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Wisconsin isn't about to put the Silicon Valley or Massachusetts' Route 128 the nation's two symbolic hubs of high tech out of business. But the Dairy State is quietly growing a computer software industry of its own.
Software companies the makers of the programs that allow computers to work their magic have increased nationwide in the last decade as microcomputers, such as the IBM Personal Computer and its clones, have proliferated in the home and, especially, in the office.
Wisconsin software goes back further than that, however mainly in the Milwaukee area, where several companies have been in business since about 1970, carving out markets providing software for larger mini-, or middle range, computers.
Meanwhile, falling prices have opened up markets for the computers themselves, says Michael Browne, of the accounting firm of Redlin Browne & Co., which has advised several clients on acquiring computer systems and programs.
"With some of the advances in hardware today, the cost of a computer is substantially less than it was 20 years ago," Browne says. "A company with $5 million in sales can afford one."
And more computer buyers means more potential software customers.
The software industry everywhere thrives on specialization, and Wisconsin's is no exception. So in Eagle River, Pharmacy Data Systems Inc. sells microcomputer packages across the country, tailored specifically for the pharmacy departments of small hospitals. The company logged about $750,000 in sales last year.
In Eau Claire, Delta Technology International Inc. found another sort of niche, selling to a wide variety of micro users a collection of programs all aimed at making it easier to gain access to the computer user's existing files. Sales last year approached $4 million.
Milwaukee-based Quant IX sells a single product: a personal investment portfolio management program based on the same program that the company's parent, Alpha Research, uses to provide clients with investment advice. (Neither Alpha nor its subsidiary disclose sales figures.)
The same niche marketing has taken place in the mid-range computer software market in Wisconsin. That industry, centered...