Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX) articles from March 2001

Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX) archives from March 2001

Dell Vice President Plans to Leave in April.
March 28, 2001... Mar. 28--Carl Everett, the industry veteran who Dell Computer Corp. lured out of an early retirement three years ago, will leave the company on April 6. As senior vice president of Dell's worldwide desktop, notebook and workstation...

Border Counties' Economies Lag in Texas Growth, State Comptroller Says.
March 28, 2001... Byline: Claudia Grisales Mar. 28--Texas' border region hasn't shared in the state's economic success story in recent years, Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander said Tuesday, urging the Legislature to take action on bills that would...

Mid-Priced Homes Planned for East Austin, Texas, Development.
March 28, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Mar. 28--A company headed by Henry Cisneros, a former U.S. Cabinet secretary and a former San Antonio mayor, plans to build about 250 mid-priced homes in east Austin -- its first such housing development locally. ...

Santa Clara, Calif.-Based Chip-Making Equipment Firm to Ask Workers to Leave.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Lori Hawkins Mar. 16--Applied Materials, facing sluggish demand for its chip-making equipment, will ask as many as 1,000 workers to voluntarily leave the company. The company said Thursday that the offers will be made...

Former Compaq Employees Seek to Expand Texas-Based Data Storage Startup.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Mar. 12--As head strategist for Compaq Computer Corp.'s storage products division, Reagan Dixon spent his days trying to figure out the best way to double the Houston-based computer giant's storage division sales to...

Austin, Texas-Based Agillion Joins Internet's Casualty list.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Lori Hawkins Mar. 15--Unable to raise enough money to stay afloat, Agillion Inc. said Wednesday it laid off all but a handful of workers and has put itself up for sale. One of Austin's most high-profile Internet startups, the...

Most Texas HMOs Lost Money in 2000.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Mar. 16--Texas health maintenance operations continued to bleed money in 2000, despite premium increases and other cost-cutting measures. More than half of the 42 HMOs operating in Texas lost money last year,...

IBM Teams with Sony, Toshiba to Develop Advanced Computer Chip.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Mar. 13--IBM Corp. engineers in Austin are joining two Japanese consumer electronics giants to develop a new chip that will power advanced game consoles and other products that tie to broadband communications...

Austin, Texas-Based Info-Tech Firm Endures Bumps as It Reaches for Profits.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Mar. 13--Six-year-old Crossroads Systems Inc. is at the crossroads. The easy irony of the name underscores how much things have changed during the past year. A little more than a year ago, the company was seen...

Intel Halts Work on Downtown Austin, Texas, Building.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Mar. 16--Intel Corp. is halting work indefinitely on its $124 million downtown Austin chip design center, a move that outraged some developers who say the unfinished concrete skeleton will mar the city's skyline and...

Inside.com's Parent Company Reportedly Discusses Sale or Merger.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Mar. 14--Michael Hirschorn, a co-founder of Powerful Media, said his company never thought it would always go it alone. News organizations reported Tuesday that it is in talks with other media companies about a sale or...

California Utility Leaves Texas Municipal Investment Fund Short by $20 Million.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Mar. 15--Beleaguered California utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co. failed to pay back short-term loans due Monday, meaning a delay in the receipt of $20 million for a Texas municipal investment pool. In the...

Group Hopes to Build Music, Film Production Complex in Austin, Texas.
March 26, 2001... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer Mar. 14--An ambitious group led by a longtime Austin music producer hopes to turn 655 acres of pasture land in Southeast Austin into a $40 million, world-class music and film production complex. Plans for...

Napster to Begin Blocking Access to Copyrighted Songs.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Bob Keefe Mar. 14--SAN DIEGO--Napster Inc.'s death march starts today, a federal court's deadline for the Internet music swapping site to start blocking access to copyrighted songs. Napster announced new steps Tuesday to...

Austin, Texas-Based Online Education Provider Announces Layoffs.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Mar. 13--Online education provider Powered Inc. laid off 27 employees Monday, almost a quarter of its work force. The nearly 2-year-old Internet company was left with 93 employees after the cuts, which were made in...

Texas Lawmakers Consider Real Estate `Lemon Law'.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Mar. 24--Cracking walls. Leaking windows and doors. Squeaky floors. Shoddy wallboard. Crumbling foundations. These and other flaws found in homes throughout Texas have homeowners lobbying for a home real estate...

