Centraal Signs RealNames Deal with LookSmart

Centraal Corp. said that LookSmart will incorporate its RealNames System for navigating Web pages into the LookSmart Web directory by the end of October.

Centraal said the service will be available through LookSmart’s Web site as well as 95 ISPs and other sites that LookSmart currently distributes its service. Financial arrangements were not disclosed.

In addition, LookSmart will serve as a reseller of RealNames subscriptions directly to other Web sites. The reach of RealNames, currently more than 3 million unique users per month, will expand considerably as a direct result of reaching LookSmart’s 4.5 million unique users per month, Centraal said.

“This agreement provides a significant boost to RealNames’ reach across the Internet,” said Ted West, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Centraal. “The agreement also leverages LookSmart’s Webmaster relationships to ensure that they have the opportunity to subscribe to RealNames’ precise navigation services.”

“LookSmart’s core business is providing users with the best quality search and navigation service on the Web,” said Evan Thornley, CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based LookSmart. “RealNames provides an outstanding addition to that service.”

“We see this partnership with LookSmart as a milestone for Centraal because it represents another step in our efforts to make RealNames available to all Internet users, all of the time,” said Keith Teare, founder and CEO of Centraal.

Centraal unveiled the RealName System, a global naming system for navigating the Internet instead of using URLs, in March, and began its first distribution partnership in May.

LookSmart hosts an editorially reviewed database of Web content with 500,000 site listings in 20,000 categories.