Austin Business Journal articles from November 2000

Austin Business Journal archives from November 2000

Scholarships for the PR savvy.
November 10, 2000... University of Texas at Austin students participating in a PR organization now will be eligible for scholarships courtesy of Business Wire. As part of its 40th anniversary celebration, Business Wire started a scholarship program to support...

Newspaper's Internet service Lo be unplugged.
November 10, 2000... SAN ANTONIO -- In a Web-posted notice to its customers, EN Connect has announced it is ceasing operations. The notice, tided "EN Connect Going Out of Business," states in part: "Unfortunately, EN Connect, the Internet Service Provider of...

Tokyo Electron to build 70,700 s.f. of offices.
November 10, 2000... Tokyo Electron America Inc. plans to build a 70,700-square-foot office building just east of its current facility. Documents filed with the City of Austin's development review and inspection department include a site plan and a letter...

Thompson Group expands with new office in Houston.
November 10, 2000... Local marketing guru Carol Thompson is taking her networking know-how outside Austin. Thompson, founder of The Thompson Group, set up shop in Houston this month and already has signed up a handful of clients in the oil and gas mecca. The...

Bunches of beignets go on roll.
November 10, 2000... HOUSTON - Crescent City Beignets will roll out its beignet and coffee-fueled concept beyond Texas for the first time by entering seven states with at least 31 locations. Chicago and Las Vegas represent two key markets for the Houston-based...

Insurer considers Alamo City for 200-employee center.
November 10, 2000... SAN ANTONIO -- A former budget movie theater being converted into an office building called Cinema Plaza may soon gain its first tenant - an insurance company that could add up to 200 new jobs. Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Financial...

Belew Averitt snapped up by BDO Seidman.
November 10, 2000... DALLAS -- Belew Averitt LLP has been purchased by Chicago's BDO Seidman, one of the nation's largest accounting firms. Terms of the deal between the two privately held companies were not disclosed. The transaction, which calls for Belew...

S.A. firm sparks Internet flap.
November 10, 2000... SAN ANTONIO -- A recently launched dot-com that casts itself as a scout for new Internet domain names is taking the Internet's principal domain name coordinator to court, claiming it has stymied the startup's business. RegLand Inc. filed a...

Dell seeks land in Fort Worth.
November 10, 2000... Company assembling about 500 acres for campus that may contain up to 1M square feet Dell Computer Corp. is quietly assembling about 500 acres of land for a Fort Worth campus that could range in size from 309,000 to 1 million square feet,...

Data co. stores $5M.
November 10, 2000... Business in emerging industry receives second round of funding, relocates HQ to Austin An emerging data storage service provider is bringing its headquarters -- and its newest round of $5 million in funding -- from the Bayou City to the...

Round Rock office coming.
November 10, 2000... Austin developers have teamed up with a Dutch financial partner to launch a 190,000-square-foot office project next month in Round Rock's La Frontera mixed-use development. The Austin office of Kennedy-Wilson Inc. will break ground in...

Startup tracks down $12.5M.
November 10, 2000... Austin-based traq-wireless Inc. is on a faster track. The 1-year-old startup, which shot up from three employees last September to 95 now, has tapped $12.5 million in second-round funding. The round was co-led by previous Dallas-based...

Bush brings bucks.
November 10, 2000... An estimated 20,000 people piled into Austin to await news of the presidential election the week of Nov. 6. And that meant piles of cash for some businesses. The hub-hub around Election Day created a $2 million economic impact in George W....

Designing a new name.
November 10, 2000... With more than 25 home decor and furnishing stores just west of downtown, a group now has declared the area the Central Design District. An alliance called the Central Design District Association formed with nearly 20 charter members. The...

Pro-Austin.
November 10, 2000... A British telecommunications software provider operating in 40 countries has decided to open a U.S. headquarters office -- and it picked Austin. Protek Network Management Ltd. opened its U.S. headquarters office temporarily at 7035 Bee...

Working the Windy City.
November 10, 2000... The Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau has hired an industry veteran to open a Chicago satellite office in her home. The bureau hopes to target business from the more than 2,500 national associations with headquarters in the Chicago area....

