EDS and EzGov Form E-Gov Alliance

Electronic Data Systems Corp. and EzGov Inc. have announced a strategic alliance to bring electronic business solutions to the government sector, said the companies April 19.

Under the agreement, EDS will provide e-government consulting, Web hosting, customer relationship management and data conversion services. EzGov will develop and integrate e-government applications into government environments.

EDS also will work with EzGov to coordinate government acquisitions of computer hardware and network components and develop customer interfaces between EzGov's Web-based solutions and government legacy systems.

The alliance will take advantage of EDS' long experience in systems integration, information systems development and database design, and also of an EzGov software platform that allows governments to run multiple applications from one secure platform, said Ed Trimble, EzGov's president and chief executive officer.

EDS Ventures, which is EDS' venture capital group, invested $6.25 million in EzGov in October 2000.

The worldwide marketplace for e-government information services in 2001 is estimated at $55 billion and is growing at a rate of 14 percent a year, according to Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass.

Privately owned EzGov of Atlanta has more than 65 state and local government customers. The company has about 160 employees.

EDS of Plano, Texas, has about 122,000 employees and had revenue of $19.2 billion in fiscal 2000.