Firm sorts, shares files via Web

A young Internet company hopes its services on the World Wide Web will replace

express mail service, e-mail and the telephone as methods for government

workers in scattered locations to collaborate on projects that require sharing

documents.

The seven-month-old North Carolina company, filefrenzy, says it can

organize, index and manage files for agencies so that people in different

offices — or different continents — can find information they need easily

and work on documents simultaneously.

"We see this as a project management tool" for people who need to team

up on projects but are geographically dispersed, said Suzanne Casiello,

chief marketing officer for filefrenzy.

Files would reside on filefrenzy's servers and be available to authorized

users through the Internet, she said. The company offers multiple levels

of security to control who can see files and who can alter them. Thus, a

team working on a project could let some members read but not download files,

let others read and download, and let still others change files.

Access to files can be restricted to just one person or opened to the

world, depending on customers' needs, Casiello said. By providing instant

access to files, filefrenzy says it can shorten the time it takes to complete

projects. "It stops having to use couriers" and simplifies keeping track

of drafts as they evolve toward finished documents, Casiello said.