The cup runneth over.
November 10, 2000... As if the Austin high tech scene needed to be any cuter. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. will present the first annual Austin Cup invitational bowling tournament next Feb. 3. Fifty tech companies will throw down at the AMF Showplace Lanes...

Architecture principal.
November 10, 2000... Austin architect Mark Pritchard has been promoted to principal at Reh Burwell Partners Architects. Pritchard will be one of two principals in the Houston-based firm's Austin office. While with Reh Burwell Partners, Pritchard has served as...

Kudos for kiwis.
November 10, 2000... The Southwest region of Whole Foods Market Inc. won The Down Under Charity Challenge, sponsored by New Zealand fruit growers, for selling more kiwis and apples than the other six Whole Foods Market regions. The $5,000 prize will be donated...

Janus to sublease space.
November 10, 2000... Mutual fund company says extra building unneeded, puts 92,000 square feet on market Denver investment company Janus Capital Corp. is marketing one of its Austin office buildings for sublease after deeming the extra space unnecessary. ...

Net firm alleges threats.
November 10, 2000... eSchool.com files suit against ex-consultant over alleged harassment, wants court order An Austin Internet company is suing a former consultant and seeking a restraining order against him. eSchool.com Inc., the parent company of...

Staubach staffs Austin office with local brokers.
November 10, 2000... Austin real estate star Diana Barbour is leaving Colliers Oxford Commercial to run the new local office of The Staubach Co. Barbour is resigning from Colliers Oxford Commercial, where she is a principal, and will be required to sell back...

Austin VC remains hot.
November 10, 2000... Deals decline in third quarter, but General Bandwidth, Legerity keep area on map Austin's venture capital investment total may have dropped in the third quarter of this year, but it is still one of the hottest places in the country to rake...

Reliant plugs into downtown tower.
November 10, 2000... HOUSTON -- Reliant Energy is signing up to become lead tenant in Houston's newest downtown skyscraper, real estate sources say. The utility conglomerate reportedly has signed a non-binding letter of intent to pre-lease 500,000 square feet...

Tech PR firm relocates office.
November 10, 2000... High tech public relations and advertising firm The Loomis Group, based in San Francisco, has relocated its Austin office to the Heierman Building at 115 East 5th Street. According to Kevin Smother, account executive, the move is part of...

Scott & White plans cancer treatment center.
November 10, 2000... Temple-based Scott & White Clinic and Hospital is planning a new facility in Killeen that may cut travel time for cancer patients in Central Texas. The health care provider will open an 18,000-square-foot facility in Killeen to serve as a...

Company jet available for time share.
November 10, 2000... ARLINGTON -- If owning a jet is a bit of a stretch for some companies, VIP Jets LLC of Arlington would like to sell them a share of one. VIP Jets', which opened its first office and three-jet hangar at the Arlington Municipal Airport in...

Downsized Deja.com nears finalizing of sale.
November 10, 2000... Another dot-com with roots in Austin is about to be sold. Deja.com Inc., an Austin company that moved its headquarters to New York two years ago, is about to split its business and sell the entire company -- leaving about 70 employees in...

Grocery chain sues over franchise tax collection.
November 10, 2000... Houston-based Randalls Food & Drugs Inc. is suing Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander and Attorney General John Cornyn claiming their offices over-taxed the grocery store chain. The lawsuit, filed Oct. 31 in Travis County District...

Former employee sues Motorola over firing.
November 10, 2000... Chemist claims dismissal was related to age and not job performance A 52-year-old Austin chemist has filed suit against Motorola Inc. and its semiconductor products sector claiming she was fired because of age discrimination in 1998. ...

Liaison names advisory board.
November 10, 2000... Austin-based Liaison Technologies, a provider of software products that deliver supplier content for e-marketplaces, has formed a board of advisers. The advisers are Mike Maples Sr., retired vice president of Microsoft Corp.'s Worldwide...

Perficient to service IBM.
November 10, 2000... Austin-based Perficient Inc. [Nasdaq: PRFT] signed a services agreement with IBM Corp. [NYSE: IBM] to deploy, integrate and train services to IBM's WebSphere software platform customers. In June, IBM announced a $1 billion investment in the...

