Companies assess ramifications of sept. 11.

• Author: Lainson, SuZanne
• Position: E-buzz

TO MANY OF US, THE WORLD permanently changed with the events of September 11. We anticipate economic and political ramifications, though few have emerged. Mostly we hear about what will happen within the next few months (a time-frame popular with economists and venture capitalists) or what must happen decades down the road (popular with renewable energy and sustainable development folks).

What's missing are the intermediate trends which are so important to business strategic planning. Toward that end, I asked a number of my tech contacts to tell me what they thought would happen in the global economy over the next few years. I wasn't overwhelmed with responses, but a few threads did emerge.

Not surprisingly, companies specializing in security see opportunities ahead. Demetrios Laz' Lazarikos, president and CEO of Riskology, a Denver-based IT security company, cited recent studies by the Computer Security Institute and FBI indicating that 97 percent of all companies surveyed have resources online, and of those, 85 percent have detected security breaches within the last twelve months. He also noted that the worldwide market for information security services is expected to more than triple from 2000 to 2005, to $21 billion.

Even companies not directly in the security business are playing that angle. Chris Bullock, CEO of Denver's Nextep Media, said his company is launching Soft Brochures, which allows sales and marketing teams to send multimedia e-mail corporate brochures as an alternative to print mail campaigns." He pointed out that electronic mail won't deliver anthrax.

E-commerce, currently being hit by the recession, may have a similar upside. "Our business has never been better," said Jon Nordmark, CEO and founder of eBags in Greenwood Village. "Business is up 49.8 percent vs. last year since the September attacks.' He attributes the change to "people not wanting to go into the mall." His company has developed a side business renting its email and Web technologies to other retailers. With IT spending .predicted to slow significantly for at least the next year, companies continue the search for must-have applications. Bill French, chief ingenuity officer for Starbase Corp., based in...