Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal articles from August 2001

Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal archives from August 2001

Mutual fund shifts affect tech stocks.
August 3, 2001... A year ago, a high-growth mutual fund anchored by valley tech bellwethers such as Cisco Systems and Sun Microsystems was an answered prayer for big-name fund companies. Nowadays, with disheartened investors, a Nasdaq that has failed to perk up...

Looking up?
August 3, 2001... Chips show signs of life with positive Intel news Intel Corp. is leading a band of increasingly optimistic voices in the chip industry, saying there are signs of a market recovery in the second half of the year. In an extremely...

Housing springs from hope.
August 3, 2001... The hopes of Silicon Valley executives who wanted to start a publicly funded housing trust were dashed four years ago when a poll they commissioned warned that voters would not approve a tax to pay for affordable housing. The one person...

Consultant revelations could tarnish governor's office.
August 3, 2001... Government watchers say state employees and consultants have failed to learn the lesson taught to Roman Emperor Julius Caesar's wife: They must avoid even the appearance of impropriety The Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly has...

2 key hires at Packard.
August 3, 2001... Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University has recruited two of the highest-paid people in the University of California system as it seeks to catapult the hospital's pediatric heart program into one of the busiest in the country....

Amnesty for illegals would have minimal economic effect.
August 3, 2001... Illegal immigrants: They are the silent pool of workers, many of them Mexican, who many believe are critical to the state's economy, Regardless of the outcome of a possible amnesty program for Mexican immigrants living illegally in the...

A's sale wouldn't change ballpark plans.
August 3, 2001... Reports that the Oakland Athletics have been sold to a Los Angeles-based entertainment company won't change a local group's efforts to build a ballpark for the team in Santa Clara, stadium organizers say. Larry Stone, a member of the Santa...

Corrections.
August 3, 2001... Wrong house An address in the story "Pocket full of $500,000? Here are houses you can buy" in the July 20 Business Journal appeared with an incorrect photo. Above is the correct photo for 12417 Browder St., Raleigh, N.C. After Hours...

Palo Alto leads nation in home prices; courts conserving energy.
August 3, 2001... Looking for a little cottage or fixer-upper in Palo Alto? Think the dot-com implosion and all the downsizing of high-tech companies is translating into lower housing prices? Better think again. With a price tag of about $1.23 million for...

Courts to conserve.
August 3, 2001... The fine print might be a bit harder to read inside California's courts in the days ahead. The state Judicial Council is telling courts under its jurisdiction to turn off lights that aren't needed and turn up the thermostats to keep the air...

Davis threatens FERC with lawsuit.
August 3, 2001... Gov. Gray Davis says that unless the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission changes its decision on how much of a refund the state is due for past overcharges for electricity, "we will be in court." California is seeking $8.9 billion in...

Tight deadlines block creativity.
August 3, 2001... Looking for a bright idea? Give yourself some time. That's one of the conclusions of a recent survey of advertising and marketing executives in which nearly half (47 percent) said tight deadlines are the single most common source of...

Cell phone costs drop.
August 3, 2001... Here's some good news: It cost less to use a cell phone in June than in May, according to a monthly survey of cellular telephone rates in the nation's 25 largest metropolitan areas. The cost dropped more than 3 percent on average in June,...

'Educated elite' on the rise.
August 3, 2001... Two decades of tumultuous change in the workplace have set the stage for a global meritocracy, as corporate efficiency and worker free agency replace the last vestiges of the lifetime employment model, according to John Challenger, CEO of...

Avant apologizes.
August 3, 2001... The new chief executive officer of Fremont software maker Avant Corp. has issued an apology to rival Cadence Design Systems for the theft of trade secrets from Cadence. Six current or former Avant executives were sentenced July 25 to fines...

Surfers click up screen resolution.
August 3, 2001... Web surfers are gravitating toward higher and higher screen resolutions, according to a study released July 30 by WebSideStory, a San Diego-based Internet research firm. It says nearly one-third of Web surfers worldwide this month had...

Consumer group laments politics of energy purchases.
August 3, 2001... As the Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly probes whether regulations were violated in how the state has purchased billions of dollars of electricity, one of California's energy consumer groups says it's worried. "It means we've...

