A group of engineers who have quit Google launched a rival search engine on Monday to take on the Internet giant Google. Titled Cuil and pronounced Cool, this search engine has been launched by Anna Patterson, the architect of TeraGoogle search index and her team.

Cuil claims to be searching the web at thrice the speed of Google. Cuil has raised $33 million for the venture. It plans to create a niche in the search industry. It proposes to trespass on Google’s turf. It could succeed or become an attractive acquisition for Microsoft, Yahoo or may be even Google itself.

However the engineers at Cuil feel that they will stand up to the competition. The search engine delivers results with images in three columns and claims to scour the web much faster than the three big search engines. The site is seeing very high volumes of traffic since its launch.

Industry experts feel that without a strong advertising base no search engine is likely to succeed. Only a new technology and a platform is likely to challenge google, as and when it is developed.