Sun alliance brightens StorageTek horizon

Under the two-year partnership, Louisville-based StorageTek and Sun will combine sales forces with StorageTek (NYSE: STK) reselling a Sun mid-range disk system – code-named “purple” – and Sun (Nasdaq: SUNW) reselling StorageTek tape drives and tape libraries.

StorageTek Chief Strategist Walt Hinton and Sun Vice President Joe Womack said each company would benefit with increased coverage in the SAN field. Hinton said StorageTek gains from Sun’s dot-com presence and that Sun gains from StorageTek’s experience in tape storage, which would back up the massive amounts of data that SANs would pool. “We need each other,” Hinton told an audience of about 200 at the December presentation.

The alliance could cast positive light on the Louisville-based data storage provider. StorageTek in 1998 enjoyed a heyday, in part due to a four-year alliance with IBM Corp., which ends next year. StorageTek stocks reached highs of about $50 per share last year, but StorageTek twice this year has missed Wall Street expectations, has had to cut back its staff and, as a result, has raised doubts of some industry analysts.

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Jim LaValley, senior director of human resources for U S West in Denver, was named chairman of a new Workforce Development Council organized by Gov. Bill Owens.

Members of the 41-member council will advise the governor and legislature on employment and training needs of the state and on workforce development plans and strategy. The council also will be developing a five-year State Workforce Investment Plan with initiatives to improve the skills of the state’s workforce.

Clark Bolser, executive director of the state Office of Workforce Development, will provide support to the council. The council had its first business meeting in early December.

Several business leaders were named to the council, including Peg Bundgaard, Hauser, Boulder; Debbie Colia, Qwest Communications, Denver; Ruth Dusenbury, Speer Cushion Co., Holyoke; Marie Gambon, Celestial Seasonings, Boulder; Jim Gumina, J.D. Edwards, Denver; Joe Livingston, Seven Grain Corp., Basalt; Roger Maddocks, Kodak, Windsor; Kathy Major, Pacificare, Englewood; Cindy Message, Hewlett-Packard, Colorado Springs; Ron Montoya, Plasticom, Denver; John Nelson, Norwest Banks, Denver; Karen Niparko, StorageTek, Louisville; Mike Quinlan, USAA, Colorado Springs; Paul Read, Trane Co., Pueblo; Jim Rowell, Leprino Foods, Denver; Pam Pease, Jones International University, Englewood; and Mara Swan, Coors, Golden.

Colorado’s employment rates experienced only modest changes in October, according to Vickie L. Armstrong, director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

Colorado’s unemployment rate rose two-tenths of a percentage point in October. The rate rose to 3 percent, below last Octobers rate of 3.8 percent.

Changes in both total employment and unemployment were also modest in October. The number of employed Coloradans, after adjusting for seasonal labor force movements, decreased slightly to 2,209,800. Unemployment rates increased by 2,900 to 67,300.

Thirty counties had jobless rates decrease during the month. Twenty-four had lower rates and nine remain unchanged.

Average employment wages have also increased according to a survey by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and Arapahoe/Douglas Works! The average wage for all open positions was $10.27 according to the survey of 4,104 metro-area employers. Denver employers offered the highest wages, averaging $11.09. Boulder employers offered the second highest wages with an average wage of $10.04.