State Treasurer Philip Angelides.
August 3, 2001... State Treasurer Philip Angelides says he plans to visit Wall Street to discuss a pending $12.5 billion California bond issue, thought to be the largest ever issued by a state government. Mr. Angelides will lobby bond-rating agencies to give the...

Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
August 3, 2001... Some charity organizations to which Pacific Gas & Electric Co. owes money are selling their debts for as little as 20 cents on the dollar in order to be paid now. It may be years before some debtors get reimbursed from PG&E, which is going...

Valley moderates see Riordan as Republican pick for governor.
August 3, 2001... Republicans in Silicon Valley are beginning to line up behind Richard Riordan, who many of them see as the answer to their prayers for a moderate candidate for governor. Mr. Riordan, the former mayor of Los Angeles, is targeting the...

Atlanta, two California areas deemed leaders in business diversity.
August 3, 2001... Atlanta is the land of opportunity. Georgia's capital region boasts the most-diverse mix of entrepreneurs in any U.S. metropolitan area, according to a Demographics Daily study of business ownership in 181 metros. Atlanta earned 94.44...

Data center developer not dissuaded by glut of U.S. space.
August 3, 2001... An ambitious plan to develop an approximately 2 million-square-foot data center campus in San Jose remains on track, despite a nationwide excess of real estate developed for Web hosting and telecom switching. U.S. Dataport Inc. of San Jose...

PUC's consumer advocate seeks tighter restrictions on Pacific Bell.
August 3, 2001... The California Public Utilities Cornmission's consumer watchdog group is calling for tighter restrictions on Pacific Bell in the wake of wide-ranging increases in business toll-call prices averaging 50 percent. The CPUC loosened its...

State HMOs report profit, with Blue Cross leading the pack.
August 3, 2001... At a time when health-care providers across the state are demanding more money from managed care, California HMOs led the nation last year in profitability. Thirty-eight of 52 HMOs in California made money last year, amounting to an...

Campaign coffers starting to fill up for state gubernatorial candidates.
August 3, 2001... Campaign spending reports for the first six months of the year show that incumbent Gov. Gray Davis is far ahead of at least two of his possible Republican challengers in next year's gubernatorial contest. Mr. Davis has more than $30...

Palo Alto is rare U.S. site for Trader Vic's restaurant.
August 3, 2001... Palo Alto joins the ranks of Tokyo, London,-Marbella, Dubai and 17 other cosmopolitan locations worldwide with the September opening of its very own Trader Vic's restaurant. The new 7,000-square-foot eatery will sit next to Dinah's Garden...

Center owner looking to till Crown vacancy.
August 3, 2001... Look for anything from a furniture store to a clothing or stereo outlet -- though no restaurant -- to fill a 15,347-square-foot hole left by the bankrupt Crown Books at the Main Street retail center at Blossom Hill Road and Santa Teresa...

Attack raises wormy issue.
August 3, 2001... When is right time to reveal security flaws? When the Code Red worm threatened global computer systems in late July, software maker Microsoft Corp. publicized a "patch" that can be installed to protect against the attack. The Code Red...

XP could fuel tech, but some resist release.
August 3, 2001... Windows XP may be one of Microsoft Corp.'s most important product releases in years, but the software giant isn't the only company betting its immediate future on the operating system upgrade. Dozens of software makers are gearing up to...

Optical switching is looking up in a down telecom market.
August 3, 2001... Burgeoning Internet traffic and cost-cutting by telecom carriers are driving demand for optical switching devices in an otherwise downward-sloping telecommunications market. From zero two years ago, the optical switching market is expected...

Cisco's China deal small but significant in Clarent battle.
August 3, 2001... Cisco Systems has won a key battle against rival Clarent Corp. in the race to equip China's voice-over-Internet-Protocol network. China's second-largest telecommunications carrier, China United Telecommunications Corp., has picked Cisco for...

Kmart touts cheap Internet services.
August 3, 2001... BlueLight.com and Kmart say they are offering one of the nation's lowest-priced Internet services at $8.95 per month. And BlueLight.com shoppers can earn free months of Internet service with the purchase of nonclearance items at BlueLight.com,...

Security firms play up business strengths of their systems.
August 3, 2001... Businesses may buy into the need for computer network security, but they're not ready to buy the equipment. That general reluctance is causing problems for some network security equipment makers, such as Cylink Corp. of Santa Clara. As...