Vote puts estate tax in play, ergonomics in court.
November 10, 2000... Republicans' narrow victory in the Nov. 7 congressional elections means small businesses can expect to get estate tax relief and pension reform but will have to rely on the courts to fight OSHA's ergonomics standard. Estate tax relief and...

Estate tax repeal wouldn't repeal planning need.
November 10, 2000... Whether federal government changes the law or not, some types of financial planning are still necessary The battle over whether to repeal federal estate and gift taxes may be a long one. For the moment, the federal estate and gift tax...

Money men predict bigger deals in Big D.
November 10, 2000... Where do we go from here? That's the question on the minds of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs alike as the year winds down. With the public markets distancing themselves from once-hot sectors like electronic commerce and Internet...

New York company acquires Guiltless Gourmet.
November 10, 2000... RAB Holdings Inc.'s food group has purchased nearly all the assets of Austin-based Guiltless Gourmet Inc. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Richard Bernstein, chairman and CEO of New York-based RAB Holdings, says the...

Austin is 'hot' city for selling.
November 10, 2000... Austin is ranked No. 2 in Sales & Marketing Management magazine's annual list of the country's "Hottest 20 Cities for Selling." Topping the list this year is Charlotte, N.C. Austin held the top spot last year. Following Austin on this...

Supervision seminar is Nov. 29.
November 10, 2000... A seminar for first-time supervisors will be offered Nov. 29. The CareerTrack Inc. seminar will be from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Clarion Inn and Suites, 2200, S. 1-35. The cost is $149 a person, or $129 each for a group of at least five...

[Upside down exclamation point]Bravo, bueno, Nuevo!
November 10, 2000... After 20 years on East Seventh, Nuevo Leon moves to larger, new quarters on on East Sixth At age 45, Rachel Davila already had raised her five children when she decided it was time to pursue a life long dream and go into business for...

When is it time to call a halt with a client?
November 10, 2000... Winning new accounts is one of selling's biggest challenges. If this needed proof, I was listening to the radio recently while driving and heard a sales research analyst reveal that statistically, across all industries, it's six times more...

Development program can aid middle managers.
November 10, 2000... Many companies are facing a gap of talent at the middle-management level. The current labor shortage only worsens the challenge. To reduce turnover, keep employees motivated and consistently upgrade employees' skills, companies are carrying...

Consulting firm picks Austin as Southwest HQ.
November 10, 2000... Robbins-Gioia Inc., an Alexandria, Va.-based provider of management consulting services, opened its Southwestern headquarters in Austin. Steve-Furman, vice president-of commercial operations, will head the office.

Construction plant expanding in Georgetown.
November 10, 2000... Dallas-based Centex Construction Products Inc.'s Austin subsidiary, Centex Materials LP, is completing a $14 million expansion of its Georgetown aggregate crushing plant. Centex Materials purchased the Georgetown operation in June 1999....

Aperian promotes two top executives.
November 10, 2000... Aperian Inc. [Nasdaq: APRN] has promoted President and CEO Robert "Gibbs to chairman and CEO. Wayne Irwin, executive vice president of sales and operations, has been promoted to president and chief operating officer. Irwin came to...

HEB to build store on 7 acres in Elgin.
November 10, 2000... H.E. Butt Grocery Co. has acquired 7 acres in Elgin for a new grocery store. The project will be at U.S. Highway 290 and 11th Street. Company executives expect to break ground in the spring on the store, with a grand opening in late fall....

How to make it through family business change.
November 10, 2000... When the father of Moo Thorpe and Sonja Bohannon died suddenly in 1992, it was more than a family tragedy. It jeopardized the future of their three-generation family ranch and hotel business in New Mexico. "Our dad was like John Wayne,"...

Healthy opportunities on Texas health horizon.
November 10, 2000... The Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board, created by the Texas Legislature in 1995, works with one of the largest funding programs ever envisioned. The TIF Board is charged with distributing about $1.5 billion in telecommunications...

Shield, Simplified enter partnership.
November 10, 2000... Austin-based Shield Networks, a broadband wireless Internet service provider, has signed a partnership with Austin-based Simplified Development Corp. to use Simplified's OpenWireless broadband data solution. Shield Networks provides online...

