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InfoZen to build firstgov.gov web site

Nitish S Rele

InfoZen, a Maryland-based IT consulting and Internet Application Service Provider founded by an Indian, was recently chosen to design the architecture and security of the firstgov.gov web site, intended to offer free federal government information.

"Users can conduct a search and navigate to whatever agency web site the content resides," said InfoZen President and founder Raghu Rao. "It is essentially Yahoo for the government."

InfoZen specializes in providing electronic publishing and web technology to start-ups, publishers, associations, manufacturers and government agencies who want fast, reliable, scalable and easy-to-use Internet applications.

Rao said that site should go online on September 7 or 14.

"Its major release will be on December 15," he said. "We are expecting about 200,000 users daily and two million every day by the end of the year. The site will keep growing and different things are planned as time progresses."

firstgov.gov was designed within two weeks of receiving the approval to build the site. It will use a search engine provided by Inktomi Corporation.

"We have built a lot of portals and this is our first major government contract," said Rao.

Other InfoZen employers include The Boeing Company, Lexis-Nexis, GOPAC, Computer Sciences Corporation, eLawForum, Patrion, The Maryland Society of Physicians, MedOnTime, United Telecom Council, etc.

InfoZen has an affiliate in Bangalore that provides custom programming and XML data conversion services. "We have 20 employers in India and about 25 here in the US," said Rao.

Founded by Rao in 1995, InfoZen looks to "fill a critical business gap by providing innovative turnkey solutions that efficiently manage electronic information."

A BVTech in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Rao has an MS in computer science from Virginia Tech, and has completed coursework for an MBA in Information Systems at George Washington University.

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