Maktoob to present at Fastforward '08

Among the other global brands which will also be sharing the stage are Reuters, represented by Gerry Campbell, President of Search and Content Technologies, and Dow Jones, represented by Clare Hart, President of Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group.

FASTforward '08 is dedicated to search-driven innovation and will feature business tracks that spotlight search technology in a variety of industries including media, entertainment, communications, retail, advertising, financial services, and government. Maktoob's participation highlights the staggering growth of internet usage in the Arab world. According to Internet World Stats, between 2000 and 2007 the number of Arab internet users skyrocketed by 920%, one of the highest growth rates in the world. With nine million unique users out of an estimated 45 million, Marktoob far outdistances any other local site in the Arab world.

Founded in 2000 as an Arabic/English web-based email service, Maktoob offers users the ability to receive and compose email in either language, regardless of the operating system. Since deploying the FAST Enterprise Search Platform (FAST ESP) in 2006, which itself is globally recognized as the leading, most intelligent enterprise search platform. Its sister company Araby.com has been recognized for its quality and user experience, winning the Best Arabic Website Award for 2007 from the Pan Arab Web Awards. Over the last few months alone, Araby.com has seen a dramatic increase in number of queries served, climbing to12 million queries, a growth rate of 25% monthly.

"Understanding the unique needs of Arab users and delivering the best possible search experience for them is our primary goal," said Isam Bayazidi, Araby.com General Manager. "We are pleased to be sharing our local accomplishments at a major international search industry event such as FASTforward 08. And thanks to our relationship with FAST, we will we expect that 2008 will be a year of further innovation for Maktoob and Arabic internet."

As part of their ongoing efforts to develop the best search experience in the Arab world, Maktoob.com and Araby.com, both belonging to the Maktoob Group, will be working closely this year to optimize their FAST-based system and generate more than 50 million hits a month. Araby.com currently offers: Web Search, Islamic Search, Forum Search, Music Search, and Blog Search, all of which are built using FAST ESP, taking advantage of the FAST-enabled Arabic Entity Extraction dictionaries. Utilizing this understanding of Arabic language and internet, Araby.com and Maktoob.com will further enhance and enrich the user experience by making it possible to detect different entity types such as names of people and places, and allowing Arab users to navigate and filter results in ways never before possible.

"FAST has long been committed to working with forward-thinking companies like Maktoob to provide the best user-centric search experience," said Neil Garner, General Manager of FAST MEA. "In order for a search provider to succeed in this market, they not only need to understand the language, the culture and the people, they need a technology that can handle the scalability required by a market that is growing exponentially. Our commitment to customer-driven innovation ensures that Maktoob will have the tools necessary to continue to innovate the Arab search experience."