Convera's Sale of Retrievalware to Fast Search and Transfer: Analysis of a Strategic Retreat

Norwegian enterprise search vendor Fast Search and Transfer acquired Convera's Retrievalware business for $23M, representing 93% of Convera's revenue and signaling the company's strategic shift away from enterprise search. The deal reflects Convera's declining financial performance (revenues down 47% from $29.3M in 2004 to $16.7M in 2007) and Fast's attempt to penetrate the lucrative government market. The analysis explores whether this acquisition strategy will succeed given government sector preferences for XML content servers over search engines and potential concerns about foreign suppliers in sensitive defense and intelligence sectors.