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Medford firm spins Net searcher By DAVID PRESZLER Internet users wanting a quicker way to wade through screen after screen of search engine results to the Web sites they really want have a new ally: Willie the Web Spyder. Willie is the cartoon mascot of a new Internet tool called Spydersearch, released by Medford's CyberNet Inc. Spydersearch was launched last month and has received more than 44,000 hits in May, despite the fact that the company began promoting it heavily just this week. "It's been just unreal," CyberNet founder Rico Randle says of the response to Spydersearch. "We get fan mail," adds Darren Ingle, the company's marketing manager. Spydersearch ( www.spydersearch.com ) is essentially a searcher of search engines. Rather than build a database of sites like a traditional search engine, it searches the databases of popular search engines like Excite, Alta Vista and HotBot. Then it brings back the top 10 matches from each engine, giving credit to those engines. "There are enough search engines out there that we could just utilize what's already there," Randle says. Randle expects to improve Spydersearch soon, getting rid of redundant Web sites between the different engines and allowing users to easily go more than 10 hits into one engine's results. Still, he says bringing the best of multiple engines together makes for a quicker, more convenient way to search the Web. "I believe this is going to be a search tool for the future because of convenience. Face it, the Internet is consumer-driven." Despite the warm response to Spydersearch, CyberNet does not expect to turn much profit on it. The tool is free, although the company sells some advertising on it. That's not to say that CyberNet, which incorporated in March, doesn't expect to benefit from Spydersearch's success. Randle is using the free tool to promote his company's Web page hosting and design services with an eye toward expansion and a future stock offering. "Our real bread and butter is Web hosting and design," he says, but he's counting on exposure from Spydersearch. Randle got started in the Internet business two years ago when he launched CyberPc.com , a Web site filled with technical assistance and tips for computer users. The site has a biweekly newsletter with 200,000 subscribers. The plan is to promote Web sites that CyberNet designs to those subscribers and to promote the company and CyberPc.com through Spydersearch. "My vision is to be a Fred Meyer of the Internet," says Randle. For now, the company has a small office on West Main Street and a staff of three, including Randle and Ingle. But Randle says they will soon expand the staff and move to a larger office. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA