Institute to create digital archive

The Institute of Museum and Library Services recently awarded a National Leadership Grant of over $450,000 to the University of Washington to create a digital archive of Pacific Northwest cultural and historical items and to produce six online exhibitions over two years as the foundation for an online Community Museum. The University of Washington, working with Olympic Peninsula Tribal Associations, the Clallam County Historical Society, the law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, Peninsula Community College and other partners, will design and carry out this digitization project that will document artifacts, stories, and events of northwest Olympic Peninsula heritage through photographs, videotape, and oral histories. The community-based curatorial and exhibition project will create Web sites, workshops, tools, and curriculum materials to aid local communities in preserving and sharing their history and culture.

Birdstep, Veritas team up

Seattle-based database technology provider Birdstep Technology said Veritas Software Corp.'s purchase of RDM Embedded 6.0. Birdstep RDM Embedded will be used as a database for multiple Veritas products. RDM Embedded is a high-speed, small footprint, zero-administration database with real-time functionality.Ê RDM Embedded is a cross-platform database that supports numerous real-time and other operating systems with C/C++, Java and SQL interfaces.ÊDevelopers select RDM Embedded when system critical performance is required. RDM Embedded databases have been designed to achieve small footprint and the highest speed performance in the industry.

Drugstore.com completes Vision Direct buy

Drugstore.com Inc. said it has completed its purchase of International Vision Direct Corp., an online seller of contacts and vision accessories, for $10 million in cash and 6.8 million shares of stock. Austin, Texas-based International Vision Direct operates several Web sites specializing in sales of branded contact lenses from Bausch & Lomb, Ciba Vision, Johnson & Johnson and others.

Fidesic Corp. buys Onrain

Bellevue-based Fidesic Corp., which makes software to help businesses manage payables and accounts receivable, has acquired Seattle-based Onrain, a maker of expense management automation software. Fidesic, founded in 2000, has 14 employees; Onrain has seven. Onrain was founded this year by Cher Paige, who will join Fidesic as vice president of marketing.

Eden Systems bought by Tyler Technologies

Eden Systems Inc. of Renton, which makes software for local governments, has been bought by Tyler Technologies Inc. of Dallas. Tyler also makes software for local governments, and said its software has been used by more than 6,000 local governments. Seattle-based SpamCop, a Web-based spam blocking service, has been bought by e-mail infrastructure company IronPort Systems of San Bruno, Calif. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Both companies are privately held. Julian Haight, SpamCop's founder, will continue to operate his portion of the business after the acquisition, and IronPort infrastructure will be integrated into the SpamCop Web site.

Washington lost 11,000 high-tech jobs in 2002

The number of high-tech jobs in Washington state fell by more than 11,000 in 2002, according to figures released by a national high-tech trade association. In 2001, the state had 168,000 high-tech workers but that number fell to 157,000 a year later, according to the AeA "Cyberstates" study. Washington lost about 7,000 electronics manufacturing sector jobs and 3,600 software sector jobs during that time. Nationally, high-tech employment fell by 540,000 jobs in 2002 but AeA officials estimate that in 2003 the drop won't be as steep, expecting a loss of 234,000 U.S. high-tech jobs. Washington ranks No. 15 nationally in high-tech employment.

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