The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun articles from March 1999

The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun archives from March 1999

US West promotes phone as way to Internet nirvana.
March 26, 1999... US West is hoping to give itself a high-tech makeover with a line of new services that could make the phone - rather than $1,000 desktop computers and $300 handheld devices - the center of the Internet universe. The company has launched...

America West Airlines back on customer-service course.
March 26, 1999... America West Airlines is shifting its focus to win back customers now that the threat of a flight attendants' strike is past. The Tempe airline is renewing its commitment to serve business travelers who it has tried to woo with marketing...

Will we ever get on track?(Quality of Life: Transportation)(Arizona's transportation needs)
March 26, 1999... Turf fights, too little vision and too much interest in what works in other states has blurred efforts to keep pace with Arizona's transportation needs, experts agree. Several leaders in the Valley's transportation, education and...

Current operations woeful for most, lifeblood to others.(Quality of Life: Transportation)(commuter bus service in Phoenix, Arizona)
March 26, 1999... Expect to wait for improvements in the Valley bus system just like crowds at city bus stops do daily. With several funding initiatives turned down by voters, Valley transit leaders say there are no significant plans for improvements that...

Transit officials ponder putting land to better use.(Quality of Life: Transportation)(using rights of way for transportation purposes in Arizona)
March 26, 1999... Last week, Maricopa County supervisor Don Stapley was looking at Grand Avenue from his window on the 10th floor of the county administration building in downtown Phoenix. He turned to his visitor, a senior engineer with the Curitiba,...

ADOT web site gives real-time traffic conditions online.(Quality of Life: Transportation)(Arizona Dept. of Transportation)
March 26, 1999... It's the afternoon rush hour find two cars collide on a Valley freeway - normally a common commuter drag that could affect traffic for hours. But within seconds, a computerized monitoring system detects a traffic slowdown and alerts...

Valley system finally taking shape with new openings.(Quality of Life: Transportation)(11 miles of new freeways expected to be opened by the end of 1999 across the Phoenix Valley)
March 26, 1999... Another 11 miles of new freeways will be open across the Valley by the end of the year. But, as in the past, they're expected to be busy as soon as they open. Legislators hope to ease the traffic crunch by accelerating the freeway...

Supporters gain momentum for Mesa-Phoenix link.(Quality of Life: Transportation)(light rail service proposed between two cities)
March 26, 1999... GO WEST YOUNG MAN Five biggest county population increases (1997-1998) 1. Los Angeles, Calif. 97,027 2. Maricopa, Ariz. 84,977 3. Orange, Calif. 58,140 4. San Diego, Calif. ...

Comdisco selects Glendale park for its newest tech storage center.(Comdisco Network Services)
March 19, 1999... A technology storage company has chosen a Glendale business park for its newest disaster recovery center in the United States. Comdisco Network Services, a division of Rosemont, Ill.-based Comdisco Inc., on March 10 bought one of the...

Copyright infringement alleged against Nullsoft.
March 19, 1999... Nullsoft Inc., the tiny Glendale company credited with fueling what many see as a revolution in the music industry, is being targeted in a $20 million copyright infringement suit by another audio software firm. PlayMedia Systems Inc.,...

Loss of tax perks may prompt Intel to ditch Oregon.
March 19, 1999... Intel Corp. wont use the word threat. But the state's largest manufacturing employer is clearly not bluffing when it say's a failure to receive tax breaks in Oregon will result in investments going elsewhere. "Those are your words, not...

Bakery kneaded by Changing Hands.(Changing Hands Bookstore's tie-up wit Wildflower Bread Co.)
March 19, 1999... Changing Hands Bookstore is starting a new chapter at its Tempe location with the upcoming opening of Wildflower Bread Co. in an adjacent space. Having a bakery next to the bookstore always was the plan said Gayle Shanks, an owner of...

Software firm brings schools into alignment.(Evans Newton Inc.)(Company Profile)
March 19, 1999... Dismal test scores are causing public schools nationwide to be held more accountable for student achievement. Some states, such as North and South Carolina, have adopted laws that cost principals their jobs if test scores don't improve....

Wheelchair van conversion company on the move.(Vantage Mobility International)
March 19, 1999... Formed in January as the parent company for two growing businesses, Vantage Mobility International unveiled a 90,000-square-foot facility this month as it strives to boost production of its conversion vans for the physically challenged. ...

New one-stop clinic for seniors is initiated.
March 19, 1999... A health clinic in Phoenix is transforming the way elderly patients receive care and allowing doctors to give more attention to individual concerns and circumstances. Called Senior Health Center Phoenix, the clinic is intended to serve...

Big appetites: independents, chains do battle for state's diners.(restaurant industry in Arizona)(Industry Overview)
March 12, 1999... In 1994, chef Mark Tarbell did what many culinary-minded entrepreneurs do - he whipped up his own restaurant. This year, he created another. His additions to the Valley's dining scene illustrate the healthy growth in the state's...

One year later, no Pinacor deal.(MicroAge Inc.'s Pinacor Inc. subsidiary)
March 12, 1999... It was nearly a year ago that MicroAge Inc. tried to reinvent itself as a high-tech services company by breaking off its historic distribution business and giving birth to Pinacor Inc. If things went as planned, the new subsidiary would...

Hospital mergers making rounds in Valley.(Phoenix Metropolitan Area, Arizona)
March 12, 1999... Now that Tenet Healthcare Corp. has confirmed that it intends to sell its Arizona operations, the local hospital industry has been thrust into a feeding frenzy. This comes at a time when other health systems are trying to merge, partner...

Report: Phoenix economy will remain strong.(real estate industry's prospects)
March 12, 1999... Metropolitan Phoenix has been on an economic roll for several years and that milestone should propel it through 1999 and beyond, according to a new report. The gains in recent years will continue to lead to more jobs, more corporate...

Opening doors: Lopez a catalyst for others' dreams.(Ronnie Lopez of Phoenix International Consultants)
March 12, 1999... The key to understanding Ronnie Lopez resides with the people he's helped. Case in point: Daniel Ortega Jr., an attorney at Ortega & Associates PC in Phoenix, Ortega has known Lopez since 1969, and is quick to describe the professional...

New design firm makes big waves.(Ocean Integrated Media Group)(Company Profile)
March 12, 1999... Need a posh corporate image or a bold and flashy web site? If you answered "yes" to either question, Ocean Integrated Media Group in Phoenix can guide you through the uncharted waters of the web and beyond. Ocean principals Denis Day and...

Location crucial to business success.(Cafe Boa restaurants)
March 12, 1999... Christina Wisniewski is all smiles when it comes to her restaurant business in the Valley. With sales reaching more than $3 million a year in her three Care Boa restaurants, Wisniewski is thinking about trying another concept. But...

IP phones home: local companies tap into growing Internet telephony market.(include related articles on Internet telephony)(Internet Protocol)
March 12, 1999... It's an old joke in technology circles that Internet telephony always has given users nearly free long-distance calling, good voice quality and high reliability - just not all at the same time. The dream of giving your long-distance...

Barrett's style consistent with Intel's structure.(Intel Corp. CEO Craig Barrett)
March 12, 1999... "I hate your typing," said Craig Barrett. "It's driving me nuts.... Let the record show that he's typing on a noisy Mac." Intel Corp.'s broad-shouldered CEO is being playfully confrontational - a characteristic for which both he and his...

Phoenix Internet use ranks at No. 15 among U.S. cities.
March 12, 1999... Some 57 percent of adults in Phoenix regularly access the Internet, ranking the city at No. 15 among the 20 most-wired communities in the nation. San Francisco, Miami, Houston, Seattle/Tacoma and Washington, D.C. are the top five. ...

Is Tenet on way out?(Tenet Healthcare Corp.)
March 5, 1999... Tenet Healthcare Corp. says it is selling 20 of its hospitals nationwide, and local health care leaders believe it includes all live in Arizona. Tenet officials aren't identifying any of the hospitals on its national list or commenting...

French software firm opens U.S. headquarters in Phoenix.(Auralog Inc; Arizona)
March 5, 1999... A French company that specializes in language-training software is saying bonjour to Phoenix with its first U.S. headquarters and a new focus on the North American Market. Auralog Inc., based in Paris, has opened the five-person office...

Albertson's move brings 250 jobs.
March 5, 1999... One of the nation's largest food and drug retailers is moving its national pharmacy headquarters in Idaho to new offices in north Scottsdale. Albertson's Inc. plans to open the new headquarters of its pharmacy division - starting with...

Hiegel to end 7-year stint at Scottsdale ad agency.(Arizona)
March 5, 1999... A prominent Scottsdale advertising and public relations agency is setting the stage to say goodbye to one of its principals. Mark Hiegel has announced he's bowing out of LHB Group, also known as Lavidge Hiegel Baumayr. He will sell his...

