A.J. Boggs developed PISCES in a project that began in 1993 with research into distributed directory service protocols with Chris Weider, a MERIT researcher at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Joining forces with the founders of Archie, the most popular repository of FTP documents on the Internet at that time, A.J. Boggs explored experimental distributed directory protocols for the “PreWeb” Internet. Together, the team won a major Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA), which funded the initial development of PISCES.

With funding from DARPA, A.J. Boggs created the PISCES search engine to power a distributed directory service. The State of Michigan also awarded A.J. Boggs with a Strategic Fund grant, which was followed by work with the Michworks Job Bank/Talent Bank, National Library of Congress, the Congressional Research Service, Michigan State University, and applications with bibliographic database publishers, and other commercial applications.

Key contributors to the success of the search engine product include Dean Wilder (the Lead Developer, Architect, and Product Champion), Rich Greenfield (Principal Analyst and Search Strategist), Mike Moch (MSU Project Sponsor), Rich Wiggens (Organizer of Internet Library Cataloging Seminars), Marc Paige (PISCES .NET Component Architect), Fritz Freiheit (Sr. Developer), Jeff McWherter (Sr. Developer on MSU and Neogen projects), Joe Kunk (Sr. Developer on LoC/CRS Projects), Matt Sebenick (Lead Bibiographic Database Administrator and Sr. Computer Consultant), Chris Kirgios (Sr. Developer on the America’s Talent Bank project), and Chris Weider (WHOIS++ Architect) as all critical contributors to the success of the DARPA project and development efforts since.

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