Clients Choose From Range of Services

For statusblue, the Carbondale Technology Transfer Center is an ideal match.  "If I need information or technical business assistance, it’s here," statusblue web designer Andrew Whitiak said. "Design I’m extremely familiar with, but for the administrative work, through the help of the technology center there are means for me to get information and use it."  statusblue - whose all-lower-case name reflects its Internet presence - develops business web sites.

Mr. Whitiak believes locating at the CTTC was smart, and not just for the expertise. locating at the CTTC was smart, and not just for the expertise. "At the center, it’s a business environment," he explained. "Here I only have what’s relevant to the business. It’s a good focus."

Less obvious but no less important, other facilities were less than receptive to an occasionally unorthodox schedule.  "I do like the fact that they let me come in here really late at night," Mr. Whitiak said, "that they’re flexible like that."

For a start-up metal fabricator, attractive financing and quality business services were the draw. Dave Rollison, president and founder of Metal Integrity, LLC, said the University of Scranton Small Business Development Center helped with his business plan and suggested Carbondale, where the CTTC and Carbondale Enterprise Development Zone Corp. provided low-interest loans.
   Metal Integrity uses center services off-site. Its products range from repair and maintenance items to complex assemblies for original equipment manufacturers. CTTC Executive Director Paul Browne sees Metal Integrity as important to area workers.
   "We’ve had a lot of technology oriented businesses to date in the center," Mr. Browne said, "and while this one involves innovative approaches, it’s really going to need people that have skills in the industry but not necessarily the high tech type skills."
 

  Multi-Level Technologies, Inc. made its expansion project the center’s first off-site client because of financing and a quality labor pool, according to Edward Moody, vice president of business development. Established in 1997, MLTI offers computer networking and administration, web design, and storage services, but its lead product is process control hardware and software.
    "Multi-Level Technologies probably has the greatest rapid job growth potential we’ve seen," Mr. Browne said.

   The experience of Access World, a full-service Internet hosting provider, shows how the CTTC can provide a young company with the support it needs to grow.
   "The CTTC helped us strengthen our business and focus on our customer base," said Access World Chief Technical Officer Kurt Bauman. "We were able to build the company without the distractions of keeping an office running smoothly."
   Access World offers web site design and the business tools to help clients take advantage of e-commerce opportunities. It evolved from HI-TECH Solutions, a computer services firm at the CTTC and now one of several companies cooperating with Access World on projects.

   Some CTTC clients use only specific services, which are offered in standard or custom packages. Wells Cargo, Inc., an Indiana trailer manufacturer, was launching a new plant in Carbondale when it decided to use those services.
   Through the center, Wells Cargo opened its office long before the plant was ready, doing so at a considerable saving in time and money. Western Product Manager Jack Klepinger and Division Manager Bill Stiefel were thus able to deal with vendors, work out construction issues, and even build the company’s customer base by meeting with area dealers. The company got a head start on the professionalism and credibility that strengthen an image.
   "People can call here and the phone is answered with ‘This is Wells Cargo’ or ‘Good morning, Wells Cargo,’" Mr. Klepinger said.
   "This makes it so much easier," Mr. Stiefel said. "You have a desk to work at and someone answering the phone."

   From the start, Wells Cargo saw its CTTC space as temporary, but another non-typical client, J.K.Harris & Company of North Charleston, South Carolina, will stay at the center to provide problem-solving and other tax-related services.
   "We’re able to see clients very efficiently and the overhead is low," said Peter Solinsky, whose schedule places him at the center biweekly. "We’re self-sufficient. We carry our own cell phones. We use the facilities that are available for faxes, copies, that type of thing. It allows us to be mobile, keeps our expenses down, helps the landlord pay some expenses."
   Wells Cargo and J.K. Harris aren’t the only companies with out-of-the-ordinary ties to the center.

   "Minority Business Advisors assists companies with certification as ‘minority-owned,’ ‘woman-owned,’ ‘small disadvantaged business,’ or a ‘Section 8(a) SBA company,’" Mr. Browne said. "The certification’s importance is hard to overestimate because it opens the door to federal contracts and to subcontracts with major government suppliers."
   The firm is a CTTC anchor tenant and was incorporated by Thomas Tomaine, a former U.S. Small Business Administration official.
   "I was with SBA in this program, working with applications," he said, "so this is a natural. The process is paper-intensive and complex, so people recognize the value in the service we provide."
   Mr. Tomaine said the center offers services and credibility to MBA, while Mr. Browne said MBA’s presence can move the CTTC closer to the business community and help expand area companies’ markets.