Read more in the press release.

Ed Oswald wrote at BetaNews, “AOL will aggregate its tech-oriented sites through a single portal, attempting to cash in on an already broad user base accessing those blogs.” Switched “will now become the hub for the company’s efforts, and draw in content from various blogs already under AOL’s tech umbrella. Additionally, the site will lose prominent AOL branding.” Oswald continued, “With a more cohesive group powering AOL’s tech section, its reach will be approximately five million visitors per month. This makes it about twice the size of Wired, and about the same size as Yahoo Tech. It also makes the network more palatable to advertisers, who will be able to market a brand with a significant reach. In a statement announcing the formation, AOL indeed referred to this, saying it will be easier to buy advertising across these sites. ‘We’re bringing together some of the Web’s most powerful and fastest-growing tech blogs to create a technology publishing powerhouse,’ weblogs chief Marty Moe said in a statement.”
MediaPost Publications reports, “AOL’s new Technology Network will offer a resource to gather information about technology news and products, and, perhaps more importantly, enable advertisers to more easily integrate ad campaigns across related AOL properties. ‘One of our top priorities at Platform-A is to make it easier for advertisers to leverage the power of digital media, and the AOL Technology Network helps us achieve this goal,’ said Lynda Clarizio, who was recently appointed president of Platform-A ad platform.” The piece continued, “The solution, as Clarizio well understands, is consolidating and integrating Platform-A’s and AOL’s various parts. ‘Combining these great technology information sites into one network lets us offer marketers the ability to more easily buy across these sites,’ she said.”
David Kaplan wrote at paidContent.org, “AOL (NYSE: TWX) is finally updating its portal’s blog structures with the introduction of the AOL Technology Network, which will house its related Weblogs sites like Engadget, Switched, TUAW, and others, the few among Weblogs Inc network that made it through the AOL management changes. Previously, AOL’s blog properties were categorized individually and operated independently, with no rhyme of reason for the separation. In fact, Switched was previously part of AOL News. The more orderly placement is designed to make it easier for Platform-A, AOL’s ad services network, to create more integrated ad campaigns among similar sites.”
Mike Sachoff wrote at WebProNews, “Endgadget has also rolled out a new design. From Endgadget, ‘We went through and really cleaned up the joint, yanking out old modules and ads wherever possible.’”