Fetch Tech Announces Contract with BizRate.com

Fetch Technologies, which has developed the world's most powerful and precise technologies for Internet data aggregation, announced a three-year contract to provide an online computer product catalog for BizRate.com, the leading comparison-shopping marketplace on the Web.

Fetch employs machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, to solve the most difficult aspects of extracting and integrating Internet-available data. The Fetch platform allows companies to "XMLize" the Internet, transforming disparate Web content into accessible data and actionable knowledge.

BizRate.com is the leading online comparison-shopping marketplace that enables consumers to "shop smartly" across 20 popular store categories and 1,500 merchants with a single click of a mouse. Shoppers have access to a powerful product search engine, customer-based merchant ratings, and exclusive deals from many of the Web's best merchants.

"By partnering with Fetch Technologies, BizRate.com will make comparison-shopping for computer products online even more convenient," said Chuck Davis, president and CEO of BizRate.com.

Commenting on the contract announcement, Bryan Pelz, CEO of Fetch Technologies, said, "Fetch Technologies has come a long way in a very short period of time. In the space of six months, clients ranging from Change.com to the U.S. Government have recognized the unique efficiencies and cost savings that our Web automation technology can deliver. The BizRate agreement provides us with the perfect launching pad for Year 2001, and we look forward to building our list of industry-leading clients."

Formed in 1999, Fetch Technologies was founded by a team of leading researchers in the areas of machine learning and Internet data integration from the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute. The company's proprietary, patent-pending technology was developed with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA).

Fetch's tools and services are designed to speed and simplify the process of connecting companies with their business partners via the Internet. Beyond precision data extraction, Fetch has developed a platform that allows companies to integrate vast amounts of Internet data from multiple sources and formats, so as to create a virtual database that is precise and robust enough for machine interaction.

Fetch's Web automation platform uses machine learning to reduce the human interaction required and to increase the accuracy of data extracted at every level of this process.

About BizRate.com

Founded in 1996 and based in Los Angeles, BizRate.com, www.bizrate.com, is the No. 1 retail mall on the Web (according to Media Metrix, November 2000), connecting millions of buyers to thousands of sellers in a single, organized location. Designed as the ultimate comparison-shopping hub, the site provides the best efficiencies for both buyers and sellers.

In BizRate.com's marketplace, shoppers have access to a powerful product search engine, standardized check-out, exclusive deals, "hot" product listings and gift guides to empower consumers to "shop smartly" across 20 popular store categories and more than 1,500 merchants.

Through BizRate.com's unbiased consumer rating system, compiled exclusively from point-of-sale and fulfillment surveys of participating merchants, shoppers can compare merchants across 10 service dimensions. BizRate.com ratings appear on Consumer Reports Online and in Consumer Reports magazine.

About Fetch Technologies

Fetch Technologies enables businesses to derive tangible, competitive advantage by extending the reach of their existing enterprise applications to leverage the availability of intranet, extranet and public domain Web information.

The company provides highly scalable Internet automation infrastructure that integrates unstructured data with legacy, C/S, and network computing architectures, to enable actionable solutions that now include the Internet. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.fetch.com.

Contact Fetch Technologies, Marina del Rey, Bryan Pelz, 310-448-9148.