In early 1997, the firm took note of both the extraordinary potential of web-based solutions and the relative lack of companies poised to address this opportunity in a comprehensive fashion. Fairfax believed that existing companies would need help developing web-sites, using web-based strategies to manage their inventories, assisting with transactions conducted over the Internet and integrating these new technologies with their old legacy systems.

At that time there were a number of internet service firms in the United States, run and staffed by very young people. These included web-site design and development firms, interactive advertising firms, legacy system firms and other application development companies. Few, if any, of these firms combined all of these skills in one firm. Equally important, there were at that time virtually no internet service firms run by seasoned managers.

The managers saw the opportunity to acquire these various skill sets by buying establised, profitable, though narrowly focused firms and bringing them under one roof, run by experienced management. Fairfax partnered with a seasoned management team headed by a senior executive who had held senior positions at EDS and Perot Systems.

In partnership with this team, Fairfax co-founded AppNet Systems in November of 1997. At its founding Fairfax principals served in both key management anf board positions. AppNet completed its first acquisition in March 1998.

Over a period of a year and a half the AppNet team made a total of twelve acquisitions, largely focused on established, profitablle software application development firms. In June 1999 AppNet was taken public by a team of underwriters led by CS/First Boston. At its offering AppNet was one of the very few profitable Internet firms listed on the market. AppNet ended its fiscal year at revenues of more than $100 million.

In June of the following year the company announced that it had signed a definitive agreement with Commerce One, Inc. At the time of the acquisition in September 2000 the deal was valued at approximately $2 billion.