Information Technology.

PositionIndustry Outlook - Panel Discussion

FOR OUR SECOND ANNUAL roundtable with leaders in Utah's information technology arena, we tackled topics ranging from venture capital funding and the potential impact of HB 240 to issues involving finding and keeping senior management talent. Although many of the attendees predict somewhat sluggish growth for the remainder of this year, most conveyed optimism about the outlook for 2004.

Participants included Brian Lloyd from Stoel Rives, Tom Stockham from MyFamily.com, Bill Harris from Cadence, Jack Sunderlage from UITA, Will West from Control 4 Technologies, Stan Lockhart from Micron, Ralph Yarro from Canopy Group, Darren Lee from Nextpage, Bob Carter from First Choice USA, Gary Moulton from Glyphics Communications, Kelly Maxfield from Consonus, Doug Harris from Engage Thoughtware, Brad Waiters from Max Stream, Reed Brown from Iomega, Franklin Lewis from Geolux Communications, Kevin Pace from KPMG and Bruce Law from Sprout Marketing.

Special thanks to Richard Nelson, president and CEO of the Utah Information Technology Association (UITA), for moderating this month's Utah Business roundtable.

What is your outlook for the industry's recovery in Utah and its extremely important role in providing very high-paying jobs for the state's economy?

LAW: My outlook for the coming months and years is very bullish. During this downturn in the economy, Utah has kind of stuck to its knitting, which traditionally has been very much focused on innovation. We've all been heads down doing new products, creating new technologies, and now I see more and more people ready to kind of come out of hiding and launch those products. I don't believe it's going to be an immediate rocket ship, but it's going to be a steady climb.

STOCKHAM: I see a strong, steady -- with, of course, dips and things along the way -- trend in growth for probably the next decade, based on the growth in capital and the growth in the strong workforce, and I hope that comes to fruition.

LLOYD: We see a tremendous body of entrepreneurs and innovators, and based on the number of those individuals that we deal with on a regular basis, we are very optimistic as to where this industry is going. We are, however, realistic in recognizing some of the limitations that geography and other factors play in the development of business in this sector, and so we look for positive increasing growth, but probably at a steady rate and probably not anywhere to the level or the degree that we saw during the last 10 years.

LEWIS: I'm one who is cheering for a speedy recovery in the industry. I'm looking forward to long-term growth and sustained growth.

BILL HARRIS: I volunteered to come out here from the San Jose/Silicon Valley area because I saw tremendous potential. We have a significant pool of well-educated and talented resources out here. We've seen dedicated people who are available in this area and for a less significant cost, so it's a tremendous cost savings for us to be able to do that kind of thing. So we [too] are very bullish that things are going to recover quickly.

SUNDERIAGE: Since retiring after a 40-year career in the IT industry, I've been doing some contract work with the governor's office on the New Century High School initiative into the new high-tech high schools that we are creating in Utah. As I've gone out to the various companies in the state, I am sensing a great deal of optimism as well about the future and about the recovery, and people are willing to make investments.

CARTER: HB 240 is going to help immensely, and I'm very, very optimistic about the growth. I think you'll see much more rapid growth in companies that have proven their stability and their ability to generate revenue. I think it will be a little slower in some of the start-ups and new technologies because their companies were burned on some of those investments. So, I'm real excited. We have a great opportunity.

WEST: We're seeing a more receptive market today even than we have seen in the last three or four years. An interesting comment by one of the venture capitalists that I'm working with: He said that six months ago, they could get essentially any deal they wanted at the...

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