TelStar Associates Inc., a Boise-based computer-services company, says it plans this summer to open a Spokane office that could employ up to 30 people.


TelStar is close to reaching an agreement with two companies here that would use its computer-networking services, says Jose Telleria, TelStars managing partner. TelStar primarily installs and provides technical support for computers and computer networks and provides software programming services and training.


The company decided to enter the Spokane market because we saw an opportunity, and so were trying to make that opportunity become a realization, Telleria says. We kind of go where the business is.


TelStar hasnt selected a space yet for its office here, but Telleria says he hopes to ink the service agreements and secure an office space by the end of June.


Duffy D. Haggarty, who will head up the companys operations here, says the anticipated contracts likely will be worth in the upper six figures annually. He declines for now to disclose the names of the companies here with which TelStar is negotiating. He says, however, that those potential clients are contractors to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, which is TelStars largest client.


TelStar expects to hire between 20 and 30 people, mostly computer technicians from the Spokane area for its Spokane office, Haggarty says. The company employs about 200 people overall, he says.


TelStar was launched in Boise in 1979 and also has an office in Idaho Falls.


Contact Sandra Hosking at (509) 344-1260 or via e-mail at sandyh@spokanejournal.com.