Since the late 70s, Sigma Design, a privately owned company, has been a leading design software developer in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) marketplace. Its software, marketed under the names ARRIS and BuildersCAD, is one of the highest productivity CAD (computer-aided-design) systems for architects, builders and facility managers and is used by Fortune 500 companies. In 1996, Charlie White and Mort Olshan, both major real estate developers who used ARRIS and BuildersCAD in their businesses, joined forces and purchased Sigma Design. The company has since leveraged its strong roots in collaborative and 3D modeling solutions to develop eZ for broad scale use in virtually any enterprise. eZ is an outgrowth of an architectural 2D and 3D model viewer and mark-up application released in 1998 that was embedded in Sigma's base CAD software and distributed in the AEC marketplace. In 1998, Sigma Design undertook a bold initiative to weave a new Internet functionality into the code and take a more efficient approach -- that of peer-to-peer connectivity rather than the more common web-server based applications approach. Over time, the application evolved with potential for much broader use in virtually any market, In December. 2001, Sigma Design launched eZ.