InPerspective, FAST ProPublish, FAST Contextual Insight and FAST Unity are registered trademarks of Fast Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved.