Search Engine AltaVista Aims for Full-Fledged Portal Status

AltaVista, a no-frills Internet search engine, will undergo radical surgery today in its bid to become a full-fledged consumer media firm offering live news updates and comparison-shopping tools.

Three months before its planned public stock offering, AltaVista is kicking off a $120-million advertising campaign that during the next 10 months will attempt to depict “AltaVista Live!” as one of the Internet’s more sophisticated, frequently updated portals.

Also, the AltaVista search engine is being made over to use AskJeeves technology, which allows users to type in questions in natural language and is popular with less savvy computer users.

The company, based in Palo Alto, began as a technology showcase for Digital Equipment Corp. and changed ownership nearly two years ago after Digital was taken over by Compaq Computer. Compaq, in turn, sold 83% of AltaVista in July to CMGI Inc., a Massachusetts holding company that buys chunks of Web companies and tries to have them work together.

AltaVista’s Web traffic has lagged Yahoo, Lycos, AOL and other portals that have added services to become more than search engines.

As AltaVista adds features, the change likely to draw the most attention is its around-the-clock news and entertainment programming, including real-time stock quotes and play-by-play sports accounts. Its new modular layout is designed to let users create a personalized page by mixing and matching blocks of content, including live “Webcams” and video.