Washington Business Journal articles from November 2000

Washington Business Journal archives from November 2000

A to-do list for the region.
November 24, 2000... In February, AOL Chairman STEVE CASE sent a message to the GREATER WASHINGTON BOARD OF TRADE POTOMAC CONFERENCE: Stop being such a gabfest and get something done. With those marching orders, the conference has put together a set of...

PHIL GARFINKLE.
November 24, 2000... PHIL GARFINKLE, the charismatic entrepreneur who founded PictureVision and built it into a market leader, has resigned unexpectedly from his post as president of YAZAM. Garfinkle will remain on the Yazam board "for a little bit." ...

JOHN HAGER.
November 24, 2000... The race for Virginia governor is about a year away, but the two Republican contenders already are courting Northern Virginia and Washington-area businesses. Lt. Gov. JOHN HAGER was in Washington Nov. 21 attending the GREATER WASHINGTON...

CORPORATE OFFICE PROPERTIES TRUST.
November 24, 2000... CORPORATE OFFICE PROPERTIES TRUST, the Columbia-based real estate investment trust, has been eyeing THE ROUSE CO.'s office portfolio in the Baltimore-Washington area. But Rouse has taken its roughly 3 million square feet of regional...

RITZ-CARLTON.
November 24, 2000... Who knew that recounting votes in Florida could affect hotel sales here? For New Year's Eve, the RITZ-CARLTON, WASHINGTON D.C. will offer a special rate based on the difference in the number of votes between the winner of the...

VIRGINIA PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.
November 24, 2000... Two psychology associations may wind up driving themselves crazy before they find any psychologically healthy workplaces in 12-hour-workday Northern Virginia. Still that hasn't stopped the VIRGINIA PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION and the...

CORRECTIONS.
November 24, 2000... * Schlotzsky's Deli at 4340 Connecticut Ave. NW is open for business and does not plan to close. The Retail & Restaurants industry column in the Nov. 17-23 issue incorrectly stated the store had closed. * Federal Data Corp. of Bethesda...

Booz-Allen and SAIC.
November 24, 2000... The consulting firms end that stupid battle over the name of the street they're both on in Tysons Corner. SAIC Boulevard will become Solutions Drive. Perhaps it will intersect with Paradigm Shift Road or Win-Win Highway.

Md. to negotiate Wilson PLA.
November 24, 2000... Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening will negotiate a labor deal for construction employees on the state's portion of the $2.2 billion Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement. An agreement with organized labor will set work rules and wages and...

E.spire considers fund-raising options.
November 24, 2000... Herndon-based e.spire Communications is considering selling off some units to provide the struggling firm with a much-needed infusion of cash. The company says in a statement it will hire an investment banker to "advise and represent" the...

Western Maryland to get 800-job plant.
November 24, 2000... Florida-based Closet-Maid announced Nov. 20 it is building an 800-employee manufacturing plant in Garrett County in Western Maryland. The plant will open in fall 2001. Ocala, Fla.-based ClosetMaid, a division of Emerson Electric,...

Israeli venture firm to open D.C. office.
November 24, 2000... Portview Partners closes $61M fund, will focus on startup investments Add another link to the Israel-D.C. connection. Portview Communications Partners, a venture capital firm based in Israel, has closed on a $61 million fund and is...

In the shadows.
November 24, 2000... Behind MicroStrategy's charismatic front man is Sanju Bansal, the co-founder who gets thing done He slices, through the crowd, shaking hands, laughing and hugging old friends. It's like nothing ever happened. Like MicroStrategy stock...

Marriott in talks to put JW at Reston Town Center.
November 24, 2000... A proposed 500-room hotel at Reston Town Center may be the future site of a JW Marriott -- only the seventh of the exclusive brand in the United States. Bethesda-based Marriott International recently confirmed with Portsmouth, N.H.-based...

Gene Logic inks deal for new lab space.
November 24, 2000... Shaky dot-coms and a falling Nasdaq have created some jitters among real estate brokers and developers serving the IT sector. But that's not the case in the biotech realm, where lab space continues to be tight along Interstate 270. ...

Calvert targets tech firms with new office, R&D park.
November 24, 2000... Calvert County is getting into the high-tech real estate game -- with a little help from Maryland. The county's Economic Development Department is partnering with two state organizations to develop a 92-acre technology office park to...

