The 10-person shop, which specialized in advising organizations that worked with emerging Internet standards, cited the general economic slowdown and layoffs among clients as part of the reason for its closure.

The 2-year-old business was founded by Sally Khudairi, known for her work as head of communications for the World Wide Web Consortium and, prior to that, as a consultant for Cambridge Technology Partners.

Khudairi has been on extended medical leave, undergoing treatment for cancer. Her prognosis is good, and she has been named head of communications for a Silicon Valley startup called KnowNow and plans to move in the next two months.

"After spending several difficult months grappling with how to move forward having been on medical leave for so long, it become clear that I needed a change of both environment as well as career," Khudairi wrote in an e-mail to clients and colleagues. "To that end, I have decided to wind down ZOT Group operations."

Operations director Carl Caramanna and communications director Roderic Olvera Young have joined conference producers Camelot Communications to manage operations and lead public relations, respectively.

Six ZOT consultants are engaged in other projects, some with former ZOT clients. Head of research B.K. DeLong will wind up operations and look for work in the standards industry.

ZOT clients included Apache Software Foundation, Collab.Net, CommerceNet, Endeavors Technology, Information Architects, Office.com, Mozquito Technologies and the Web Standards Project.

The past two years have been an incredible journey for us, and I'm extremely proud of our accomplishments," Khudairi said. "I will greatly miss the ZOT team."

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