BUSINESS
Cape Clear launches Google by e-mail
19-04-2002
by John Kennedy
Irish company Cape Clear Software has launched a live demo of a Web services e-mail application using the Internet search engine Google.
Cape Clear used its Web services technology to build Google-mail, an application which lets anyone use Google by sending a search query in the subject line of an e-mail to google@capeclear.com. The system instantly replies by sending the top 10 results via e-mail.
Cape Clear said the application could be useful for PDAs, mobile phones, offline laptop users and anyone else who has infrequent, low quality access to the Internet.
Web services are business and consumer applications which are delivered over the Internet, and which people can select and combine through almost any device, from personal computers to mobile phones.
"It's an example of how easy it is to use Web services, a justification and proof-point for the technology," said Tom Murphy, spokesman for Cape Clear. "Developers can link any application they want to the Google search engine. It's a core example of what you can do with Web services."
According to Murphy, applications like Cape Clear's Google-mail are possible because Google itself has opened its application programming interface (API) for free to developers who want to build non-commercial applications. More information on the Google Web APIs service is at Google's Web site.
Established in 1999 and with offices in Dublin, London and California, Cape Clear was established by its executive chairman and Iona Technologies co-founder Annrai O'Toole. The company focuses 100 percent of its attention on Web services products and currently has over 50 customers including BT, which uses Cape Clear's technology to link different applications throughout the company. BSkyB uses Cape Clear technology to connect orders for satellite TV football matches and movies with its back-end billing system.
Last year Cape Clear raised EUR18.6 million in second-round funding through two US venture capital companies, Accel Partners and Greylock.
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