Autonomy and Intel to 'enable the Internet economy'

UK-based software company, Autonomy Systems, has signed a deal with Intel to develop new technologies designed to "enable the Internet economy".

Autonomy makes software designed to handle, order and retrieve large amounts of data even when in an unstructured format. Its products search and find information based on concepts rather than keywords or data fields, thereby enabling the handling of large amounts of blank text.

Autonomy said initial development will be based around Intel's new 64-bit Itanium processors, and hoped to eventually release joint products.

A spokesman for Autonomy said the company's link with Intel lay in the fact that both companies made products that allowed the processing of massive amounts of information, vital for the growth of the Internet. He said: "We envisage Autonomy's software as a base level operating system for the Internet economy".

Tim Keating, a director of content group for Intel EMEA, said that the joint venture would enable the production of much faster and completely automatic ebusiness solutions.

Autonomy was set up in Cambridge in 1996 and now has offices in the US and Europe.