Experts: Margin selling will increase.
November 24, 2000... As the stock market headed skyward over the past few years, many investors borrowed heavily to buy stocks they felt sure would continue to rise. Now, as those debts are coming due, it turns out it wasn't only individual investors who were...

TITAN PHARMACEUTICALS.
November 24, 2000... San Francisco-based TITAN PHARMACEUTICALS announced it has entered into definitive purchase agreements for the sale of 1.2 million shares of newly issued common stock to selected institutional investors for $43.8 million. The purchase price...

ABGENIX.
November 24, 2000... Fremont, Calif.-based ABGENIX has acquired INTRAIMMUNE THERAPIES, a privately-held biotech company in Cambridge, Mass., for $9 million cash. IntraImmune has developed technologies that would allow antibodies to gain access to...

INTUIT.
November 24, 2000... Mountain View, Calif.-based INTUIT, a provider of financial software and Web-based financial services, is acquiring EMPLOYEEMATTERS, a provider of human resource management, benefits and payroll services via the Internet, in a stock...

FINET.COM.
November 24, 2000... FINET.COM, a San Ramon, Calif., company that provides services to online mortgage lenders, saw its losses grow during the third quarter and says it is in danger of being delisted from the Nasdaq SmallCap Market. The company reported...

ROYAL PHILIPS ELECTRONICS.
November 24, 2000... ROYAL PHILIPS ELECTRONICS is buying Palo Alto, Calif.-based AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES' Healthcare Solutions Group for $1.7 billion. The acquisition would enable PHILIPS MEDICAL SYSTEMS to extend its scope considerably and to enter into new,...

ZAMA NETWORKS.
November 24, 2000... ZAMA NETWORKS, a Seattle-based developer of Internet infrastructure and next-generation IP backbone technologies, has raised $17.4 million from backers including Convergent Investors and Japan-based Mobile Internet Capital and Mitsui & Co....

Ready for battle.
November 24, 2000... Michael Stevens takes charge of troubled D.C. Marketing Center, prepares for war on city's business reputation You might have seen him rolling, walking or pedaling down your street. In the four months since he moved to the District,...

Playing the name game.
November 24, 2000... New tags reflect big changes, makeover efforts of reincarnated companies. When employees of Greenwell Goetz Architects walked into their office on the morning of Monday, Oct. 16, something was strangely different. The sign on the door...

Small Business Development Center National Information Clearinghouse.
November 24, 2000... http://sbdcnet.utsa.edu This network links the regional small business development centers across the country providing to small businesses such information as market research, demographics, business plans, and patent and trademark...

How to collect business debts.
November 24, 2000... www.viacorp.com/DebtBook.html For small businesses lagging in the accounts receivable department, this URL links to a basic primer on "How to Collect Business Debts." The author, Jim Heath, is an American working in Australia, but the...

Kellog on Marketing.
November 24, 2000... by the Kellogg Marketing Faculty, Northwestern University (Dawn lacobucci, editor) From one of the country's premier institutions for marketing research, this anthology compiles forward-thinking articles on contemporary marketing by...

Turning Lead into Gold: The Demystification of Outsourcing.
November 24, 2000... by Peter Bendor-Samuel At a time when many companies operate on the narrowest of margins, outsourcing -- contracting a business process to an outside provider -- can make the difference between failure and success. During the course of...

LESSONS LEARNED: What is the best perk your company offers its employees?
November 24, 2000... Abbie Chessler Principal and Design Director Quatrefoil Associates "At Quatrefoil the best perk is the work itself. We design and build a variety of stimulating museum projects. We encourage everyone on our team to express their...

Women entrepreneurs yet to shake the money tree.
November 24, 2000... According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers' Money Tree Survey, there was a 24 percent decline during the third and most recent quarter in venture investment. And though there was a slow-down in the District, Maryland companies, especially those in...

Worker B's fill the ranks.
November 24, 2000... What effect will the hike in H-1B visas for tech workers have on companies? On Oct. 17, President Clinton signed into law a bill that allows more H-1B visa holders into the U.S. H-1B visas go to nonimmigrant aliens who posses work skills...

