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COVER STORY - August 2002 by Lisa Summers
Despite the downturn in the tech sector our nation has experienced over the last two years, the New Economy is still alive and well. Entrepreneurs with solid business plans and innovative ideas have the potential for creating thousands of high-paying jobs in Kentucky. The editors of The Lane Report examined both financial and business plans of a large number of these companies recently and selected 20 that are worth watching. This list, which we call the Techno 20, covers a variety of industries, but all have one thing in common: The way they do business is on the technological cutting edge. Most are young companies and their activities would have been unimagined in the world of business just a decade ago.
Atticus Productions,
in business since 1995, focuses on using and further developing its
streaming video and synchronized PowerPoint program. The company creates
and hosts Web sites, does video production and CD-ROM creation, and
specializes in data-driven content management. Clients include the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Future Car Congress. (www.futurecarcongress.org). bCatalyst was formed
in early 2000 by seven Louisvillians with an interest in nurturing early-stage
companies. It offers a source for accessing start-up capital in the
Kentucky’s “Golden Triangle” and provides mentoring,
strategic sponsor relationships, start-up services and business infrastructure. Confluent Technologies
serves customers with its leading business intelligence application,
ConfluentIQ, in the following industries: food services, telecommunications,
financial services, education, and transaction processing. Its knowledge
discovery services aggregate data from multiple sources, dynamically
visualize information and provide users with the capability to ask and
answer questions on the fly. Computer Services,
Inc. serves over 500 banks in 18 different states and offers bank data
processing and information services. CSI has approximately 700 employees
in 20 different states and offers services such as core processing,
account inquiry and maintenance, check imaging, Internet banking, payroll,
etc. The company’s high-speed telecommunications system connects
14,000 on-line terminals including personal computers, teller terminals,
ATMs, and remote item processing systems. Corvus develops
Internet-based strategies and systems to improve labor-, paper- and
process-intensive functions and services. The company specializes in
reducing operational costs and increasing productivity by helping simplify
communication channels and management systems. Corvus provides a broad
array of services, from strategic consulting, creative design, and Web
development and hosting to e-marketing and fulfillment services. Datawing provides
wireless monitoring of inventory and equipment status for manufacturers
and distributors. Datawing’s products monitor things like liquid
levels and machine run hours for maintenance purposes. Datawing opened
a Kentucky office in May and has offices in Ohio. Documus is a full-service
medical and pharmaceutical market research company. The company conducts
its studies on the Internet and by telephone. Some of the studies available
include all types of surveys, new product research, concept testing,
advertisement testing, and brand equity. Emazing, Inc. publishes
special interest newsletters via a personalized e-mail service. It publishes
120 different newsletters on topics such as healthcare, sports, technology,
hobbies, entertainment, and others. Emazing is a fully-owned subsidiary
of 550 Digital Media Ventures – a Sony Group Company. It is headquartered
in Louisville with offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Philadelphia and Seattle. Founded in 1998
by Davis Marksbury and Dan Kloiber, Exstream makes the award-winning
Dialogue software. Dialogue combines personalized document creation,
campaign management and tracking, and multi-channel delivery in a single
software solution. From high-volume complex statements to on-demand
marketing pieces and interactive correspondence, Dialogue helps companies
around the world speed time to market, reduce costs, and improve customer
loyalty with higher quality, more personalized printed and electronic
communications. iGate Inc. is a
broadband networking company that owns patents and products that facilitate
the transmission of two-way video, audio and high-speed data services
using existing copper wiring in commercial and residential buildings.
Some of the company’s clients include AMEX International, the Department
of Transportation, Chevron USA and the Pentagon Department of Defense. ILOR, LLC provides
advertising technologies designed to increase the advertiser’s
online efforts and make it easier for the user to view the advertisement
on his own timeframe. The company has created a toolbar which overlays
existing ads with no changes to the ad itself, allowing the user to
check the ad out later or check the ad out now but anchor the current
page. Integy Software,
LLC is a user interface management software product company. The company’s
mission is to provide the ability to leverage existing Web site and
mainframe applications through voice-recognition and text-to-speech
technology to any telephone anywhere, either wireless or wired. Global Project
Design was founded in 1999 and currently has offices in California and
Kentucky. The company provides industry-leading solutions for the design
and execution of complex projects. The company enables team-to-team
coordination across national, corporate and cultural boundaries. Pomeroy provides
comprehensive technology solutions, offering services in enterprise
consulting, infrastructure solutions and services designed to develop,
deploy and support information technology strategies. Pomeroy employs
approximately 1,800 people, most of whom are technical personnel. It
maintains 30 regional facilities and reported revenues of $809 million
for the year ended Jan. 5. Stonestreet One
is a provider of Bluetooth hardware, software, and engineering services.
Bluetooth technology enables wireless transmission of data and voice
and eliminates the need for cables. Stonestreet One designs, develops,
and integrates embedded systems and wireless data applications for a
diverse group of customers. Sypris Solutions
manufactures and services aerospace and defense electronic equipment,
truck components and assemblies, and equipment used for testing and
measurement. The company’s customers include large, established
companies and agencies of the federal government. APB Financial,
with its online platform, TrueQuote, develops, operates and integrates
independent electronic trading solutions. The business system provides
virtual trading communities for market participants to communicate and
transact in a real-time environment. The application architecture is
devoted to an open-access, broker-assisted model. The exchange currently
offers all financial and physical products of natural gas, power and
coal. UPS Logistics Group
is a wholly-owned subsidiary of United Parcel Service founded in 1995.
Key offerings are supply chain maintenance, transportation network management,
logistics technology and service parts logistics. The company’s
network includes more than 500 facilities in 60 countries. This Internet bank
opened for business in 1999 and offers checking accounts, certificates
of deposits, online bill payment and other traditional banking services.
It offers banking and financial services to customers in all 50 states
via the Internet. It also offers lending services to corporations based
in the Louisville and Lexington markets. Xodiax operates
a world-class Internet data center in the Midwest from which it provides
colocation, Web hosting, dedicated Internet connectivity, and a wide
range of managed services. Xodiax is nationally certified as an IBM
certified hosting center. Lisa Summers is a staff
writer forThe Lane Report. |
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Copyright 1996-2002, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content
is copyright 2002, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
Atticus
Productions
bCatalyst
Confluent
Technologies
Computer
Services Inc.
Corvus
Digital Solutions
Datawing
Documus,
LLC
Emazing
Exstream
Software
iGate
ILor,
LLC
Integy
Software
Global
Project Design
Pomeroy
Stonestreet
One
Sypris
Solutions Inc.
APB
Financial, LLC / TrueQuote
UPS
Logistics
USAccess
Bank
Xodiax