Why They're Calling Glenwood 'Silicon Springs'.

• Author: LAINSON, SUZANNE

Here's a trivia question for you. What Colorado town has played a major role in worldwide Financial markets?

A hint: I said "town." OK, a gold star Glenwood Springs Yes, Glenwood Springs, providing worldwide computer-based financial services.

The first, CQG, or Comprehensive Quotes and Graphics, was started in 1979 by Tim Mather, a commodities broker who developed software to access and analyze commodities data. Today, "CQG provides real-time financial data and graphics to institutional and professional traders in more than 50 countries around the world," said President Ed Anderson. "Our customers are large banks and brokerage houses, centered mostly in financial capitals."

"We have may more clients in New York, Chicago, and London than in Colorado," added Brian Bell, a CQG programmer who recently started Bell Consulting to provide customized services for CQG clients,

Although its Glenwood location has served CQG well over the years, the company is moving its main office to downtown Denver, brining together employees who had been located in Littleton and Boulder. Said Anderson, "My only regret is that a number of our long-standing staff in Glenwood were unable to move with us because of family or personal reasons." The company will maintain a small Glenwood operation "to accommodate certain key personal," Anderson said.

CQG, employs about 300 employees worldwide, 175 in the Unites States. In addition to Colorado, the company has offices in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Fankfurt, Moscow, Tokyo Milan and Zurich.

Then there's Aspen Research Group, started in 1985 by two former CQG employees, John Praetorius and Bob Lewis, now the company's top executives. According to Dave Moore, sales and marketing VP, "The two of them created a product that was well-received in the financial markets in Late 1989, and we began making the product available worldwide at that...