Broadband households.
November 24, 2000... Percentage of U.S. households with a broadband Internet connection More than one-third of U.S. online households are expected to use a high-speed Internet connection by 2005. As last-mile technologies continue to evolve, consumers will...

Dot-coms try to stay afloat to navigate rough waters.
November 24, 2000... It's the dark days for dot-coms. Online luxury-goods store Miadora.com closed its virtual doors in September after one of its lenders foreclosed. The online golf shop Chipshot.com filed for bankruptcy protection in October, as did...

Air cargo presents logistics challenge in the virtual age.
November 24, 2000... The acknowledged cradle of the Internet, the Northern Virginia/Washington are a has unquestionable high-tech credentials. Still, our generally upbeat economic developers would prefer a few more manufacturers to complement the many high-tech...

Couch potatoes prepare for high-tech television.
November 24, 2000... In a short time, technological advances will significantly change television and radio broadcasts in the Charlotte market. Some of those changes have already started and are making an impact in the ways that consumers respond to radio and TV....

Find a cell phone that's right for business/personal use.
November 24, 2000... If you haven't found your match yet, don't despair. There's something out there for everyone. As competition heats up in the wireless industry, service providers are getting creative with plans, lowering prices and rolling out promotions...

Success in the tech world means attention to details.
November 24, 2000... In e-commerce, something as little as a decimal point can be a big deal. That's why the small business e-commerce software Ciff Barney developed can adapt to any decimal point system in the world, even if a country's system uses a comma...

Advocacy group's goal: ATMs for blind.
November 24, 2000... Most of us take using an ATM machine for granted, but that is far from the case for the folks at the National Federation for the Blind. The advocacy group, which is based in Baltimore, is working with Canton, Ohio-based Diebold to develop...

HENRY C. GIFFIN III.
November 24, 2000... When you look for an advisor in the tech world, calling in the Navy is a good idea. Fairfax-based Anteon, an information technology and e-business services company, has brought on Vice Admiral Henry C. (Hank) Giffin, III, Ret., as vice...

Should Internet consumers be able to control their privacy?
November 24, 2000... Has America Online drawn the battle lines on the issue of online consumer privacy? Probably not. But in a recent appearance before a Senate committee, a senior AOL executive did make it clear that the largest provider of Internet access...

Millions made, lost with Sprint stock fluctuations.
November 24, 2000... In late June, Sprint stockholders were riding high, counting their telecom dollars and preparing to cash in on merger mania. Most recently, Sprint Corp. (NYSE: FON) and Sprint PCS (NYSE: PCS) stocks have taken a significant beating. The...

Back office issues take center stage for telecom providers.
November 24, 2000... It has not been a good season for many telecom companies, particularly the competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), Internet service providers. (ISPs), data CLECs (DLECs), and other organizations that are seeking to grow rapidly while...

Web site wants to show kids importance of online ethics.
November 24, 2000... Pete Smith wants young people to understand that the online world IS the real world. Crimes online are just like any other crimes. He admits it's a tough sell. "There has not been much emphasis on this at all," he says. "There has...

Largest electronics companies based in the metro area.
November 24, 2000... Largest electronics companies based in the metro area Ranked by annual revenue [1] ...

Largest telecom companies based in the metro area.
November 24, 2000... Largest telecom companies based in the metro area Ranked by annual revenues [1] ...

Technology managers need to see through others' eyes.
November 24, 2000... Last July, I cited five important skills of a high-tech manager: (1) communicator, (2) delegator, (3) provider of constructive criticism, (4) problem solver, and (5) team builder. Yet another skill that warrants particular attention is being...

High tech companies need to understand ECM's role.
November 24, 2000... If you polled the chief information officers and technology executives at most companies about what keeps them awake at night, they would say their real nightmare is trying to manage an inconceivable flood of unstructured information. This...

Broadcast revolution means big expense for public TV.
November 24, 2000... In a recent Baltimore Sun article, David Folkenflik called Maryland Public Television's initiative to create a for-profit Web portal a "novel proposal." MPT vice president of marketing Jeff Hankin, however, says the concept is hardly new. ...