Palm takes fate in hand by moving toward ARM, reorganizing.
August 3, 2001... Palm Inc. appears to be patching up two of its biggest soft spots with a pair of announcements that could dramatically reshape the sagging handheld computer market. The Santa Clara company is moving closer to adopting ARM chips,...

Internet is hardly near death's door, but Web-based Net is.
August 3, 2001... With an estimated size of more than 12 billion individual pages, the World Wide Web hardly seems to be on its deathbed, as Forrester Research CEO Carl Howe suggested earlier this year. But while it may be too soon to compose a requiem for...

E- commerce ventures find funding even in tight times.
August 3, 2001... Say you're an e-commerce company selling electronics, movies and music online and you need venture capital. Not in 1999 but now, during what industry experts are calling one of the most difficult funding climates in the history of venture...

Identix to help physicians access patient records from their offices.
August 3, 2001... A Los Gatos technology company will help the Catholic Healthcare West hospital chain keep patient records secure while expanding physician access. In August, Identix Inc. will start a pilot project at three Catholic Healthcare hospitals,...

Intel researches powerful chips for mobile gadget market.
August 3, 2001... As the personal computer market slows, Intel Corp. is working on new semiconductor technology for a market expected to proliferate: electronic gadgets such as cell phones and personal digital assistants. The Santa Clara chipmaker said last...

Privacy advocates up in arms over data-storage feature of Microsoft's new XP.
August 3, 2001... Microsoft's new XP operating system will allow people to store personal information about themselves so they don't have to re-enter it constantly on various Web sites. Is this the neatest new computer convenience or evil incarnate? ...

HP says declining global economy forced it to cut 6,000 jobs.
August 3, 2001... Hewlett-Packard Co. is pointing at deteriorating global economic conditions and related weaknesses in technology spending, particularly in the consumer sector, for its move to slash 6,000 jobs from its payroll by year-end. HP says it...

Adobe says sales may slow.
August 3, 2001... Software maker Adobe Systems says while it's on track to meet its pro-forma earnings target, its revenue could be hurt by weaker-than-expected economic conditions affecting all of its product segments. The San Jose-based company says U.S....

Infineon to cut jobs.
August 3, 2001... German semiconductor maker Infineon, which has its North American headquarters in San Jose, says it will trim its worldwide full-time work force by 5,000 jobs. It expects to save more than $877 million with the cuts and other economies, "and...

Adept eliminates jobs, cuts pay.
August 3, 2001... Industrial robot maker Adept Technology Inc. is cutting 20 percent of its work force and trimming the pay of many whose jobs are being spared. The company says it must take immediate action because of a plunge in sales. "The weak global...

Bioscience firm to lop jobs.
August 3, 2001... Hyseq Inc. says it will trim 20 percent of its work force after posting a second-quarter net loss of $8.4 million, or 55 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $5.1 million, or 38 cents, for the comparable quarter of 2000. The...

Lockheed unit moves some satellite operations from valley.
August 3, 2001... Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems says it's transferring 70 employees, including some top managers, from Silicon Valley to Pennsylvania to save money. "The action we are taking will enable us to streamline our business...

HearMe falls silent.
August 3, 2001... Citing what it calls "turmoil" in the telecommunications industry along with diminishing revenue, Mountain View-based HearMe says it's shutting down operations. The company in business since 1995, makes applications allowing customers to place...

Avant names new president.
August 3, 2001... On the same day six of its current and former executives were sentenced for involvement in stealing trade secrets from a rival business, Avant Corp. appointed a new president to replace its top executive, who is recovering from a heart attack....

Cell phone company buys Amber.
August 3, 2001... Nokia says it's buying Fremont-based Amber Networks in a stock-for-stock merger at a net price of $421 million, payable partly in new Nokia shares and partly in Nokia stock options. Amber Networks is a privately held networking...

Poll: Workers want Web patrol.
August 3, 2001... Employees recognize the need for Internet monitoring and filtering in the workplace, and an overwhelming majority believe companies have a responsibility to employ such technology according to a recent survey by The Harris Poll for Scoffs...

Paid search engines pay off.
August 3, 2001... One of the few bright spots for the online advertising industry over the past year has been the growth of paid search engines, says a new study by Jupiter Media Metrix. The Internet research company says advertising-supported search...