Tivoli begins construction of North Austin campus.
November 10, 2000... Austin-based Tivoli Systems Inc. began construction Nov. 8 on the software company's North Austin campus. Tivoli is part of IBM Corp. The new buildings, which could provide as much as 1 million square feet when completed, will be on...

Nonprofit Girlstart relaunches Web site.
November 10, 2000... Austin-based nonprofit organization Giristart has relaunched its Web site (www.girlstart.org). Girlstart says the site, which serves as information central for girls seeking everything from homework help to games, now is more...

Congress set to take on 'must-do' tax alteration.
November 10, 2000... Small business lobbyists expect Congress, in its brief post-election session, to fix the problem it created last year for many people who sell their businesses. Last year, Congress -- at the urging of the Clinton administration -- paid for...

Clinton to require HMOs to offer appeals process.
November 10, 2000... The Clinton administration plans to require health plans to establish an internal appeals process for people who want to challenge coverage decisions. President Clinton says he would have preferred this protection be included as part of...

Minorities, women help SBA set new loan record.
November 10, 2000... Loans and venture capital backed by the Small Business Administration hit a record $18 billion last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Minorities received 30 percent of all SBA loan dollars -- their highest share ever. The $2 billion...

OSHA brings employees into safety consultations.
November 10, 2000... Employees now have the right to accompany consultants during their inspections of work sites that participate in consultation programs financed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The consultants provide free advice to...

Too much flexibility can harm your organization.
November 10, 2000... There's too much flexibility in our organizations today. One of my clients, Christine, is a fast-moving executive who's at the top of her game. As chief operating officer for an insurance company, Christine is responsible for a 250-person...

Rick Riley named CEO of Citizens Inc.
November 10, 2000... Rick Riley has been named CEO of Citizens Inc. [AMEX: CIA], replacing Harold Riley, who has been appointed chairman. Rick Riley was vice chairman of Citizens, an Austin-based financial industry and life insurance holding company. He was...

International Talk.com changes name to Vonova.
November 10, 2000... Austin-based International Talk.com has changed its name to Vonova Corp. The name combines the Latin words "vox," meaning voice, and "nova," meaning new or innovative. Vonova specializes in routing international telephone calls through...

Leaders named at eCustomers Inc.
November 10, 2000... Ed Frazier has been named president and CEO and Jeff DeCoux chairman of eCustomers Inc., an Austin based e-business personalization solutions provider. Frazier was chief operating officer of IntelliQuest Information Group until last...

Consulting firm acquired by company in Ohio.
November 10, 2000... Austin's Thought Interactive e-business consulting firm as been acquired by Columbus, Ohio-based Meritage Technologies. Meritage also acquired another consulting company, New York-based Castle Point Systems. Meritage declined to reveal...

Healthy, wealthy, wise.
November 10, 2000... Austin's high tech world turns its energies, efforts and money to health care challenges Once criticized for lack of participation in philanthropic efforts, a number of high tech companies now receive high praise from leaders of non-profit...

With some vets, it's no dogs allowed -- at all.
November 10, 2000... Is faking your cat to the vet a hair-raising experience? Does your pet suffer from recurring problems such as itchy skin and smelly ears? If so, there's anew breed of veterinarians across the country who are setting up practices to specifically...

Alternative medicine becomes complementary.
November 10, 2000... Connie Ryan decided to broaden her field of practice after spending several years delivering babies as a lay midwife. She returned to school and became a nurse practitioner. What she found was a narrow, rather than broader, practice of...

Austin 's cancer clinics offer 'cutting edge' care.
November 10, 2000... "Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway." --John Wayne. These words stand as a poignant reminder of what is required of the 1.2 million. Americans who are diagnosed with cancer each year. The words are so appropriate that...

Find your plastic surgeon online.
November 10, 2000... While much of medicine is fraught with turmoil over treatment, issues of coverage and conflicts about payment, cosmetic surgery stands out as a unique island of calm and success in the medical world. The number of people undergoing cosmetic...

AT&T expands use of broadband technology.
November 10, 2000... AT&T Broadband has expanded its use of Austin-based BroadJump Inc.'s technology, which streamlines installation of broadband services by automatically configuring the customer's subscriber environment to support broadband access. Portions...

