Squiz buys Funnelback

Content management company Squiz has acquired Funnelback, an Australian search firm spun off from the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation (CSIRO).

In a statement, Squiz managing director John-Paul Syriatowicz pledged to keep Funnelback trading as a separate company, with its own brand. "There will be no changes to company structure, staffing or strategy," he said. However, he noted that Funnelback's search solution would be closely integrated with Squiz's MySource Matrix content management solution.

Syriatowicz said it made sense for the pair to come together.

"As organisations continue their inevitable move towards browser-centric information management, powerful, fully-integrated search will play an increasingly important role," he said. "I believe 2010 will herald a fundamental shift in the content management systems and search marketplace as clients and vendors realise the two are inseparable. Trying to treat them as discrete solutions simply doesn't work."

Squiz did not disclose how much it paid for Funnelback, which was spun off as a CSIRO-owned company in early 2006. The search group boasts the Federal Government, Oxfam and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation amongst its customers.