AltaVista was a web search engine owned by Yahoo!. AltaVista was once one of the most popular search engines but lost its ground due to the rise of Google. In May 2011, Yahoo! shut down the site. As of 2012, the AltaVista website is up, and it is stated on the website that they are using the Yahoo! search engine. Searches as of November 2012 utilize Yahoo! Search BOSS APIs and no longer use AltaVista branding.
Read more about AltaVista: Origins, Business Transactions, Free Services