Indian American firm modernizes U.S. department

Wednesday, 11 September 2002, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Indian American firm Relativity Technologies announced that it has completed a modernization project with the state of North Carolina. Relativity has transformed the Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP) application system of the North Carolina Department of Justice to a modern Java-based system. This is part of the department's initiative to upgrade its aging IT infrastructure. Following the terror attacks of September 11, the U.S. government has been looking to modernize its data base infrastructure, and some analysts have said much needs to be done to modernize systems and integrate them. In a recent article, Business Week noted that CEO Vivek Wadhwa of Relativity might have one of the answers to the technology needs of old systems. Cary (North Carolina)-based Relativity Technologies is a leading supplier of legacy modernization solutions. Founded in 1997, Wadhwa's company was selected as one of Fortune magazine's 2001 Cool Companies and Computerworld's Top 100 Emerging Companies for 2002. "We have set the standard for how North Carolina will do systems modernization," Wadhwa told IANS about the approximately half-a-million-dollar contract. "The government systems are archaic and don't communicate with each other. It's like a ticking time bomb. If you are trying to find out everything about a given suspect you cannot find it from one computer system," he said. "This (the new system) provides a model for how companies and governments should modernize their structures." Among other benefits, Relativity's system will allow state law enforcement personnel to perform background checks more efficiently and track those who have already secured permits. The role of the system is to process and track permit applications, to serve as a reference database for law enforcement organizations and to coordinate the billing for costs incurred by the necessary background checks. Antiquated and inflexible IT systems usually compound inefficiencies in the field. This June, Business Week called the federal government's technology infrastructure backward and sometimes downright dangerous. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Robert Mueller in his testimony before the Senate in June admitted that the bureau was unable to search through its electronic documents using anything but single terms. Wadhwa has claimed that while it may cost many millions, it would take some months, and not years, to transform the old systems at an agency like the FBI.
Source: IANS
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