Coldwell Banker Affiliate Buys Texas-Based Realty Company.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Mar. 14--Richard Smith Co. announced Tuesday it has bought the Austin and Houston operations of Henry S. Miller Realtors, but it did not disclose the purchase price. The deal reflects a trend of acquisitions in...

Economic Downturn Impacts Some High-End Sales in Austin, Texas, Area.
March 26, 2001... Mar. 25--Range Rovers aren't flying off the lot anymore. Plenty of rooms are available at Austin's toniest inns. And, for the first time in several years, it's a buyer's market for Lear jets and million-dollar mansions. Some are calling...

Austin, Texas-Based Schlotzsky's Deli Chain Reports Loss for Year.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Mar. 15--Schlotzsky's Inc. reported Tuesday a 15 percent increase in revenue for the year, but the Austin-based deli chain sustained a net loss of more than $2.3 million for the year as it pulled out of the...

New President at Austin, Texas-Based Software Firm Banks on Company's Rebound.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Robert Elder Jr. Mar. 12-- It's been hard to see any benefit from Vignette Corp.'s basement-level stock price, but last week may have yielded one: new President and Chief Operating Officer Thomas Hogan. Hogan, a senior...

Austin, Texas-Based Telecom Firm Looks to Compete with All-Optical Network.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Mar. 26--In several weeks, Mike Jones and his engineering team at Broadwing Communications Inc. will have built the most efficient, cutting-edge communications pipe ever -- an 18,500-mile all-optical network that...

Austin, Texas, Internet Education Firm Lays Off Nearly a Quarter of Its Staff.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Mar. 13--Online education provider Powered Inc. laid off 27 employees Monday, almost a quarter of its work force. The nearly 2-year-old Internet company was left with 93 employees after the cuts, which were made in...

California Web Developer Envisions Wireless Sensors as Future of Internet.
March 26, 2001... Byline: Bob Keefe Mar. 13--LA JOLLA, Calif.--From his seventh-floor office, Larry Smarr has a pretty good view of the world. Cars whiz past shiny mid-rise office buildings along a nearby highway. Birds float above rolling green hills...

Proposal to Double Building's Size Gets a Boost in Austin, Texas.
March 25, 2001... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer Mar. 23--A proposal to double the size of the Bank of America Center at Fifth Street and Congress Avenue, one of Austin's oldest downtown office towers, has been submitted to the planning commission. ...

Pleasanton, Calif.-Based E-Commerce Firm Buys Austin, Texas, Software Firm.
March 22, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Mar. 21--Workers at Exterprise Inc., a 2-year-old Austin company, broke out the champagne Tuesday and toasted their company's purchase by a larger e-commerce company, California-based Commerce One Inc. ...

Austin, Texas-Area Housing Sales for February Fall 14 Percent.
March 22, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Mar. 21--Sales of existing homes in the Austin metropolitan area declined 14 percent in February from a year ago, while the number of homes on the market jumped 63 percent, according to new figures from the Austin...

Intel Is Open to Sale of Unfinished Austin, Texas, Building.
March 22, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Mar. 21--For days, discreet inquiries have trickled into the offices of Intel Corp., which announced last week that it planned to halt construction on its office building downtown. Those calls may have had an...

Analyst's Report on Intel Dashes Hopes for Quick Tech Recovery.
March 21, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Mar. 20--One outspoken and often controversial Wall Street analyst said Monday that the technology sector and the personal-computer industry is in a full-blown recession that isn't likely to improve until late next...

Austin-Based Internet Services Firm to Cut 130 Workers, Slash Expenses.
March 21, 2001... Byline: Lori Hawkins Mar. 19--Internet services consulting company Concero Inc. said Friday it will dismiss 130 workers, cut pay of senior personnel and eliminate excess office space and equipment to slash costs. The Austin company...

After Long Struggle, Austin, Texas, Developer to Break Ground on Downtown Mall.
March 21, 2001... Mar. 18--Brad Schlosser looks earnestly across the table and says that Sixth+Lamar, his urban shopping center, will break ground in April. For those who have driven or walked past the site for years and heard about imminent...

Austin, Texas, Office Sublease Market Expands As Economy Shakes out Startups.
March 21, 2001... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Mar. 19--The economic equivalent of a neutron bomb has hit Austin technology companies: The buildings are still standing, but a lot of the workers are gone. Recent layoffs of more than 5,000 workers have freed...

Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group Chief Gives Austin, Texas, Tips on Growth.
March 21, 2001... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Mar. 20--While Silicon Valley's technological innovation and creation of wealth have inspired envy in some cities, its failure to solve the problems stemming from rapid growth have made some people wonder why...

Time-Warner's High-Speed Internet Customers in Austin, Texas, Irate.
March 12, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Mar. 8--Austin saw a full-blown case of Road Runner rage erupt Wednesday as Internet customers lost patience with prolonged problems in their e-mail service provided by the Road Runner affiliate of Time Warner...

Intel to Cut 5,000 Jobs; Austin, Texas, Area to See `Minimal' Impact.
March 12, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Mar. 9--Intel Corp. warned Thursday that its previous forecast of a 15 percent drop in sales for the first quarter was too optimistic, and it, too, will be forced to cut jobs. Intel said it now expects...

Cambridge, Mass.-Based Internet Consulting Company to Lay Off 720 People.
March 12, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Mar. 5--Just six months after buying Austin multimedia design company Human Code, Sapient Corp. announced plans to cut 20 percent of its domestic work force, or 720 people. The company would not disclose how many...

Real Estate Market in Austin, Texas, Slows, Puts Luxury Developments At Risk.
March 12, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Mar. 5--Last month, the Four Seasons wined and dined dozens of prospective residents of its planned condominiums with select merlot and chardonnay, shredded duck breast with mango salsa, portobello mushrooms with...

Other Retailers Eye Space in Austin, Texas, Left Open by Montgomery Ward Co.
March 12, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Mar. 8--Macy's, Target and Kmart recently scouted the space now occupied by Montgomery Ward Co. in Barton Creek Square, but no deals have been signed for the 95,000-square-foot location, manager Ron Hays said...

California-Based Law Firm Builds High-Tech Reputation in Austin, Texas.
March 12, 2001... Byline: Robert Elder Jr. Mar. 5--In its seven years in Austin, California-based Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison has smoothly built up the biggest high-tech legal practice in the city. The firm, which set up shop here in late 1994, has...

Austin, Texas, Entrepreneurs Foundation Struggles as Tech Companies Falter.
March 12, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz and John Pletz Mar. 5--The envelope in Elaine Wetmore's hand could be worth millions. Or it could be worth less than the postage it cost to send it. The envelope contains stock-options paperwork that Internet...

Austin, Texas, Computer Creates Problems for Time Warner Broadband Customers.
March 9, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Mar. 7--A malfunction in an Austin-based computer created an e-mail logjam Monday and part of Tuesday for more than 100,000 Road Runner Internet customers tied to Time Warner Cable networks in Texas, Louisiana and...

Siebel Systems Executive Leaves to Take Position at Vignette Corp.
March 9, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Mar. 7--One software company's loss was another's gain Tuesday when Vignette Corp. announced that Thomas Hogan, a top executive at Internet software company Siebel Systems Inc., will join Vignette as its new president...

Austin, Texas-Based Company to Commercialize Artificial Intelligence Software.
March 9, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Mar. 7--After 17 years of technology development, Austin-based Cycorp Inc. is ready to commercialize its artificial intelligence software and take a shot at making money. Cycorp said Tuesday it will release...

New Luxury Apartments under Construction in Austin, Texas.
March 5, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Mar. 2--More luxury living is coming to Austin's downtown area on the site of a funky 40-year-old apartment complex and a long-vacant landmark nightclub next door. The former Hillside Apartments, built in the...

Texas Railroad Officials Address Customer Service, High Gas Prices.
March 5, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Mar. 2--The Texas Railroad Commission recommended legislation Thursday aimed at moderating the effects of high natural gas prices and improving customer service. Although there is little the commission --...

Austin, Texas-Based Motorola Asks Semiconductor Workers to Take Leave.
March 5, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Mar. 2--Motorola Inc.'s Austin-based semiconductor business has told about half of its workers in the United States to take one week of mandatory vacation in March and another week later this spring as a...

Texas Railroad Industry Discusses Problems with High Natural Gas Prices.
March 1, 2001... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer Feb. 27--With a March 9 deadline approaching for filing legislation, the Texas Railroad Commission on Monday heard testimony on the best way to ease the pain of sky-high natural-gas prices. The...