Recent news stories have highlighted how Internet companies are taking advantage of the new economy.
However, the Internet has created newfound opportunities across different sectors of many industries, with software companies leading the way.
Many analysts predict business-to-business E-commerce activities will reach between $1.3 trillion to $2 trillion nationwide by 2003.
Several local software companies in San Diego hope to cash in on the opportunities of the expanding industry by offering Internet software and services.
The San Diego Business Journal ranked the companies in The List of the Largest Software Companies by the 1999 San Diego County revenues.
Twenty-three of the 25 companies on The List have increased revenues from 1998. Ten of the software companies report revenues increased in 1999 by more than 30 percent from the previous year.
EDmin.com, Inc., No. 22 on The List, grew to $3.46 million in 1999, up from $2.31 million during the previous year, nearly a 50 percent increase. D. Clayton Hoyle, president of EDmin.com, credited the boost in revenues to the successful launch of its new product called Virtual Education System (V-ED).
EDmin.com also changed its name from Edmin Open Systems a year ago.
V-ED is a suite of Internet-based software modules that allows learning organizations to manage and report student progress aligned with district and state standards. Its system was nominated as a finalist in UCSD Connect’s 1999 Most Innovative Products Award.
– Schools Using
Innovative System
Some of the local schools using the system include Escondido Charter High School, Helix High School and schools within the Lemon Grove Elementary School District. According to Hoyle, more than 260 schools and districts are using the full or partial system of V-ED.
“We made a commitment to the Internet early on,” Hoyle said. “Open standard and systems are the base on which the Internet was built.”
Hoyle said administrators, teachers, parents or students have the ability to track and analyze the performance over several years and identify the best practices.
“Anyone can use a standard Internet browser to check a student’s progress,” he said. “They can visit their own Web sites or have the option of (EDmin.com) hosting the site and database for them.”
The V-ED underwent beta testing at Sierra Vista Elementary School in the Madera Unified School District in central California from 1996 to 1998. According to administrators, literacy skill test scores dramatically increased in the three years of V-ED testing.
In his recent State of the State Address, Gov. Gray Davis highlighted the California Reading & Literature Project for the training of 70,000 teachers. CRLP selected EDmin.com’s technology for online data management and assessment system.
– State Project
May Boost Sales
EDmin.com predicted its sales will reach $8.8 million in 2000.
“It’s a powerful concept of having real-time online data to impact what happens to every individual student,” Hoyle said.
Electronic Online Systems International (EOS), No. 18 on The List, develops catalog software for libraries. Worldwide, it serves more than 5,000 customers associated with medical, law, public and school libraries.
The core library management products for the company include the GLAS (Graphical Library Automated Systems) and Q Series, named after the “Q” character from the James Bond series, said Joe Matthews, vice president of business development.
EOS’s software is designed to automate internal operations by using its catalog system, search engine and tracking system, he added.
– Catalog System
Links Libraries
Matthews said the online version of the library catalog system could link to all of the libraries’ collections, which people can search by author, title or keywords. In addition, patrons can check the availability and reserve the title if it becomes available.
“In North America, 60 percent of the libraries are automated and over half of them have the Internet,” Matthews said. “Our software integrates books into databases and can replace the old card catalogs.”
One company, Captiva Software Corp., No. 8 on The List, plans to integrate its document-capturing software with the Internet.
Captiva’s revenues grew $21.5 million in 1999 from $18.3 million in 1998. Captiva was formed as a result of the merger of Wheb Systems, Inc. and FormWare Corp. in 1998.
Captiva’s FormWare software can have documents scanned with images and inputted into a database.
“Our program helps eliminate human error and save time,” said Craig Schwartz, vice president of marketing. “The advantages are digitizing these forms save on the storage of materials, retrieval times are shorter, and data can be electronically handled.”
– Software Has
Multiple Uses
The company’s document-capturing software is commonly used for credit applications, invoices, legal documents, medical claims and surveys.
Schwartz said Captiva plans to start integrating its software for Internet forms and faxes in the future. It would allow Internet forms to be automatically processed into a custom database.
“You’ll still see a lot of paper down the road,” Schwartz said. “One day, the paths of electronic and paper documents will cross and the volume of paper will be reduced in the office space.
“Maybe not now, but in the future.”
