Need background info on your blind date this weekend? Don't "Google" him -- try "clustying" him instead. That's what software developer Vivisimo Inc. is hoping Web-savvy users will do as the Squirrel Hill firm launches its Clusty.com search engine today.

Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Vivisimo co-founders, from left, Jerome Pesenti, chief scientist; Chris Palmer, chief technology officer; and Raul Valdes-Perez, chief executive officer. Click photo for larger image. Online graphic See a graphic that explains how the Clusty search engine works.

The 22-person Carnegie Mellon University spinoff believes it can compete with such Internet Goliaths as Google and Yahoo! by offering a search device that organizes results into categories or "clusters," thus making it easier to pinpoint exactly what a user is seeking.

Unlike most search engines that present page after page of hits that require the user to sift through them, Clusty categorizes the hits on a search on the left side of the initial page, allowing a user to more easily find the specific information he wants. A Clusty search on actor Ben Affleck, for example, shows such categories as "fan" (22 listings) and "reviews" (14) that users can then click to get the full listings that fall under the headings.

Despite the ubiquitous Google and Yahoo -- and big-name newcomer Amazon -- Vivisimo co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Raul Valdes-Perez maintains that there's plenty of money to be made by other search engines such as his if they offer a new wrinkle. "People are starting to look at the next generation of Web search," he said.

Vivisimo was born in 2000 out of research that Valdes-Perez and the two other company co-founders, Chief Technology Officer Chris Palmer and Chief Scientist Jerome Pesenti, conducted at CMU. It's located in a nondescript storefront along Beechwood Boulevard, near Frick Park.

Initially, Vivisimo focused on the business world, selling its search technology software to such customers as Stanford University and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Because it generated revenue from the start, the company hasn't needed to seek outside financing and, Valdes-Perez said, has been profitable as well.

Like the demo on Vivisimo's corporate Web site, Clusty.comhopes to gain traction in the crowded Internet search engine world via word of mouth. It also is betting that Clusty.com's visual oomph and user- friendly search options will spike the site's popularity.

In addition to categorizing the search results, Clusty.comallows Web surfers to narrow their searches to the encyclopedia, blogs, gossip sites and even eBay.com with the point and click of a mouse. "Users can zero in on what they were looking for and find new things along the way," said Valdes-Perez.

As a brand new site still in its "trial" stages, Clusty.comhas its hurdles, starting with an unfamiliar name. As Vivisimo gauges public reception, it plans to continuously update and fine-tune the site to iron out kinks.

"There will be glitches," said Valdes-Perez -- and there are. One early trial crashed the computer system of a user taking Clusty for a test run. Users must remember to refresh the screen before trying another search; otherwise, a disappointing blank page will result.

And while the clustering is useful, it's not perfect. Like most Internet searches it is critical to be as specific as possible when conducting a search to get the results you want.

Still, according to Forrester Research analyst Laura Ramos, Clusty may be a great opportunity for Vivisimo "to gain more market presence and visibility." In the increasingly crowded Web-based search world, such extras as categories may be what's needed to stay in the game and attract the advertising it will need to survive and grow, she said.

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