The legacy of the Spokane-area software industry includes companies that shot to the top by serving major industries or by capturing sizable chunks of national and international markets.


Today, however, feisty smaller software developers here and in Coeur dAlene are clawing their way to success by serving niches in diverse industries. One provides marketing and accounting-management software to the insurance industry. Another writes programs for furniture stores. A third serves credit unions.


The Inland Northwest software industry is tiny when compared with the industry clusters in high-tech hotbeds such as Seattle and the Silicon Valley. Yet, software companies here dont plan to stay small.


One, Synergistic Software Systems Inc., of Spokane, designs software that compiles information from major credit-reporting agencies into a single report so lenders can get concise, detailed information on loan applicants quickly. Its now pushing into promising new markets created by growing landlord and employer demand for credit informationand consumer demand driven by peoples desire to see their own credit reports.


We are all over those new markets, says co-owner David Black.


Synergistic already employs about 30 people, is on track to rack up $3 million in sales this year, and has enjoyed revenue growth of 40 percent to 50 percent a year for several years, Black says.


At one time, the software industry here included such juggernauts as ISC Systems Corp., which surged to prominence in the 80s by providing total solutions for bank branches. One bigger company thats still here, Cyan Worlds Inc., became a major player by serving the worldwide craving for innovative new computer games.


Even though Spokane-area software companies have tended to be smaller in recent years, industry observers here say there are benefits to that and suggest the foundation has been laid for software to be a growth industry.


One expert with a statewide perspective, Lewis McMurran, a spokesman for the Washington Software Alliance, of Seattle, says the climate in the Spokane metropolitan area for software development is favorable. That, he says, is because of the Spokane areas relatively affordable housing and other amenities, a research cluster building around SIRTI, INTEC, and the WSU and EWU Spokane campuses. All the ingredients seem to be there.


Because the industry is small, employees tend to stay with companies longer, and employers value their employees more, say both Synergistic Softwares Black and Jennifer Bader, marketing and communications manager for Translation Technologies Inc. Several companies say its a real plus for them that the pay scale is lower here than in the Silicon Valley and other high-tech havens.


Those involved in the industry here say the Inland Northwest offers fewer opportunities for software specialists to network with one another than major metropolitan areas. Some also contend that the area is lacking in technical education, making for a smaller pool of potential employees. Nonetheless, they havent had trouble finding qualified workers or attracting them from elsewhere. Though software workers can earn more in other cities, for many, the lifestyle benefits here far outweigh the higher pay, says Cyan World spokesman Jeff Oswalt.


Says Black, I think Spokane is a great place to do business out of. Having an international airport here enables software executives and engineers to make quick trips to Seattle and other cities when its necessary to have face-to-face meetings with Microsoft consultants or representatives of other key software companies, he says.


Candy Huckaby, office manager of IEA Software, which specializes in products for Internet service providers, says the overhead for software startups here is relatively low, which makes it easier for such fledgling enterprises to get started.


Black, meanwhile, says the software industry gives the Spokane-area economy a big boost. He says that while many other businesses here sell their products or services within the region, software companies clients mostly are located elsewhere, and because of that, the software companies based here pull millions of dollars into the local economy.


Overall, the industry here is growing, software-company chieftains say, though theyve been relatively quiet about that. Following are vignettes on some of the players.


Genesis Software Systems, of Spokane, targeted the retail industry to find its specialty: It claims to make the worlds top-selling Windows-based software for furniture stores.


Genesis products handle inventory records, management tasks, and accounting for small-to-medium-sized furniture retailers, says Crystal Migliore, office manager for the eight-person company.


Genesis owner, Gary Sauther, grew up around the furniture industry and developed software for a retail chain for which he worked. That led to his starting Genesis in 1987.


Enhanced Software Products Inc., a 6-year-old Spokane developer of software for credit unions, employs 36 people and recently moved into larger quarters at 1811 N. Hutchinson in the Valley.


The company produces a host of applications for credit-union tellers, bookkeeping departments, and online banking services, says Vice President Greg Smith. It also designs Web pages for credit unions and other clients, maintains a national data center for credit unions, and recently added a new division that prints and mails invoices, blank checks, and customer statements for credit unions. The company has customers in New York, Barbados, and the Bahamas and is seeking to expand both nationally and internationally, Smith says.


Agency Software, of Hayden, Idaho, makes several software products that serve the specialized needs of insurance agencies, including for marketing and account management, says co-owner and Vice President Haunnah McInelly. The companys founder, Jim Carpenter, recognized a lack of quality proposal software while working in the insurance field in the 1980s. He launched Agency Software in 1988. With 15 employees now on the payroll, Agency has a new product on the market, called EasyApps Professional Version, which includes policy-management and client-database programs. McInelly says Agencys revenues have been growing rapidly20 percent to 30 percent a yearand she expects that to continue.


