Software firm readies for IPO

BOHEMIA - Mydocuments.com, a document management software firm, is taking strides to go public within a year, said its CEO, a former Computer Associates executive hired for the task.

The company, formerly known as ARvee Systems, is negotiating with several underwriters as well as public companies it can buy through which it can go public without conducting an initial public offering, called a reverse merger.

Mydocuments.com allows its customers to transfer documents from their hard drives to the company's Internet domain, enabling the material to be retrieved from anywhere in the world. The material is secured through passwords and proper identification, and, according to its CEO, is impenetrable.

"If you are working in New York and you have to travel, all your work can be uploaded onto mydocuments.com and then retrieved at your destination," said the CEO, who was hired in May.

"This allows you to fully manage your work on the Web while maintaining the security of your documents."

The future of mydocument.com's market area is bright. The Gartner Group, a Stamford, Conn.-based market analysis firm, says the market for document and content management on the Internet will surpass $6.5 billion in 2000 with an anticipated growth rate of 24 percent over the next five years.

ARvee Systems was founded in 1990 as a software development company. Its focus changed with the growing market to secure documents over the Internet, said the CEO.

The company, whose sales weren't revealed, sells its software to Estee Lauder, Cablevision Systems and the New York City mayor's office.

MyDocuments.com was founded by entrepreneur Michael Gencarelli, and is now majority owned by DS Capital and Wellfleet Partners and several individual investors.

On the name, mydocuments.com, the CEO joked that Microsoft is a great ally, distributing millions of its software packages for free.

"Where do most people save their work while working in Microsoft software?" he asked. "Having a recognizable domain name is great marketing. Microsoft is a great advantage to our product."