Verity buys FTP Software lineup

Verity (VRTY), which markets software for online searches, announced today that it is acquiring the Keyview product line of FTP Software (FTPS) for $1.5 million cash.

As previously reported yesterday by CNET's NEWS.COM, Verity will incorporate Keyview, which FTP Software acquired several years ago, into Verity's Search97 product line. It will replace QuickView from Inso as its viewing technology.

Keyview technology lets Internet users quickly view, compress, convert, and secure formatted files received over the Internet through email, browser, file transfer protocol (FTP), or Gopher. It can handle data from word processing programs and graphics, image, and spreadsheet files.

Verity has been developing a combination of search and push technologies for company intranets, both as its own product line and incorporated into other OEM's software for searches.

Today's acquisition, expected to close in several weeks, will be accounted for as an expense in Verity's results for the quarter in which it is completed.

In January, Verity acquired Cognisoft for $10 million to combine Cognisoft's IntelliServ application server software with Verity's search engine, joining the rush to Internet "push" technology.