Tar Heel techies try to get boom to echo.

• Author: Speizer, Irwin
• Position: Motricity - Company overview

In the world of high-tech electronics, sometimes there's no such thing as a straight line. Take Motricity, the fast-growing Durham-based provider of technology that lets people get games, graphics and tunes on cell phones. Over the last year, the company seemed to fast-forward and reverse at the same time.

In April, it announced it had secured $40 million in venture capital. In July, it bought GoldPocket Wireless, an interactive-services company whose clients include The Apprentice and Big Brother television shows. In August, it snagged $32 million more venture funding, bringing to $152 million the amount raised since its formation in 2001. "We more than quadrupled our customer base," says Noreen Allen, vice president of marketing. "It's been really busy."

But while growing, Motricity began shrinking. In October, it announced it was cutting 10 of its 425 jobs as it reorganized to reduce expenses. In December, it said 50 more jobs would go, about half of them at its headquarters, where 375 work. "We had to bring in a ton of employees to help get those new customers launched," Allen says. "You have this ramp-up period where a lot of work is required, and then you are able to scale back."

As a whole, the industry is ramping up in North Carolina after several years of scaling back since the dot-com bust of 2001--when makers of computer and electronic products cut more than 10,000 jobs statewide. Employment started inching up in 2005 and continued last year. Through November, it was about 39,700, up 900 from the beginning of the year.

Bolstered by favorable reviews--in September, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group ranked Research Triangle Park the nation's most desirable technology hub--the state continues to attract tech companies. "We are seeing tech companies relocating to North Carolina from other parts of the country to escape higher operating costs," says Mark Vitner, senior economist at Charlotte-based Wachovia.

Case in point: Network Appliance, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based maker of data-storage software and hardware. It moved some operations to Durham in 2000. In 2004, it bought three RTP buildings, began building a regional headquarters and added to its work force of 150. By late 2006, it employed more than 500 in North Carolina.

In the Triad, Greensboro-based RF Micro Devices, which makes chips for cell phones and other products, began another expansion in its hometown after an international search for a factory site. The new plant...