Criteron becomes FAST friend

The Norwegian company that bought Convera Corp.'s RetrievalWare search technology business has formed a partnership with a U.S. firm to continue providing the RetrievalWare products to the Defense and intelligence market, the company said.

Criterion Systems Inc. of Vienna, Va., will serve as a reseller and integrator for Oslo, Norway-based Fast Search and Transfer. FAST plans to continue marketing RetrievalWare, and also to try to sell its own technology, possibly integrated with some RetrievalWare components, to Convera's established market base.

FAST will continue to support the entire RetrievalWare product suite, and will honor development commitments Convera had made, company officials said. They reached the definitive acquisition agreement in April.

"We have partnered with FAST because our companies share similar philosophies ? a commitment to innovation, to excellence and to serving the customer mission," said Mike Dillard, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Criterion.