SMALL SOFTWARE-DEVELOPMENT COMPANIES in Spokane need all the helpthey can get.
When it comes to references, it helps to point to projects formajor corporations or one of the firms on the Fortune 500 list.
Spokane's Maplewood Software can't do much better in thecredentials department. The company has landed three major contractswith Microsoft, writing code for the largest software companyaround.
The eight-person Web development and custom software firm wasstarted in 1999 by John Janzen, Maplewood's 35-year-old president.
Maplewood Software's success shows that Spokane's pool oftalented programmers are establishing both a reputation for qualitywork and a basis for future growth.
The three contracts with Microsoft started about 18 months ago,partly because Janzen knows someone who works in program developmentat Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters.
The projects involved writing a specialized database, assortedfeatures for Microsoft's Office suite, and, currently, an e-commerce tool set for Web sites.
The Microsoft deals have been part of what Janzen calls "divineintervention" that have helped keep Maplewood Software afloat.
Janzen figures Microsoft has provided about 80percent of hiscompany's revenue over the past 18 months. That's been helpful, buthe knows the firm's future depends on developing more area clients.
The company, based in the Holley Mason Building downtown, hasbeen diversifying its services. In addition to traditional Webhosting, the firm also is creating custom-built Web applications.
The most basic Web tool is a shopping cart, which online visitorsuse to make a purchase with a credit card. One example iswww.ruulknives.com for a Colfax company that makes and sells knivesonline.
With backgrounds in developing databases and using XML(extensible markup language) code, Maplewood's programmers canhandle more elaborate applications, including message boards, e-mail services and Web management tools.
About a half-dozen other area companies offer similar services.Each has its own niche contracts, but no one else in Spokane can useMicrosoft as a reference.
After earning an electrical engineering degree at WashingtonState University, Janzen moved back to Spokane where he did contractwork as a programmer, then joined Group Health Northwest as a codewriter.
That work gave him a background in writing client-server programstypically used for Internet applications, plus experience workingwith SQL (structured query language) - a specialized databasesystem.
Xavier Bocken, a program developer in Microsoft's Office group,said Janzen and the other Maplewood programmers displayed solid code-writing skills.
"John in particular was very good at designing databases in SQL,"Bocken said.
Janzen and two Maplewood programmers worked on the databaseproject as "vendors" over a period of more than a year. They werepaid between $60 and $80 an hour, plus travel expenses for regularvisits with the product developers who hired them in Redmond.
Janzen and Maplewood were then asked to design a set of newfeatures for later versions of the best-selling Office suite ofprograms. Most of those features, however, were shelved, saidJanzen.
The latest job involves devising Web-based e-commerce tools forMicrosoft and a Portland company called EnableMart.
EnableMart sells "assistive technology" - items and services thathelp disabled people use computers effectively. The Web toolsMaplewood is designing will be incorporated into a number of Websites for those shoppers, said Janzen. Microsoft is playing a keyrole in helping build that code, but it doesn't have the competency,which is how Maplewood entered the picture.
While Microsoft's connection is fine, Maplewood doesn't rely onit to build its business, Janzen said.
"I don't want to say, `Look at who we've done work for.' Our goalis to focus more on making happy customers."
This sidebar appeared with the story:
Maplewood Software
Location: 157 S. Howard, Spokane
President: John Janzen
CEO: Nancy Janzen
Staff: Seven full time, one part time
Revenue: More than $200,000 in 2000; estimating about $500,000 in2001
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