This Thursday, some big names in the search field gathered at the Red Herring East conference to showcase their new ideas to venture capitalists.
Experts in search from companies such as Ask.com, Answers.com, Truveo/AOL, and Microsoft discussed a series of search-related issues during a panel discussion, including: Which company do you think is the next search provider worth watching? Which company will go public? How can revenue be generated through video search? Is it better to develop a video search engine or let people watch videos on websites?
Similar to the views expressed earlier in the week by industry experts discussing mobile video, what's holding back the development of the emerging search market isn't technology, but rather how to monetize these technologies.
Participants noted that they were impressed by ZoomInfo.com’s job search engine and the Mahalo search engine. Some participants said that there are areas that the media has not focused on which have the potential for substantial revenue generation: enterprise search engines.
Don Dodge, the head of business development for Microsoft's Emerging Business Division, stated that Endeca, which provides customized search engines for enterprises, will reach about $100 million in revenue this year.
Dodge said, "Endeca will become the next billion-dollar company, focusing mainly on enterprise search, a market that currently receives very little attention. I believe it will go public soon."
Doug Leeds, Vice President of Product Management at Ask.com, agreed with Dodge's view on the importance of Endeca, but had a different take on Endeca's future. He said, "Will Endeca really go public? My answer is no, it might be acquired before going public."
Truveo founder Tuttle said, "I agree with others that video search engines will drive traffic to other search services."