VIENNA, Va. and NEEDHAM, Mass., Sept. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Convera Corporation (Nasdaq: CNVR,) www.convera.com, a leading provider of vertical search services for publishers and FAST, a Microsoft(R) Subsidiary, and leading provider of enterprise search technologies, today announced that the companies will collaborate on hosted vertical and site search as well as ad serving capability for the media and publishing marketplace, over the next several years.

The expanded Convera/FAST relationship now includes a number of significant components that will further benefit Convera customers as well as those FAST customers that are in need of hosted vertical search:

Convera will integrate FAST ESP(TM) search capabilities into its hosted vertical search solution for publishers. Publishers will be able to configure and customize an integrated site search and vertical search solution using Convera's Publisher Control Panel (PCP).

Additionally, Convera will extend FAST AdMomentum across the Convera search platform for publishers. Customers of the Convera professional network would be able to leverage targeted search and contextual ad inventory supplied by Microsoft and distributed from the Convera platform.

Detailed financial terms were not disclosed but the deal contains a combination of licensing fees and revenue sharing provisions.

About Convera(R)

Convera is the leading provider of search services for publishers. Based on a semantic index of the web, Convera enables publishers to generate additional revenue by creating customized search applications for specialist audiences under their own brand. Many of the world's largest publishers rely on Convera vertical search services to accelerate their e-publishing strategies, meet growing monetization goals and build loyal online professional communities.

About FAST, a Microsoft(R) Subsidiary

FAST, a Microsoft(R) Subsidiary creates the real-time search 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 part of Microsoft's Enterprise Search Group.

SOURCE Convera Corporation