Tiny hard drive Mac-averse.
August 3, 2001... Agate Technologies Inc. says its new USB hard drive, the Q, is easy to use and makes transporting data incredibly easy That's half true. The lightweight device that fits on a key chain is easy to transport, but downloading the software and...

Software sales remain stable during slowdown.
August 3, 2001... Despite a slowdown in the rest of the computer industry, retail software sales appear to be stable, according to a market tracking report issued recently by Reston, Va., research firm NPD Intelect. The quarterly report, which surveys major...

Slave labor or comic fun?
August 3, 2001... From samurai penguins to adventurous dairy products, publisher stays animated The birth of Slave Labor started with a penguin. The year was 1985, and Dan Vado was the owner and manager of a comic book store off Bascom Avenue in San...

Dogs, bears and Klingons: Council's audience diverse.
August 3, 2001... "NuqneH!" That's Klingon for "greetings" (literally: "What do you want?") It wouldn't hurt to brush up on Klingon terminology if you attend a Santa Clara City Council meeting because Gawron, the former chancellor of the Klingon...

For serious off-road enthusiasts, Jeep Liberty is liberating.
August 3, 2001... It's amazing that the company given credit as the catalyst for the whole sport-utility-vehicle phenomena hasn't been more hard-hitting in launching new models. While Jeep has been asleep at the wheel, super aggressive Toyota has landed a...

'With any major shift in technology, vacuums emerge'.
August 3, 2001... In order to stay competitive in this ever-changing world, a company must often reinvent itself. In 1979, when my father and I started The Santa Cruz Operation Inc., we wanted to take advantage of fundamental changes resulting from the...

Silicon Valley nonprofit takes the initiative on arts education.
August 3, 2001... John Kreidler isn't promoting art for art's sake. He says he sees artistic creativity as an important engine that drives Silicon Valley. "Innovation, creativity are part of what sustains and propels Silicon Valley forward," he says, adding...

Cupertino Electric CEO likes life, work on the fast track.
August 3, 2001... Cupertino Electric CEO Jim Ryley describes himself as an adrenaline junkie. Whether racing a Porsche, riding his Ducati motorcycle or keeping up with the tech industry's morphing electrical needs, he's feeding the habit. His company's work...

People in the News.
August 3, 2001... Manufacturing Nalesnik Alvesta of Sunnyvale has named Robert Nalesnik vice president of marketing. Mr. Nalesnik has more than 20 years of technology marketing experience and most recently had been vice president of marketing for in...

Ask the Exec: What are you doing for summer fun?
August 3, 2001... Marie Alexander President and CEO Quova Inc. Redwood City Balancing stuff here at work and building a company is fun. But that goes on all year. This summer I am taking weekend jaunts with my children. We tacked a weekend...

Long-term payoff worth discomfort of temporary incompetence.
August 3, 2001... Given the current state of economic uncertainty and the potential for low morale, the need to retain high achievers is critically important. What exactly is a high achiever and is it possible for an ordinary person to reach that status? Let's...

Conscious incompetence.
August 3, 2001... The uncomfortable state of not knowing, ironically also is the most productive. Motivation is high because no one wants to linger at this level. High achievers want to learn quickly because they want to see the results. Ideally within any...

Entering the learning state.
August 3, 2001... What prevents many of us from entering what's called the conscious incompetence or "Whoops!" state of learning is varied. Here are just a few of the more obvious reasons: * Feelings of vulnerability because suddenly weaknesses and lack of...

Forming task-based relationships.
August 3, 2001... All the reasons that people avoid learning are personal. Becoming task-based moves people out of personalizing performance and into objectifying it. When that shift occurs, bright lights illuminate problems so it becomes clear what -- not who...

Insider trading.
August 3, 2001... The following transactions have been reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Adobe Systems Inc. Jimmie E. Stephens, vice president exercised an option for 29,168 shares of common at $8.45 each on June 29 and sold...

Their daily bread.
August 3, 2001... After 20 years, Brunello family keeps its bakery business rising Childhood memories sometimes generate great works of fiction, from John Steinbeck's life in the Salinas Valley to Willa Gather's childhood in pioneer Nebraska to Charles...

Navigating the choppy waters of a family-owned business.
August 3, 2001... The Small Business Administration reports that family-owned businesses in the United States are alive and well. In fact, 90 percent of small businesses are family-owned. Managing the business while keeping family members functional,...

