Bulletin E-Edition:
Ron Langer, front, is chief operating officer of Alchemy Solutions Inc., a company that develops and sells software to help organizations switch from mainframe computer systems to server-based operations.
Dean Guernsey / The Bulletin
Aging tech yields golden opportunity
Spinoff of Japanese technology giant Fujitsu is kind of like a startup, except it’s profitable
By Andrew Moore / The Bulletin
Published: December 04. 2008 4:00AM PSTFew people may know that from 1996 until last month, Ron Langer headed up an international sales and marketing office for the Japanese technology giant Fujitsu from an office in the basement of the Old Post Office building in downtown Bend.
Langer and a staff of six developed and sold software that helped large companies and government entities transition from mainframe-based computer operations to less-expensive server systems.
In November, Fujitsu sold its interest in the software to TMV Holdings, a privately held, Florida-based technology investment firm. TMV then formed a new company, Alchemy Solutions Inc., and Langer became its chief operating officer.
But they didn’t leave Bend. Langer and his group moved out of their cramped basement office into a spacious new office on the third floor of the Franklin Crossing building.
With no furniture in the office’s foyer and programmers hunched over computers at mostly barren desks, Alchemy’s new office looks and feels like that of a startup technology company. But it’s really more of a spinoff, Langer said.
“There’s some aspects of a startup because we’re new, but we’re profitable,” he said.
Alchemy counts the Italian government, Crystal Cruises and the Washington State Department of Licensing as customers, among others, who turned to Langer, first at Fujitsu and now at Alchemy, to help them trim costs by eliminating mainframe computers from their business operations. Langer said 40 percent of the new company’s sales are overseas. He wouldn’t disclose revenues.
Mainframes, explained Langer, first came online in the 1960s and ’70s and helped government institutions and big companies such as insurance firms, banks and telephone companies process large amounts of data.
IBM controlled the vast share of the mainframe market and it’s where Langer worked for 14 years after earning degrees in computer science and mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1981.
However, mainframes — which can be as big as a van — can be expensive to operate compared with many modern computing solutions, such as small and slender server computers, Langer said. And now that Langer is on his own — no more trips to Japan to confer with senior executives at Fujitsu — his company can make strategic moves that much faster.
“We now have a much smaller team to make decisions, we’re more nimble and we think we can leverage that,” he said. “The amount of customers going off mainframes is growing and in this economy saving money is doubly important. So for us, this is a growth opportunity.”
The company is hiring, he said. It’s already added one programmer and is looking to add a couple more in the next few months. Interested individuals should know Microsoft’s .NET programming language, he said.
Despite the recession, information technology as a whole is expected to be a bright spot in the nation’s job market, according to New Horizons Computer Learning Centers Inc., a computer training company based in Conshohocken, Pa. In a news release Tuesday, New Horizons cited data from Forrester Research Inc. that predict 2 to 3 percent growth in IT spending in 2008, followed by an increase of up to 10 percent in 2009.
“(IT) is still a very viable industry and a good job market,” said Mark Tucker, New Horizons’ vice president of marketing. “It is viable, it’s not going anywhere, and it’s doing very well.”
Bend has a small IT sector, with software companies such as GL Suites Inc., BlueReference.com and Symyx Technologies Inc., to name a few.
Langer said he came to Bend in 1996 for the same reason many move to the region: quality of life. Langer was born in Bend but moved to California with his family when he was a toddler. After college, Langer worked for IBM in Silicon Valley. When the opportunity came in 1996 to work for Fujitsu, Langer took the job with the caveat he could telecommute.
“In those days, you didn’t want to give the impression you worked from home — a dog bark could be very unprofessional,” mused Langer.
He at first worked from home but later moved into the Old Post Office building. Part of the reason for the move to the new office was the need to have a dedicated, air-conditioned server room.
Heading a firm with international sales — Langer will visit Europe next week — can be a challenge sometimes when it comes to travel, he said. But whatever is lost there is more than made up by employees who are happy to live and work in Bend, he said.
“There are people who are certainly envious of those that can work in (IT) in Bend,” Langer said. “It’s so much easier to retain people, and we’re glad we’re able to create jobs here.”
Andrew Moore can be reached at 541-617-7820 or amoore@bendbulletin.com.
ARTICLE ACCESS: This article is among those available to all readers. Many more articles are available only to E-Edition members. Sign up today!
blog comments powered by Disqus
