Akademos Boosts Sales of Textbooks and Other Media with Its Deployment of FAST Impulse; FAST ImPulse Offers Scalable eCommerce Search Solution to Replace Database Search Functionality and Provide Buyers with Highly Relevant Product Results.OSLO, Norway -- Fast Search & Transfer(TM) (FAST(TM)), the leading developer of enterprise search and real-time alerting technologies, announced today that Akademos, Inc., has deployed FAST ImPulse(TM) to power the search capabilities for its online retail and marketplace textbook site, TextbookX.com, as well as for Connexions, a new hosted program from Akademos that provides colleges and universities with hosted microsites to effectively manage their online bookstore sales. Akademos' TextbookX.com is one of the largest independent online sources of new and used college textbooks, offering students the ability to both sell and buy their books. The company utilizes sophisticated peer-to-peer marketplace technology and a highly efficient distribution process, based on direct relationships with distributors and publishers, to lower the cost of textbooks and other materials dramatically for college students. The Company's new Connexions program leverages the technologies and robust supply-chain developed for TextbookX.com to provide colleges with the most effective and innovative online bookstore solutions available. To increase user satisfaction and revenue through its TextbookX.com site and Connexions program, Akademos required a solution that would dramatically improve the shopping experience for buyers. In addition, Akademos wanted strong management controls so they could control the merchandising across all of its offerings. Based on the FAST Enterprise Search Platform (FAST ESP (1) (Enhanced Service Provider) An organization that adds value to basic telephone service by offering such features as call-forwarding, call-detailing and protocol conversion. (TM)), FAST ImPulse is meeting all of Akademos' requirements by enabling them to create the online equivalent of proven physical-world success models for driving revenue. Through Dynamic Merchandising and more effective search and navigation, FAST ImPulse improves the shopping experience for buyers while giving business managers precise control over how, when, and where their products are displayed. In real-time, they can create and adjust promotions, facilitate cross-sells, enable up-sells, and govern search results. "The integration of FAST ImPulse into TextbookX.com comes at a particularly welcome moment for college students," said Brian Jacobs, President & CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , Akademos. "Thanks to FAST-enabled search functionality, students heading back to school this fall will find not only great relief from the high cost of textbooks, but also an unprecedented ability to locate quickly what they need for class. In addition to making the shopping experience more rewarding for student buyers, FAST ImPulse will enable us and our institutional clients to drive new revenue by adjusting the display products based upon what people are buying." Through its use of FAST ImPulse, Akademos plans to increase the number of records searched by its users from 4 million to over 10 million by the end of 2005. Unlike competing solutions, FAST's proven scalability prevents any limitations to the number of records companies need to access as their business grows. "Online merchandisers traditionally have had a difficult time ensuring their technology infrastructure will enable them to meet tremendous growth demands, and online bookstores are especially vulnerable to this trap because they have to track such a large amount of inventory," said John M. Lervik, FAST's chief executive officer. "We're pleased that Akademos turned to FAST to help support their business growth. FAST ESP's infinite scalability and superior search functionality will provide the infrastructure for their success far into the future." FAST has transformed enterprise search from a powerful, yet narrowly perceived function, into an enterprise-wide strategic and tactical capability of pivotal importance. FAST ESP and FAST's portfolio of solutions and SDAs supply a complete information retrieval information retrieval Recovery of information, especially in a database stored in a computer. Two main approaches are matching words in the query against the database index (keyword searching) and traversing the database using hypertext or hypermedia links. solution ideal for a growing number of key vertical markets and applications including e-Commerce and Internet Portals; Financial Services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. ; Government; Life Sciences; Media and Publishing; and Telecom. For FAST, the search never stops. About Akademos Akademos, Inc. was founded in March 1999 by Brian Jacobs, then a professor of political philosophy at Cornell University Cornell University, mainly at Ithaca, N.Y.; with land-grant, state, and private support; coeducational; chartered 1865, opened 1868. It was named for Ezra Cornell, who donated $500,000 and a tract of land. With the help of state senator Andrew D. . The company's mission is to use new media and content distribution models to democratize de·moc·ra·tize tr.v. de·moc·ra·tized, de·moc·ra·tiz·ing, de·moc·ra·tiz·es To make democratic. de·moc and advance the development and distribution of educational resources. The company operates TextbookX.com, a leading ecommerce site for the sale of new and used textbooks and other media, both through its own supply chain and through a proprietary peer-to-peer marketplace that hosts hundreds of thousands of registered members. For more information, visit: www.akademos.com. About FAST FAST creates the real-time search and filter technology solutions that are behind the scenes at the world's best known companies with the most demanding search problems. FAST's flexible and scalable integrated technology platform elevates the search capabilities of enterprise customers and connects people to the relevant information they seek regardless of medium. This drives revenues and reduces total cost of ownership by effectively leveraging IT infrastructure. FAST's powerful enterprise search technology solutions are used by more than 2,000 global customers and partners, including America Online See AOL. (AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. ), AT&T, Cardinal Health, CareerBuilder.com, Chordiant, CIGNA CIGNA CG (Connecticut General Life Insurance Company) INA (Insurance Company of North America) , CNET (body) CNET - Centre national d'Etudes des Telecommunications. The French national telecommunications research centre at Lannion. , Dell, Factiva, Fidelity Investments, Findexa, FirstGov.gov (GSA (1) (Global mobile Suppliers Association, Sawbridgeworth, U.K., www.gsacom.com) A membership organization of suppliers of GSM products and services. Its goal is to promote GSM as the worldwide mobile communications standard. See GSM Association and GSM. ), IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Knight Ridder, LexisNexis, Overture, Rakuten, Reed Elsevier, Reuters, Sensis, Stellent, Tenet Healthcare, Thomas Industrial Networks, T-Online, US Army, Virgilio (Telecom Italia), Vodafone, and Wanadoo. FAST is headquartered in Norway and is publicly traded under the ticker symbol Ticker Symbol An arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise traded publicly. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available ticker symbol for its securities which investors 'FAST' on the Oslo Stock Exchange Oslo Stock Exchange An exchange founded in 1819 and trading stocks, bonds, and stock options that is considered the options market of Norway. . The FAST Group operates globally with presence in Europe, the United States, Asia Pacific, Australia, South America, and the Middle East. For further information about FAST, please visit www.fastsearch.com. (C) 2005 Fast Search & Transfer ASA Asa (ā`sə), in the Bible, king of Judah, son and successor of Abijah. He was a good king, zealous in his extirpation of idols. When Baasha of Israel took Ramah (a few miles N of Jerusalem), Asa bought the help of Benhadad of Damascus and - Fast Search & Transfer, FAST, FAST ESP, FAST Data Search, FAST Marketrac, FAST AdVisor, FAST InStream, FAST ImPulse, FAST Search Best Practices, FAST SBP SBP Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, see there , FAST ProPublish, FAST mSearch and the FAST four-colored logo are trademarks of Fast Search & Transfer ASA. All rights reserved. FAST disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. |
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