the founders were system integrators for silicon graphics and cray research, with a specialized practice in visual simulation and clients across the eastern us coast, including the defense and intelligence communities. during a meeting with the public information officer (pio) for the federal bureau of investigation, a question was raised regarding the world-wide-web, which turned into an impromptu demonstration for 20 high-ranked fbi officials huddled around a 12-inch laptop. for almost all these people, this was their first experience ever seeing the web, and led to a year of subsequent meetings with the goal of developing an fbi website for fugitive publicity. word got around and presentations were requested by the us marshals, us treasury batf, us customs, us dept of state and others with similar interests. in most instances, these organizations did not have a web server and, indicative of the pre-911 "stove-pipe" mindset