High school, college dropouts drawn to tech jobs.
November 24, 2000... They've jumped head first into the world of high technology, trading textbooks, tuition payments and class schedules for long hours, lots of stress and the opportunity to make it in a world exploding with new possibilities. Instead of...

Blood groups hit the Internet in search of donations.
November 24, 2000... Todd Coffins knew that convincing people to donate blood wasn't easy. As the guy in charge of direct marketing for the American Red Cross, Collins spent millions of dollars trying to create a loyalty program that inspired existing donors to...

Fiber-optic firm to build plant in Columbia.
November 24, 2000... Trellis Photonics, a startup with plans to manufacture fiber-optic switches, announced it will open two new manufacturing operations -- one in Israel and one in the Columbia area -- as part of a $25 million expansion. The expansion plan...

U.S. biotech firms see sunny, profitable skies overseas.
November 24, 2000... How big are the databases of genetic information Gene Logic sells? In the words of Mark Gessler, the president and CEO of this Gaithersburg firm, they are "freaking huge." And Where does he want to sell them? Freaking everywhere. ...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.
November 24, 2000... * ADVERTISING, MARKETING * JEFF STONE joined Momentum Marketing in Washington as a project manager. MELISSA MARINEAU joined as project coordinator. * DON MCLAUGHLIN joined Arlington-based PGI as chief information officer. *...

TLC-Courtesy Jeep tourney nets $103,000.
November 24, 2000... On Nov. 12, Timpano Italian Chophouse honored Chris Zourdos, right center, owner and general manager of Courtesy Jeep, and Richard Pavlin, left center, executive director of The Treatment and Learning Centers, for raising more than $103,000...

Redskin cooks up soup for diabetes.
November 24, 2000... Executive Chef Jason Tepper of The Seafood Room, teamed up with Washington Redskin Jay Leeuwenburg, right, to create a soup sold to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The soup -- Jay Leeuwenburg's Creole Crawfish Bisqu -- was...

Enterprise gives $12,500 to WRAP.
November 24, 2000... Enterprise Rent-A-Car donated $12,500 to the Washington Regional Alcohol Program, an 18-year-old nonprofit that works to reduce drunk driving and underage drinking in the Washington area.

Kane donates turkeys to Bread for the City.
November 24, 2000... Each year The Kane Co. gives each employee a turkey, but this year an error caused 40 more turkeys to arrive at the office. President and CEO John Kane solved the problem by donating the extra turkeys to Bread for the City in Washington as...

Wheatland Vegetable Farm.
November 24, 2000... Wheatland Vegetable Farm in Purcellville was named the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce AgriBusiness of the Year. Abernathy & Spencer Greenhouses in Lincoln was named Entrepreneur of the Year. The Roseman Inc. in Sterling was named Home...

Fried & Sher.
November 24, 2000... Fried & Sher of Herndon received the U.S. Department of Transportation's Women Owned Business of the Year award.

Inova Fairfax Hospital.
November 24, 2000... The National Research Corp. named Inova Fairfax Hospital a 2000 Consumer Choice Award Winner.

Mary Yerrick.
November 24, 2000... Mary Yerrick was awarded the 2000 PR Woman of the Year Award by Washington Women in Public Relations.

Chamberlain Williams Tison & Associates.
November 24, 2000... Chamberlain Williams Tison & Associates has consolidated its Washington offices and moved to 1430 Spring Hill Road, Suite 105, in Tysons Dulles Plaza II.

SagePainte Solutions.
November 24, 2000... Kevin Newsom, David Gross and Probal Hasan have formed SagePainte Solutions, 1530 Wilson Blvd., Suite 170, Arlington.

TransForce in Alexandria.
November 24, 2000... TransForce in Alexandria has acquired Driving Force, DFI Transfers and Driver At Your Service.

Interstate Relocations Services.
November 24, 2000... Interstate Relocations Services received two contracts worth $63 million over five years as part of the United States Department of Defense's Full Service Moving Project.

Maxiums' TMR-Maximus Division.
November 24, 2000... Maxiums' TMR-Maximus Division won a three-year contract to operate the Tennessee statewide new-hire registry and maintain the state's employer database.

The Engineering Groupe.
November 24, 2000... The Engineering Groupe in Woodbridge was awarded a contract to design the realignment and drainage improvements to 900 feet of Lucasville Road by the Prince William County Department of Public Works.

