Arizona Republic du lieu suivant : Phoenix, Arizona • Page 84

SPECIAL TOPICS Kondar-PERSONAL COMPUTING Tuesday PERSONAL FINANCE Wednesday SMALL BUSINESS Thursday MARKETPLACE THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC FRIDAY DECEMBER 18, 1998 Senior Editor, Les Polk 444-4813 les.polkpni.com Saturday -REAL ESTATE Sunday -INVESTING WORKPLACE 3 lotos leayii EofA ceeter, 350 REPUBLIC TICKER DOW JONES 8,875.82 85.22 NASDAQ 2,043.88 34.52 1,179.88 18.04 BLOOMBERG a 1 AZ INDEX 1 205-25 L55 a facility at the credit card campus and make as much as $12 per hour, will be given the choice of moving to Las Vegas or Rio Rancho, near Albuquerque, transferring to another division or taking a severance package. Those who don't want to make a move, will receive a minimum of 13 weeks' pay or three weeks' for every year they have been with the bank, depending on which is greater, Sto- i Please see BOFA, Page E3 public relations for Bank of America. The bank's large credit card operation with 1,800 employees is staying put at its campus near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Stowell said that because of planned expansions at the charge card center, the 350 jobs being moved out of the Valley could end up as a wash for the bank's overall employment in the area. Bank of America Phoenix call center employees, who are based in i fcM.a.f.i I ill 1 VA Ia tj far Photos by Mark HenleThe Arizona Republic Rich Rudow, president and chief executive of FMS Mobile Networking, monitors computers in a control center that project a map of Phoenix showing the location of a fleet of vehicles.

Arizona entrepreneurs enter 2nd generation By Catherine Reagor The Arizona Republic Bank of America is closing its Phoenix call center, which employs 350 employees, and moving the work to centers in Las Vegas and Rio Rancho, N.M. The bank, which merged with NationsBank of Charlotte, N.C., in a deal worth nearly $40 billion on Sept. 30, plans to move those positions out of the Valley to its other two call centers by June, said Paul Stowell, a vice president of DIGITAL DESERT REBECCA ROWING The Arizona Republic 40 'Angels' to aid Valley businesses A group of angels is coming to look after the Valley's emerging companies. Chris Augur, former president of SpeedFam International and his partner, Rick Marshall, a San Francisco-based investor, have created the Arizona Angels. An angel, by Augur's definition, is an experienced business leader who will invest $300,000 to il million in a company and take a role in its management.

Typically the investments are made with high-tech companies and other industries prone to rapid growth. The group has 40 accredited investors. The inspiration for the group came from the Silicon Valley Band of Angels, which has 130 angels who have invested $140 million in early-stage companies. The Arizona group will meet every other month to hear presentations from about three companies looking for investments. If a handful of investors are interested in the company, they may learn more about the company and choose to invest $50,000 to $150,000 in the business.

One of the backers would likely take a seat on the company's board to represent the investors. About half of the presenting Please see YOUNG, Page E2 State jobless rate up slightly By RusS Wiles The Arizona Republic i( Arizona's jobless rate rose modestly in November, as the state failed to improve on its record-setting performance in October. The unemployment level increased to 4 percent last month from 3.5 percent in October despite the creation of nearly 31,000 jobs. Metro Phoenix and Tucson also posted slightly worse numbers. The national unemployment level dropped to 4.4 percent from 4.6 percent in October.

Modest gyrations in Arizona's Please see STATE, Page E3 IN When Bank of America's Phoenix call center at its credit card operation near Sky Harbor International Airport is closed, the vacant space will be used to expand the credit card facility. The Arizona Republic 3 VaUey area code idea gains support Panel due to vote today on plans for new numbers ByMaxJarman The Arizona Republic The Arizona Corporation Commission is scheduled to vote today on a proposal that would split metropolitan Phoenix info three area code districts. It's the latest in a series of plans designed to keep the Valley from running out of phone numbers next year. The new plan would allow central and south Phoenix to retain the 602 area code. A second area code would be 99 assigned to the East Valley, This plan of and a third all of them would be given makes (he to phone numbers in the most sense, West Valley ''based on and in Phoenix north of Thun- what been derbird Road, offered and the The plan would comments give the 602 area code a life we ve had.

of seven to nine years before it Jim Irvin would have to ARIZONA be subdivided CORPORATION COMMISSION 8The latest CHAIRMAN proposal was made possible by a decision Thursday "by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator to give the Valley a second new area code. The quasi-govern-ment agency earlier awarded the Valley one new prefix, 480, but was said to be reluctant to issue a second. Commission Chairman Jim Irvin said that after considerable discussions with the agency, he was able to get them to agree to a second new Please see PANEL, Page E2 The Arizona Republic A skier tackles Geronimo trail at Sunrise in this file Year Year ago Thursday ago i INSIDE Moving up at Commerce The Arizona Commerce Department shuffled its lineup Thursday, promoting a new deputy director. Page E2. Credit union rules adopted New federal rules allowing more people to join credit unions were formally adopted Thursday.

