Monday, April 10, 2006
Google wins rights to Aussie algorithm
Google has snapped up the rights to an advanced text search algorithm invented by a University of NSW student.
The algorithm, or search engine tool, is called Orion and was developed by UNSW PhD student Ori Allon at the university's School of Computer Science.
Orion works as an add-on to existing search engines to improve the relevance of searches and won praise from Microsoft founder Bill Gates last year.
The algorithm is a problem-solving computational procedure and is the building block for all search engines such as those operated by Google and Yahoo!
Orion finds pages where the content is about a topic strongly related to the key word. It then returns a section of the page, and lists other topics related to the key word so the user can pick the most relevant.
The results of the query are displayed immediately in the form of expanded text extracts, giving the searcher the relevant information without having to go to the website - although there is still that option.
Mr Allon, a 26-year-old computer scientist, was born in Israel but came to study at Melbourne's Monash University in the '90s. After completing his bachelor and masters degrees, he moved to UNSW to further his studies and research.
The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported on Sunday that Google had acquired Mr Allon's advanced text search algorithm.
Mr Andrew Stead, the business development manager at UNSW's NewSouth Innovations agency confirmed that Mr Allon left Australia six weeks ago and was now working at Google's headquarters at Mountain View, California.
Mr Stead said the move was not a secondment; Mr Allon's move was permanent.
Some work on the project, however, would continue to be undertaken by Mr Allon's supervisor in Sydney, Dr Eric Martin.
Mr Stead confirmed that the university had held talks with the big three internet search operations: Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
Beyond confirming that Mr Allon was now working for Google, Mr Stead was not able to confirm any other of the reported details.
However, given Google's desire to continue dominating the search business and the fact that there were other interested parties, the deal could potentially be worth millions.
While Mr Allon is the key person behind Orion, the university retains ownership of the intellectual property as it was developed within the university's research facilities.
Mr Stead said Mr Allon, who is an Australian citizen, hoped to complete his PhD with the university and one day hoped to return to Australia.
source:http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/aussies-formula-for-a-fortune/2006/04/10/1144521239582.html