AOL strikes deal with Earthlink.
November 24, 2000... America Online cleared a major hurdle in its plan to merge with media giant Time Warner. Nov. 20 when it cut a deal to allow open Internet access on Time Warner's cables with Earthlink, the country's second-largest Internet provider. The...

PSINet turns to Goldman Sachs.
November 24, 2000... PSINet, beleaguered by mounting losses and a heavy load of debt, announced Nov. 16 that it has hired investment banking firm Goldman Sachs to advise on whether to sell the company or liquidate certain divisions. Shares of PSINet (Nasdaq:...

Corvis, Ciena drop as fiber-optic sector suffers.
November 24, 2000... The stock prices may be fading for two local fiber-optic stars, but analysts and company officials are holding on to their optimism. Linthicum, Md.-based Ciena and Columbia-based Corvis watched their stocks take a hit the week of Nov. 20...

Prescription for change.
November 24, 2000... D.C. General chief has a plan. We should listen. At last, a plan we like. The, new chief of D.C. General Hospital has come up with a plan -- we'll call it a compromise plan -- to keep the Southeast D.C. hospital open and operating....

Watching your Web talk.
November 24, 2000... It's just loose talk -- until you get sued. We're speaking of the information exchanged in those ubiquitous Internet chat rooms. In an area so widely wired, so Internet-savvy and so tech-oriented as this, it's a safe bet you'll encounter...

A special thanks to those who can.
November 24, 2000... Thanksgiving's always been my favorite holiday. I'm not sure why, exactly. Except that no matter where we ever lived across the globe, the Thanksgiving holiday was always the same. My dad always made the dressing the night before. I...

Hispanics show power in Florida election.
November 24, 2000... A look at some of the Spanish-language news outlets gives a slightly different view of our cliffhanger election. It looks as if the Elian Gonzalez incident may have played a pivotal role in the outcome of the Florida vote for president. ...

Thinking like a region: Potomac Index debuts.
November 24, 2000... The Greater Washington Board of Trade's Potomac Conference has been successful in bringing some of the top regional business and political types together to talk about the area's economic health. But the group (www.potomacconference.org)...

VCs deliver startups a dose of reality.
November 24, 2000... Terry Hsiao is like any other tech entrepreneur. He lives, eats and sleeps his business, a Herndon-based startup called InphoMatch. So when he won the chance recently to be one of five startups to give a 15-minute pitch to a few of the...

Gilmore to lead governor's group.
November 24, 2000... Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore has been elected chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Gilmore's selection to head, the group during 2001 occurred at RGA's meeting in Tampa, Fla. He replaces North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer. ...

Papers meet election demand despite drain on profits.
November 24, 2000... The flap in Florida. The battle for the ballots. This dragged-out fight for the presidency has captured the world's attention as it has, see-sawed between Bush and Gore and shifted from the polls to the courts. It also has given a...

BeautyFirst engineers D.C. makeover -- 24 new stores.
November 24, 2000... BeautyFirst, an upscale chain of beauty supply shops and salons, has signed a lease for its first D.C.-area store with an eye toward opening many more in the area. The Wichita, Kan.-based company will open a Sterling store in June at...

PDQuick's D.C. plans in limbo.
November 24, 2000... PDQuick, a company that delivers household items and prepared foods to consumers' doors, has postponed its expansion into the D.C. market. The Camarillo, Calif.-based company instead will use its recent infusion of $35 million in venture...

Octagon hits one long with baseball acquisition.
November 24, 2000... After recent deals involving Olympians, golfers and hockey players, Octagon has scored a home run with America's favorite pastime. Octagon acquired the baseball division of Boston-based Woolf Associates, including Gy Young winners Tom...

Work in Pr. George's Co.? Why not live there too?
November 24, 2000... JOE JAMES wants more employees of Prince George's County companies to live closer to their workplaces. James, president and CEO of the PRINCE GEORGE'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORP., announced Nov. 14 the creation of a grant program to...

MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS.
November 24, 2000... MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS has confirmed it will open a Northern Virginia office. Morgan Lewis' Virginia office will open next spring and house more than 50 attorneys. Many of those lawyers already are working at Morgan Lewis' Washington...