iAtlas to Integrate 500,000 Sites into Switchboard Yellow Pages

Laurel, MD-based iAtlas Corp., a developer of technologies with the ability to find, refine and verify Internet business information, signed an agreement to integrate its searchable “rich extensions” database with Switchboard’s online yellow pages directory.

Westboro, MA-based Switchboard said that as a result, it will be providing a new, no-cost avenue to improve the visibility of local merchants that have an established Web presence to consumers who are ‘ready- to-buy.’

Merchants can further extend that visibility with a variety of advertising options available through Switchboard’s recently announced Local Merchant Program. The partnership gives Switchboard users direct access to over 500,000 Web sites and the ability to execute keyword searches for specific content throughout all of a particular company’s Web domains. Financial arrangements were not disclosed.

Leveraging the iAtlas Infolens technology, Switchboard said it will enable local merchants to better differentiate themselves by offering users the ability to more narrowly refine their business searches based on the content of merchant Web sites. For example, a Switchboard user will be able to search yellow pages for camera shops in Santa Clara, CA and–using iAtlas’ Infolens–pinpoint the particular Silicon Valley camera merchants that sell the specific product brands they are seeking.

“Building an extensive and rich base of searchable business information into Switchboard is one of our most fundamental objectives,” said Dean Polnerow, president of Switchboard. “This partnership represents a new and unique way for local merchants to be found on the Web, leveraging the investments they are making in their Web sites.”

“The value of iAtlas’ Infolens is its ability to push online business searching to a new level, providing users with deeper, more detailed categories of business information that they can use to better qualify merchants,” said Jeff Black, iAtlas’ president, founder and chief executive. “We are delighted to partner with a company like Switchboard where our product adds clear incremental value.”

The power behind the Infolens technology–the iAtlas Registry–is a database that contains Internet information for every organization on the Web. The Registry is further strengthened through an agreement with infoUSA; the marketing information vendor’s business data was one of the offline sources used to populate the iAtlas Registry database with specific business demographic information–allowing end-users to focus their keyword searches by industry, geography, size of business, company type, or any combination of the above.