PEOPLE.
November 10, 2000... LINDA SPEARS has been promoted to sales manager at AT&T Lonestar Branch in Austin. Spears spent 15 years with AT&T in Houston. She has a sales team of ten account managers who represent AT&T's Voice, Data and Internet Services to Growth Market...

Web talk may lead to suits.
November 10, 2000... Businesses begin to keep tabs on what's said in chat and to answer critics with libel litigation It's just loose talk. Unless you get sued. And winding up in litigation is more and more a possibility in what many Central Texans...

Barking about character.
November 10, 2000... Journalists spend a good portion of their careers trying to ascertain who's telling them the truth and who is lying. From politicians trying to get a leg up on an opponent to business people seeking an edge over the competition, the media...

TAKING STOCK OF AUSTIN.
November 10, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

LARGEST SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT CENTERS.
November 10, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

LARGEST PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS.
November 10, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

Applied planning 300,000 s.f.
November 17, 2000... Applied Materials Inc. is preparing to build a 300,000-square-foot plant in Austin to produce machines for manufacturing 300mm wafers. Sources say the world's largest maker of wafer fabrication systems and services has been lining up design...

Security from broadband.
November 17, 2000... With $16M in hand, former Prime Cable executives add audio, video to security systems A handful of former Prime Cable Corp. executives have twisted the lines of the broadband cable industry into something just a little bit different --...

Retail coming to I-35/Parmer.
November 17, 2000... Development with as much as 500,000 s.f. will include first HEB store with drive-through service As much as 500,000 square feet of retail space might be on the way at I-35 and Parmer Lane. Within 45 days, Quentin Corp., a Florida-based...

Fore!
November 17, 2000... Glenn Pierce Jr. is getting into the swing of things at Austin's UpLink Corp. Pierce, former president and chief operating officer of Austin's VTel Corp., is the new CEO of UpLink, a provider of global positioning system-based golf carts...

Tonic achieves potent mix.
November 17, 2000... Austin's Tonic Software Inc. has assembled some heavy hitters for its advisory board. The advisers are mix of folks from consulting firms, media and publishing and technology. Advisory board members are: * Bill Bock, president and...

Agency booked.
November 17, 2000... Austin advertising agency GSD&M is turning a page in its creative efforts by entering the field of book publishing. Idea University Press is the new publishing arm of GSD&M. The idea at Idea City started with a book proposal from the...

All that and a bag of chips.
November 17, 2000... The kudos keep rolling in for Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s Athlon processor. The most recent honor: Maximum PC magazine's CPU of the Year Award for 2001. The chip, which is made in Austin, also received the award last year. In June,...

Extra praise for Exterprise.
November 17, 2000... Austin's Exterprise Inc. has been flagged by Computerworld magazine as one of the, "Top 100 Emerging Companies" to watch in 2001. Computerworld selected Exterprise based upon the company's innovation; ability to execute strategy in terms...

Fall from Fortune.
November 17, 2000... After making Fortune magazine's top 10 list of the best cities for business two years in a row, Austin failed to make the roster in 2000. Austin snagged the No. 1 spot in 1998 and fell to No. 3 in 1999. Back in 1998, Fortune credited...

CORRECTION.
November 17, 2000... A story in the Nov. 10-16 issue of the Austin Business Journal with the headline "Startup tracks down $12.5M" incorrectly identified revenue projections for the company. Traq-wireless Inc. expects to have more than $15 million in revenue. Also,...

Controversy erupts over SBC Center.
November 17, 2000... SAN ANTONIO -- Forget about seat colors and the number of women's restrooms. The real debate over the construction of the SBC Center is: Who will build it? A joint venture of Dallas-based Turner Construction Co. and San Antonio-based...

S.A. health system copes with cash woes.
November 17, 2000... SAN ANTONIO -- Health care is a $7.5 billion industry in San Antonio. But not everyone in the system is in good health. The University Health System is a case in point, UHS officials say. The UHS board of managers recently approved...

Startup to occupy 150,000 s.f. at 45-acre development.
November 17, 2000... RICHARDSON -- Less than a year after its founding, fast-growing White Rock Networks Inc. is planning a move to a new three-story, 150,000-square-foot headquarters off State Highway 190, more than quadrupling its presence in the Telecom...