Page E2. No market panic Bombs are flying in the Middle East, the leader of the free world is on the verge of being impeached, and the stock market is going up? Page E3. Azinc Maricopa County leading in growth Maricopa County led the nation in business and employee growth from 1995 to 1996, the Census Bureau reported day. The county added 3,052 businesses, 77,612 employees and 87,296 residents during the period. The county's employment rose 7.5 percent to 1.11 million people.

After Maricopa, the counties with the greatest increases in employees were Santa Clara, up New York, N.Y., up Clark, up and Oakland, up 34,086. Maricopa County's employee payroll increased 12.5 percent to $30.1 billion from 1995 to 1996 but trailed New York County, Santa Clara County, Los Angeles County and King County, Wash. Zila profits increase Zila a Phoenix healthcare products company, reported a modest profit increase for its first quarter of 1999 despite continuing heavy investment in research and development. Zila said it earned $756,000, or 2 cents a share, on revenue of $16.5 million for its first fiscal quarter, which ended Oct. 31.

That was up from loss of $430,000, or 1 cent a share, on revenue of $10.8 million in the same period a year earlier. The company said those results were achieved despite heavy investment in its OraTest oral-cancer detection product and other programs. The Food and Drug Administration in. September accepted Zila's new drug application for OraTest and assigned it "priority review" status. Microtest gets Asian deal Telecom Equipment Pte.

a unit of Singapore Telecom, has been awarded a contract from the Singapore government's National Computer Board to buy cable testers and cable management software from Phoenix-based Microtest over the next 12 months, with an option to renew the contract for six more months. Microtest and its Sfngapore distributor, Sunderland Technologies Pte estimate the value of the deal at up to $4 million. The agreement continues Mi-crotest's expansion in the Asian market, coinciding with its plan to open a regional headquarters and training center in "Singapore next spring. Founded in 1984, Microtest manufactures diagnostic certification and connectivity products for local area networks. Compiled from reports by The Arizona Republic.

To submit a news item to AZ Inc, call the Business desk at 444-8142, fax us at 444-4439 or send e-mail to repbizpni.com. Get business news 24 hours a day on Arizona Central, the online service of The Arizona Republic.You'll rr -imir-ll Experience opens venture capital doors By Rebecca Rolwing The Arizona Republic Rich Rudow had a look of sheer confidence as he worked through a sea of well-suited investors. It was pretty impressive considering the president and chief executive of the high-tech start-up FMS Mobile Networking was asking for $5 million. But Rudow was no longer the novice he'd been when he first went to the Arizona Venture Capital Conference in 1995 seeking money for Leading Edge Technologies He is among a growing number of second-generation entrepreneurs looking for venture capital cash. It's a group defined by those who start a company, raise money, get it successful then jump ship to do it all over again.

The extra experience opens doors when talking to Data collection devices and mobile data terminals (top boxes) are tested before installation in vehicles. venture capitalists who had been locked tight. This time Rudow was worry free about raising $5 million this year and the same next year. "Just been there. Done that.

We've got a neat Please see EXPERIENCE, Page E2 i yourself in traction by face-planting into a ponderosa pine. The free day on the Sunrise slopes is a goodwill gesture by Pi-netop-Lakeside, Show Low, the White Mountain Apache Tribe and the ski resort. Regular lift ticket prices are $34 per day for adults and $19 for ages 12 and under. Sunrise had a 32-inch base of snow as of Thursday and all the Please see PETS, Page E3 INTEREST RATES inursday BUSINESS BUZZ Free schussirig offered for day at Sunrise Resort UNEMPLOYMENT RATES For the United States, Arizona and Phoenix-Mesa, including Pinal County. All rates are seasonally adjusted.

6 5 4 3 2 Mil i "-Phoenix-Mesa 1 A A 0 98 Source: Arizona Department of Economic Security The Arizona Republic United- -J I States I IS II Schusssssh! Don't tell your boss, but it's Free Ski Day on Monday at Sunrise Park Resort It might be a good time to take a ski day or a personal day and use whatever lame excuse you think might be believable. Here's one suggestion: "I broke my nose when I got elbowed in a fight for the last Furby at the mall." Just hope you don't run into your boss on the ski lifts or that you put METALS AND COMMODITIES: N.Y. Merc 291.20 N.Y. Merc Troy oz. Pound a-3J5a CC OCa siu Handy "ivS Harman Cotton 61.70 IrsfJay's marliels summary i ONE DOLLAR EQUALS CLOSING QUOTES: NYSE: 1 AftTEX: 570.15 650.43 7.26 Composite volume: 897,786,580 m- Dollar Yen UwFi 1 5431 116.13 iSs- 0.0050 iSs -o-4" Prime rate 7.75 8.50 6-month T-bills 4.35 5.18 Discount rate 4.50 5.00 1 0-year T-notes 4.57 5.74 Federal funds 4.88 5.63 30-year T-bonds 5.01 5.93 3-month T-bill 4.34 5.08 Avg.

30-yr. mortgage rate: 6.69 1 Toronto: 6,291.45 7.62 ii't Peso SC 9.8250 NJSf Nf 0.0250 SJ "Russell 2000: 393.78 3.93 Mark 1.6681 0.0047 Crude oil 11.03 Barrel Pound, Troy oz, 4.935 0.090 find it at www.azcentrai.combusiness.