Agency Software isnt related to Agency One Corp., founded here by brothers Gary and Tony Paquin, which also produced software for the insurance industry and which was acquired by AMS Services, of Windsor, Conn., in 1997 and was combined with the former Professional Software Systems, a Coeur dAlene company bought by AMS in 1989.


The 65-person Coeur dAlene office of AMS Services also taps the insurance industry. It produces commercial-sales software, called PS4+, thats designed for independent insurance agents, and specialized software, for small agencies, says Site Manager Becky Clegg. Most large agencies use standardized software, so AMS chose to concentrate on small agencies and independent agents, Clegg says.


Clegg says sales of PS4+ took off over the summer. August was probably one of the best months weve had in some time, she says. Sales of Prime had been growing steadily, she adds, until the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. She expects that sales for the rest of the year will be substantially slower.


Farther down the road, though, Clegg believes AMS will enjoy a lot of growth. In terms of Internet-based insurance software, which allows agents to do business anywhere at anytime, it is becoming a big player, she says.


Synergistic Software Systems, the maker of the software that compiles credit reports, claims it scored an Internet first by providing secure access to credit information online. It has new technology that makes it safe to send and receive such information via the Web, which has boosted its sales, says Black.


The 11-year-old company has customers in nearly all U.S. states as well as the Virgin Islands and Guam, he says. The company currently employs about 30 people. In May, Synergistic moved into the former Childrens Home Society of Washington building at 43rd and Scott on the South Hill.


Black founded Synergistic after working as a programmer for several years, during which he wrote a mortgage program for a credit bureau contractor. Even before he had completed that program, other companies were offering to buy it, he says. That spurred his desire to start a company to sell the software.


Software developed by Lincoln Data Inc., of Spokane, is designed to help banks, escrow services, and investors handle seller-financed notes. The company has customers in 22 states, says Marie Hackney, who owns Lincoln Data along with her husband, Cliff Hackney.


The company got its start nearly two decades ago, when Cliff Hackney was asked by a local escrow company to find software for servicing seller-financed notes. He was unable to find a good, affordable product, so he developed one, Marie Hackney says.


Lincoln Data has four employees and is seeing some growth, she says. A new version of Lincolns software currently is being tested.


Another Spokane specialty software maker that claims to lead its field is IEA Software. IEA produces billing and authentication software for ISPs, though its customers also include government agencies, schools, hospitals, and others that require users to have a log-in word and password authentication, says Huckaby.


IEA works with ISPs that have as few as 500 customers and as many as hundreds of thousands, she says. Resellers sell the software for IEA all over the world.


Currently, the company is launching a new release of its Emerald accounting and billing software. Huckaby says the enhanced product is available in three versions to suit different company sizes.


Company President Jeff Albrecht co-founded IEA five years ago after working in engineering and management roles with other Inland Northwest companies. IEA currently has 17 employees.


Translation Technologies Inc., of Spokane, develops and uses software to convert computer-aided design, or CAD, files between the four predominant CAD systems on the market.


Currently, it only uses the software in house, as a service provider, but soon will be selling the software to customers so they can perform the conversions themselves.


TTIs main focus is on the automotive and aerospace industries. It maintains that use of its software could save the U.S. automobile industry $1 billion annually.


Thats because no single company designs an entire vehicle, says TTIs Bader. Rather, various companies each use sometimes varying CAD software to design specific components, and those 3-D images eventually must be joined together electronically.


Not all of the Spokane areas software makers deal with sober cut-and-dried business chores. Cyan Worlds created the games Myst, Riven, and realMyst. The North Side company currently is working on something its spokesman, Oswalt, says could change the world of online entertainment.


The new game, which has yet to be named and is referred to by the code name Mudpie, will take the world created in the Myst series and make it accessible over a broadband Internet connection. That way, Cyan can continually update the game with new features.


Cyan hasnt decided yet how players will receive or pay for the broadband games updates.


Mudpie also is being designed for voice communication.


Cyan Worlds was started in 1987 by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller. Their goal was to make non-intimidating childrens games. They started with The Manhole, which the company says was the first entertainment product ever made for CD-ROM.


After producing several kids games, the Millers decided to make something for adults, and started working on Myst in 1991. Mysts huge success led to the sequel, Riven.


As real-time 3-D graphics technology became more advanced, Cyan developed its own 3-D engine. The game realMyst utilized the companys technology to seem more real.


Cyan has 50 employees.


Currently, Cyan Worlds is looking for a partner to help it reach its future goals, Oswalt says.