Monday Business Roundup

Survivors: Boulder Business After 9/11/01

By Mark Phillips, 9-11-06

Business probably isn't on the top of everone's mind this 11th morning of September. But in a country where distinctions between personal, community, political, and economic life are virtually nonexistent, I'm sure most of us remember the fog in the office five years ago, the frantic calls between the home office and stranded road warriors, the bewildered gestures of bosses more used to leading Tuesday-morning sales meetings than encouraging emotional staff-members to take solace in family, faith, and national solidarity. And so, while Boulder's high-end housing market and anxious preparations for 29th Street's opening still get some coverage, it's no surprise that much of the past week's business press chronicle's how local companies adjusted in Q4 '01.

Saturday's Rocky Mountain News tells a tale of one Colorado company's survival. EBags, based in Greenwood village, intially built their business on luggage. Fortunately, their business model avoided hefty inventory investments and, because they "drop ship" directly from manufacturers to EBags customers, they were able to quickly diversify their product offerings soon after post-9/11 travel bag business disappeared.



Local anti-spyware software firm, Webroot, got some play this week in the context of a different kind of threat. Webroot played a role in this week's $8 million settlement with several firms and individuals accused of developing and distributing spyware. Webroot teamed with Google and Microsoft on the suit, and, while the settlement might seem to indicate that firms like those fined might be in trouble, Webroot nevertheless estimates that "89 percent of consumer PCs [are] infected with an average of 20 pieces of spyware."


Storage gained new attention after the attack on NYC. Firms across the spectrum were forced to evaluate disaster recovery plans and looked to Boulder County's storage community for guidance. In this morning's Daily Camera, Mike Carp of Enterprise Management Association claims that StorageTek and Copan systems were able to respond quickly to new requirements for back up and recovery products and services. Another local business, Raindance Communications, saw rapid adoption of its web-conferencing services when business travel became too expensive or too cumbersome in late 2001.

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