How do you resolve business problems within the family?
August 3, 2001... Q&A I just tell Leonard, "no." Does he always listen? Never mind, he's president and I am vice president. It is a dance, same as marriage. I'm the bean counter and do some sales. I do some design and planning too. Leonard is mostly...

Family-owned funeral homes bury the corporate competition.
August 3, 2001... For Matthew Cusimano, death has always been a part of life. In 1957, his parents, Joseph and Sue, founded the Cusimano Family Colonial Mortuary in Mountain View. When they died, Mr. Cusimano and his sister, Sherri, both licensed funeral...

Bumpy road to succession planning.
August 3, 2001... There are a lot of myths about death. Probably the biggest one: It's not going to happen to me. Right? Wrong. Death happened to more than 2 million people nationwide last year, many of them family-business owners. The US....

Largest Family-Owned Businesses.
August 3, 2001... Largest Family-Owned Businesses Operating in Silicon Valley [*] - ranked by most recently completed companywide fiscal-year revenue Company Addres Rank Phone, fax Revenue/...

Centuries later, Sandwich descendants have a business plan.
August 3, 2001... Descendants of the man who invented the sandwich are finally taking that invention on the road. John Montagu, the 11th Earl of Sandwich, and his son Orlando have joined Britain's lunch market with the launching of their own gourmet...

Mirassou's roots extend back to California's early days.
August 3, 2001... The original Mirassou Winery of the 1860s was a collection of wooden houses between vineyards, stretching across an expanse of land in the spacious foothills of the Santa Clara Valley, From its vines, the winery introduced several French...

Avoiding disaster.
August 3, 2001... Mr. Guardino wears many hats. He wore a hard hat July 31 at the construction site. He's also on the board of the Independent System Operator, which oversees the California electricity grid. Earlier in the year, he was not alone in predicting...

Watch what you spend.
August 3, 2001... Steve Westly has raised about $1.8 million in his race for the Democratic nomination for California controller, according to his filing July 31 with the Secretary of State's office. The former eBay Inc. executive is reputed to have done...

Announcement near?
August 3, 2001... Scott Moeller appears to be getting closer to formally announcing he is running for the Republican nomination for the 15th congressional district. Winning the primary would put him up against first-term Congressman Mike Honda, a Democrat. ...

Civil action.
August 3, 2001... A Palo Alto law office is taking aim at politics. Chicago-based Mayer Brown & Platt has hired a former legislative adviser to Gov. Pete Wilson to head its government relations efforts in the valley. Patrick Shannon, who will be a partner in...

Small businesses joining drive for 'fast track' on trade.
August 3, 2001... Don Lloyd Williams, president of Princeton Medical Enterprises, says his Marietta, Ga.-based health care technology company can manage international trade's logistical and currency challenges. Trade barriers like tariffs are harder to...

Help offered to PR's 'fallen angels'.
August 3, 2001... For every 10 press releases I receive during the week, eight or nine are thrown onto a pile of white paper that by Friday looks like an avalanche. Most people who send press releases to me have never read this publication, or they would...

Letters to the Editor.
August 3, 2001... False impression Editor: After having read the article titled "Dot-com bust prompts software firms to target an old market" (July 27 Business Journal, TechBiz), I wanted to share some comments with you. The article gives the...

Congress must get rid of outdated export controls.
August 3, 2001... The Export Administration Act of 1979 was set to expire next month. With no bill to take its place, however, Congress was forced to give the act a three-month extension before disbanding for summer recess today Aug. 3. This quick fix will...

Mood swings.
August 3, 2001... Lance Armstrong Cancer survivor says third Tour de France victory felt even better than last time. A class act all the way. Election holiday Private commission chaired by ex-Presidents Carter and Ford recommends giving everyone a...

Farce waxes as crisis wanes.
August 3, 2001... Years from now, when historians write about the state's energy crisis, one chapter surely will be devoted to Gov. Gray Davis' energy consultants and his press secretary. Last week, the governor's office canceled contracts with five energy...

On collision course.
August 24, 2001... Just like rents, dot-coms and egos in the late 1990s, technology magazines, fattened largely by Silicon Valley advertising dollars, were huge. They enjoyed huge revenues, paid huge salaries and nursed huge ambitions. And their undoing has...