A website development company, which includes a number of Felixstowe businesses among it worldwide customers, is celebrating being in business as long as Google.

Infotex, based in Melton, near Woodbridge, was established in 1998, just as the excitement around the World Wide Web had taken a foothold, growing from 130 www sites in 1993 to 2.4 million by the time Google launched that same year.

The business set out building websites sold as packages for under £500, to help more than 1,000 micro businesses establish themselves online.

Among its many early innovations was the creation of the "Mozcart" – created by Infotex's longest-serving employee John "Moz" Harman – which was an early invention of a content management system with ecommerce, still used by a handful of Infotex's clients today.

Infotex's Managing Director Ant Agar, who had worked with IT systems in the 1980s, joined in 2008 after his own business Shelton Internet bought the company, officially merging the two in 2012.

He said: "Having always been excited by the use of computers in the workplace, the Internet caught my imagination as it exploded onto the world stage in the 90's and like so many others I could not resist being involved in it somehow. I especially liked database systems; hence I was attracted to working with developers who had the skills to make these work online.

"These days, most businesses have an online presence of some description, but it was the feverish level of investment and activity in the first decade, culminating in the arrival of broadband, then wireless, then the smartphone, that drove the Internet to become a space available to all. 

"When we first started out, there were a couple of million websites and Google was just getting started. Today there are 200 million or so active websites, out of more than a billion in existence. It is all too easy to get lost, and we have certainly had our share of uncertainties over the years.

"However, Infotex has always had Internet technology in its heart and we are sustained by the fascination that comes with its constant challenges, coupled with the opportunities it presents to create new systems. This creative satisfaction is what has driven us more than commercial ambition."

He added: "Our story is packed with projects for numerous clients of all shapes and sizes, too numerous to mention. Whilst websites always have the appearance of being simple to create, we know that the systems on which they are created never are, and this growth in their complexity is only going to increase as we enter the era of AI in an Internet of Things age.

"Everything was going extremely well and then the pandemic hit and, like so many other businesses, it had a dramatic effect. 

"But it also allowed us to have a think about our place in the world. We had for a period been too dependent on one large international client, and we wanted to bring back more balance, even if this meant being a smaller business, which we now are."

To cement the future of the company, Infotex was acquired – in part – by Suffolk based CSF Ventures, which now owns 50%.

Ant said: "It's been a good move for us and allowed us the support to drill down into what we love most – working with the smaller independent clients. We have also more recently added a specialist development team who have worked on numerous projects within the NHS, which is motivating us to work in new areas such as clinical health and care, but again focussed on the SMEs.

"We have found there is a real appetite for what we can do and how we deliver it and what's more, we have a really solid group of staff who feel more like family. We are all now invested in what we have achieved and where we are headed."

Infotex, which now employs 18, will celebrate its milestone with a party in the New Year, to which Ant is hoping to attract some of the many "Infotex Alumni". 

He said: "I am especially grateful to the many people who have helped us along the way. Some worked in the company for years, some for months, and others have been loyal customers and supportive partners. Twenty five may be just a number, but it one which triggers a call-to-action: To pause and reflect on how lucky we are to be where we are today, and who we owe this to."