Microage/AIS: biting into big industry growth.

• Author: Johnson, Kaylene
• Position: MicroAge Advanced Information Services - The new 49ers

In less than five years, this Anchorage computer company has become a provider of service for big-name national clients.

Alaska's high-profile businesses tend to crowd headlines across the state. But on the quiet sidelines, a hard-driving Alaska enterprise is growing exponentially, biting into an increasing market for computer systems integration.

MicroAge Advanced Information Services of Anchorage has combined the speed of today's computer technology with a powerful literacy in the field to build an Alaska company that meets the high expectations of the two men who had the courage to found it.

Jon Peacock and Tim Fargo purchased the MicroAge franchise from TransAlaska Data Systems Inc. in 1989. Their vision was to create a specialized company that would sell more than just computers and support. They foresaw the need for in-depth computer system engineering, especially for micro-processor-based operating systems. The offshoot of their vision and their purchase of the MicroAge franchise became a new company called MicroAge/Advanced Information Services (AIS).

MicroAge/AIS has since emerged as a contender among systems integration businesses across the nation. The company offers clients in-depth, advanced consulting and engineering of large-scale computer projects. It then provides the delivery, training and management of those complex systems.

Dandy Dividends

The firm's efforts have paid off handsomely. Starting with revenues of $9.4 million in 1989, the company boasted over $23 million in revenue for 1992. Peacock and Fargo anticipate that by the end of 1993, MicroAge/AIS will generate over $45 million in revenue.

The company's affiliation with the MicroAge franchise provides access to the computer equipment they sell. Certain computer systems such as IBM can only be purchased through authorized distributors like MicroAge, explains Peacock.

The franchise provides AIS rights to use the MicroAge name and products. AIS then takes the service end of the business a step further by solving information-related problems with advanced consultation, project management, systems engineering, training, design and delivery. Fifty percent of MicroAge/AIS's revenues are derived from service-related products, a measure of the business's growing success in the computer integration arena.

"Integration and engineering are the core of what we do," Fargo says.

MicroAge/AIS is involved in systems integration for oil, banking, education and Native corporations...