Wheeling News-Register, March 21, 1999

When the subject is computer technology, most people think of the Silicon Valley in California or Microsoft Corp. in Washington state. Wheeling, W.Va., does not
immediately spring to mind, in other words.

Nevertheless, HGO Technology, a 13-year-old award-winning firm headquartered in Elm Grove, is proving to be a force to be reckoned with in the network engineering, computerization consulting and software development fields.

Founded in 1986 by James P. O'Malley and Elizabeth F. Gates, HGO Technology has over 80 employees at three sites. The company's subsidiary, HGO.Net is an Internet service provider for the Ohio Valley.

O'Malley has been appointed by W.Va. Governor Cecil H. Underwood to the state's Science and Technology Advisory Council.

HGO.Net designs and develops web sites for businesses and individuals. Marketing Manager Thomas J. Dailer explained that it is a three phase process: First, the company does a complete analysis of the customer's needs, evaluating what the business or individuals want to convey to web site visitors. For example, a business may wish to be able to sell its products over the Internet. Second, the customer and
a web designer decide how the site will look, what features it will contain and what information will be included. Third, HGO.Net develops and programs the web site, finalizing the placement of graphics.

HGO.Net recently expanded its Internet services to include most of Wetzel and Tyler Counties, as well as the rest of the Northern Panhandle and parts of Belmont and Jefferson Counties in Ohio.

"We got into the net because we design and support a lot of networks," O'Malley said. "We saw that our customers had a need to connect to the Internet. They can stay with us for all the support their systems need."

Dailer added, "We'll work with the smallest company to the largest, and everything in between."

O'Malley concurred, "We don't feel any business is too small for us."

He added that the company fully supports any systems it sells, providing full certified service for such lines as Compaq, Novell and Hewlett-Packard.

Dailer noted that HGO can service computer systems purchased elsewhere, as well.

Internet services constitute only a small part of HGO Technology's business, however. The parent company has been awarded a number of multi-million dollar contracts with government agencies and private sector businesses for a wide range of software and multimedia systems development, graphical information displays and network engineering functions.

In 1996, HGO was awarded a $5.5 million, five-year automated data processing support contract from the Centers for Disease Control for support to their National
Institute of Occupational Safety and Health laboratory in Cincinnati, and in 1995 they were awarded a $2.5 million, five-year subcontract with NIOSH for videoconferencing, networking and hardware support for their Morgantown and Cincinnati locations.

HGO currently is performing a $7.9 million, five-year support contract for the NIOSH facilities in Morgantown. Under the contract, HGO provides computer systems analysts, programmers and biostatisticians to support the NIOSH Morgantown
research laboratory.

Nearly half of the company's workforce is assigned to the Morgantown facility.

The company also is involved in the U. S. Department of Commerce (DOC) "Push Technology" program, which enables 100 West Virginia companies to become more
knowledgeable about international trade.

Push Technology allows foreign companies to obtain information about West Virginia businesses, tailored to specific interests and needs. The DOC Matches individual company market information needs with its databases and relevant international trade information.

HGO Technology is venturing into the international market, currently involved in a joint venture with another U. S. company and a Japanese company on a software
development project using virtual reality systems.

HGO Technology and its Internet division, HGO.Net, have developed an impressive client list including numerous government agencies, major regional and
international corporations, and earned an increasing number of awards and recognition's.

O'Malley, Gates and their staff have proven that success in the high technology industry is possible in what may have seemed at first to be an unlikely setting.