GuruNet Changing Name, Focus

Saying it is a victim of its own success, the start-up behind popular Web reference tool GuruNet is changing course to shed its consumer focus. GuruNet becomes Atomica, and like many other Web start-ups that amassed a following but little revenue, the reborn company plans to scrap its consumer-advertising supported model and target the corporate market instead. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company has deals with such content providers as Houghton Mifflin, Columbia University Press, Stockpoint and Accuweather to deliver the information. Atomica will package its technology so a company’s employees can pull down information relevant to their jobs--from the Internet, from the company’s intranet or from proprietary databases. Atomica will hawk the product to corporations under the name Knowledge Warehouse starting early next year.