New Vegas B2B business exhibiting at Networld show

Wednesday, May 10, 2000 | 11:34 a.m.

A dot-com company that will make its debut as a business-to-business search engine late next month is one of three Las Vegas companies exhibiting at Networld+Interop 2000.

The trade show of the convention runs through Thursday and is expected to draw 75,000 people to Las Vegas.

BestSearch.com, which will use the Internet to direct buyers to sellers, is expected to go live on June 30. The company, which is making its world headquarters in Las Vegas, is developing a business-to-business search engine by selling listing placements to equipment suppliers.

"The problem with many search engines that operate today is that there are too many listings for businesses looking for specific supplies," said Tom Lahiff, convention processing manager for BestSearch.com. "For example, if you did a search for 'chair' on Yahoo!, you'd come up with more than 1,000 entries and on Lycos there would be more than 261,000 entries. Our search engine will specifically list just business suppliers."

The business model is different from another Las Vegas dot-com operation, PurchasePro.com, which has established an on-line community of bidders in its Internet provisioning process. Lahiff said PurchasePro is dominated by suppliers to the hospitality industry, while BestSearch won't be as specific.

Lahiff said the company is based in Las Vegas to take advantage of its status as a leading host of conventions and trade shows. BestSearch will exhibit at many of the major business-oriented conventions to develop leads to sell positions on the search engine.

Other specifics about the company, including pricing, will be announced closer to the launch date, Lahiff said. Presently, the company has 30 employees with corporate offices at 4255 S. Industrial Road Suite J.

Another Las Vegas operation exhibiting at Networld+Interop is RHI Consulting, a computer consulting company that is a division of Robert Half International Inc.

The Las Vegas office is one of 104 RHI offices nationwide. David Daku, division director of consulting services for the Las Vegas office, said the operation, based at 3980 Howard Hughes Parkway, Suite 380, has been in the city since October 1997.

Daku said the company has about 40 consultants working in 25 to 28 businesses at any one time. The Las Vegas operation has surpassed the company's Los Angeles office's volume, he said.

"The secret is getting the word out that there's more to Las Vegas than glitz and glamour," Daku said of efforts to develop high-technology businesses in Southern Nevada.

RHI has profited by having consulting contracts with big companies like Mirage Resorts Inc. when it opened Bellagio and the Clark County School District, but Daku said much of his company's future in Las Vegas is working with numerous dot-com companies that are springing up in the area.

Daku said the company hopes to recruit business with online registration, local networking and referrals from existing clients.

A third Las Vegas company exhibiting at the show is a familiar face to conventioneers who attended Comdex or the Winter Consumer Electronics Show.

QVS Inc., which has its corporate headquarters at 2731 Crimson Ridge Drive, is a supplier of computer cables and accessories. Networld+Interop focuses on seminars and products dedicated to networking computers.

Richard N. Velotta is a business writer for the Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4061 or by e-mail at velotta@lasvegassun.com