Quarterly newspaper rolling off the presses in town of Guadalupe.(Arizona)
March 5, 1999... A man well-versed in journalism has spearheaded the creation of a quarterly newspaper for the town of Guadalupe. Ruben Hernandez, whose experience includes stints at the New Times in Phoenix and the Tucson Citizen, is editor of El...

Phoenix rising: veteran builder grows vision into city skyline.(Arizona; George Evans)
March 5, 1999... George Evans glances at an aerial photograph of the Valley, dated 1986. Corner lots in Chandler are dark with alfalfa fields, and the northern edge of Scottsdale hasn't approached Pinnacle Peak. "This is amazing," Evans said,...

New index compiles valuable trends.(Success Strategies)(National Bank of Arizona Small Business Index)
March 5, 1999... An economic forecasting program recently launched by National Bank of Arizona is aimed at helping small-business managers and owners make decisions that jibe with economic trends in the state. The National Bank of Arizona Small Business...

Product registers with fast-food chains.(Frontline Systems Inc.)
March 5, 1999... Oreg Heady is someone who, by most accounts, should have given up a long time ago. That's the advice he got in 1989 when he lost a major piece of business that already had cost his inexperienced company three years' revenue in research...

New heights: Valley whiz kid makes play for big time.(Up & Comers)(Arizona-based Nullsoft Inc.'s Justin Frankel)
March 5, 1999... Justin Frankel usually wakes up around noon: three hours after most Arizonans have started their workdays, four-and-a-half hours after the New York Stock Exchange has opened and six hours after his two cats have tried, usually unsuccessfully,...

Chips down? Troubling trends for technology industry.(Industry Overview)
March 2, 1999... The Valley has played a central role in the semiconductor industry since its infancy 50 years ago, when Motorola Inc. dispatched technology pioneer Dan Noble to head a new research and development center in Phoenix. Over that time,...

Walgreen pals again with CIGNA.
March 2, 1999... CIGNA Corp. and Walgreen Co., two health-care giants, are partners again. Three years after walking away from a national pharmacy contract with CIGNA, Walgreen now is accepting any of CIGNA's 260,000 Arizona pharmacy patients with open...

Fund promoter targets venture niche.(financial adviser Bruce Blechman's fund for small companies)
March 2, 1999... If it were possible to travel into the past, one sure-fire way to make money would be to invest in today's biggest, most successful companies before they were big. One entrepreneur is hoping stocks require the enticement of finding the...

$21M for Homebid.com.(venture capital for the revamp of Larry Latham Auctioneers)
March 2, 1999... Former Viasoft president Kevin Hickey was hired six months, ago to revamp Larry Latham Auctioneers. But with $21 million in venture capital - one of the largest fundings ever in Arizona - Hickey and the company's Homebid.com endeavor want to...

Eller looks to billboard ads across the Americas.(Eller Media Co.)
March 2, 1999... Eller Media Co, is embracing 1999 as a year to grow its outdoor advertising business beyond U.S. borders. Officials at the Phoenix company want to expand its presence in Canada and South America, as well as the United States. The...

E-commerce growth attracting startups to Internet.
March 2, 1999... As the Valley becomes host to an increasing number of start-up Internet companies, local investors are drooling over what they see as a virtual-reality gold mine of opportunity. But some financial experts warn that overzealous web...

Hotel occupancy rates fall nearly 6.5% in 1998.
March 2, 1999... Older properties fared better than newer ones, but business was tough all around in 1998 for Valley hotels. Despite an increase in the number of tourists, hotels and resorts saw occupancy drop by 6.4 percent to 64.7 percent. Newer...

Dream job: reinventing downtown Scottsdale.(Downtown Scottsdale Partnership Exec. Dir. Mark Hess)
March 2, 1999... When Mark Hess first drove into central Arizona approaching from Flagstaff seven years ago, he didn't expect what he saw. "I was expecting Ibis vast wasteland of tumbleweed and sand," Hess said. What he discovered was the region's...

Arizona hits home run with Cactus League figures.
March 2, 1999... The Cleveland Indians' departure from Arizona in 1993 was supposed to be the death knell for the Cactus League. Miffed over Tucson's refusal to spend $5 million on its dilapidated ballpark, the Indians departed not for a brandnew facility...

Corporate identity: forging strong image with logos, slogans.
March 2, 1999... When Jessie Ray had her company's logo redesigned and a slogan created, she received not only a new image for her business, but also the confidence and self-esteem necessary to succeed. Ray, the owner of Visions Lithograph of Expressions,...