UTAH TECH WATCH - - by David Politis - - 2/24-26/96 Edition

Several years ago, I watched with horror as much of Yellowstone National
Park was destroyed in a tremendous firestorm.

Today, however, most of the burned out areas of Yellowstone have been
reborn. It turns out that several types of evergreen trees and other
plants indigenous to the area do not release their seeds unless tempered
by fire.

Slightly more than two years ago, WordPerfect Corp. was at its pinnacle of
power.

Software reviewers everywhere considered WordPerfect to be the premier word
processing program on the planet.

Its technical support had become legendary, and the firm employed some
4,500 people.

Today, as most readers of this column know, WordPerfect the corporation is
a mere shell of its former self.

It was acquired by Novell in an abortive move to compete head-to-head with
Microsoft.

It was late to market by 18 months with a Windows version of its word
processing product, late to introduce an office suite, and it has yet to
ship a Windows95 version.

And now we are at the cusp of another sale of the "company," this time to
Ottawa, Canada-based Corel Corp.

The WordPerfect firestorm

Along the way, hundreds -- no thousands -- have left the employ of
WordPerfect and its current employer, Novell.

The effects upon the software giant have been much like the firestorm in
Yellowstone, as the vast majority of WordPerfect is no more, denuded and
fried to a crisp.

However, the benefits of the death of WordPerfect the company are just
beginning to be seen as former employees from the technical support area
to senior management are landing in new jobs throughout the state and the
region.

Most of these "former ones" are now working for technology companies, using
their valuable experience to grow new or existing firms.

Several others have taken the jump into entrepreneurism and started their
own companies. While others are working outside of the high-tech
industry.

The final benefits of WordPerfect's demise will not be known in full for
several years, but the emerging green shoots of new life, particularly in
Utah's high-tech arena, are already apparent to those who are willing to
look.

In the end, I suspect the benefits of WordPerfect's firestorm will mirror
the benefits of the Yellowstone fire with the industry being more vibrant
and more diverse as a result.

And in the end, that will be a good thing.

The VC rap on Utah

Interestingly, one of the biggest raps venture capitalists have had on
Utah's high-tech has been its overall lack of infrastructure, particularly
when it comes to upper and mid-level management.

One of the main benefits I believe we'll see in the state as a result of
the personnel cutbacks at WordPerfect and Novell will be increased
investments in Utah's high-tech companies.

These investments will come in the form of equity placements, strategic
partnerships, and outright acquisitions.

Over time, these investments will spawn an entirely new raft of start-ups
and business opportunities, further strengthening the state's economy.

Matchmaking opportunities

Last week I wrote briefly about the upcoming UK/US Partners in Technology
conference slated for March 6 and 7.

Since then, I've learned that there are still opportunities for Utah firms
to sign-up for face-to-face meetings with up to 40 UK firms to explore
potential business relationships.

Specifically, there are seven UK firms that do not have any matchmaking
meetings set yet for their March visit. Based upon their areas of
expertise, I can only imagine that it's because the appropriate Utah firms
don't know these opportunities exist.

For the record, here is a brief description of these seven firms: a
contract design firm specializing in business and consumer products; a new
media firm specializing in developing CD-ROMs, Internet products and
multimedia kiosks; a radio communications firm specializing in
long-distance networks; a firm specializing in OSI communication software;
a developer of a customer information and billing system for utilities and
municipalities; a systems integrator of data acquisition and process
control hardware and software; and a developer of quality assurance
systems for public services and establishments.

To register or for more information about the conference, interested
parties should contact Gail Rhoades at 801-364-2030.

A marketing communications consultant that specializes in high-tech and
health care clients, David Politis welcomes column ideas at 801-569-2592
or via the Internet at dpolitis@altatech.com.
 
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