Fundamental things apply as time goes by.

• Position: Traditional business methods last - Statistical Data Included

Business basics. That was the lesson the year 2000 taught those in the virtual world of high-tech who once thought themselves free of traditional business rules. "At the beginning of the year, a lot of companies were into the Internet craze," says Scot Wingo, general manager of Research Triangle Park-based GoTo Auctions. "By June, those with viable business plans were sold or went public, and by the end of the year, many of the companies that didn't were laying off people or going out of business." Wingo sold his AcctionRover.com to GoTo.com Inc. in March in a stock deal worth $166.1 million. The Internet auction portal was just 8 months old.

Paul Meyer, founding partner of Durham-based Fusion Ventures Investments LLC, a seed-stage venture fund, agrees the year was a "roller coaster ride," but says the spring meltdown of dot-com stocks on the Nasdaq affected North Carolina far less than Silicon Valley. "We didn't go up so far," he says, "so we didn't have as far to fall."

Still, an inhospitable market for initial public offerings soured hopes that 2000 would be a banner year for Tar Heel companies. Dot-coms such as YOUcentric Inc. and FairPoint Communications Inc., both based in Charlotte, and Raleigh-based Total Sports Inc. parked their plans. RTP-based BuildNet Inc., an online building-materials middleman, raised $107 million in venture capital early, but poor market conditions caused it to pull back from an October IPO and lay off 18% of its workers in November.

Morrisville-based SciQuest.com, which resells laboratory and scientific equipment online, saw its stock plunge from $84.13 in late 1999 to less than $2 in December. In November, the company laid off 10% -- about 40-- of its workers. The stock of another highflier, Durham-based Red Hat Inc., soared after its IPO two years ago, then plummeted from $273 in December 1999 to $6 a year later.

But some companies were still sexy. Morrisville-based Cronos Integrated Microsystems was sold to San Jose, Calif.-based JDS Uniphase Corp. for $750 million in April. Durham-based OpenSite Technologies Inc. ended its off-and-on IPO chase in May when San Mateo, Calif.-based Siebel Systems Inc. bought it for $542 million.

Meanwhile, established companies bought out newer ones. Cary-based SAS Institute Inc., which provides software for 90% of Fortune 500 companies, acquired Triangle start-up DataFlux Corp. and made investments in London-based Intrinsic and carclub.com. It also spun off iBiomatics LLC...