Newcomer FatWire sees revenues jump 300%

As businesses increasingly do more activity on the Internet, FatWire Corp. has seen its sales swell. The Mineola-based company, which recently received $9.25 million in venture capital financing, is one of the businesses that made it to the KPMG/Hofstra list of Long Island's 25 Fastest Growing Firms.

FatWire

jumped from 42 at the end of 1999 to close to 100 as of September 2000. Although the company is planning to open up satellite offices in New York City, its headquarters will remain here for the foreseeable future.

Innovation, customer service and a determination to be the best in its field are driving FatWire's screaming performance and excellent reputation, which was built upon the company's UpdateEngine, a graphical application for building, maintaining and powering enterpriselevel Web sites.

"Our recently launched version of the product, UpdateEngine 5, is the platform for e-business that drastically reduces time-to-market while maintaining unlimited scalability and the flexibility for e-businesses to evolve with the market," said FatWire President

and CEO Mark Fasciano. "It incorporates a number of new technologies that result in a paradigm shift in the way people think about and interact with Web sites."

Among other advantages, UpdateEngine enables non-technical personnel to contribute to a Web site's development or modification without going through a Webmaster. "It removes the bottleneck that can develop when too many people are trying to get access to one Webmaster," observed Fasciano. "UpdateEngine is a significant tool for businesses that are searching for greater efficiency."

FatWire, which was founded in 1996 by Fasciano and Ari Kahn after receiving their Ph.D.s in computer science from the University of Chicago, has received many awards recognizing it as one of the fastest growing, most innovative software technology companies in New York. The company's diverse client

roster includes IBM Global Services, the University of Chicago Hospital System, GeoLogistics, EyeWeb.com and GetPlugged.com.

Looking ahead, FatWire Chief Technology Officer Kahn identified the wireless segment as the company's next big growth opportunity. He noted that the latest version of UpdateEngine, which was designed with that in mind, enables Web sites that were designed for full-sized screens to be modified for display on smaller, wireless-device screens. "With the rapid adoption of Internet-enabled PDAs, the need for wireless applications will become pervasive in e-Business technology," he said. "FatWire understands that mobile commerce is an essential part of true site design and scalability, and the easy deployment of wireless applications is critical to our clients' successes."

Kahn noted that a recent report by Meta Group, a research and consulting organization, highlighted the need for businesses to improve their operating efficiencies.

"Meta Group states that companies must be prepared to support anytime, anywhere, anyhow' computing," according to Fasciano. "The report also noted that despite all the hoopla surrounding wireless's future dominance, currently fewer than 5 percent of corporations have actually enabled their applications for wireless users. Meta Group expects this to grow to 10 percent to 15 percent within one to two years, and from 25 percent to 35 percent in two to three years.

Companies that fail to enable wireless extensions during the next 12 to 18 months risk losing customers to competitors that do."

Fasciano added that he is confident that the company is positioning itself to maintain its fasttrack development.

"FatWire will continue to experience rapid growth due to strong demand for our breakthrough e-Business Assembly System technology," said Fasciano.

"Our products enable our customers to execute their e-Business strategy 50 percent faster than with older technologies."