The Liberty Lake operation of Getronics, the big Amsterdam-based information-technology conglomerate, shows few signs of rebounding much from the work-force losses it has suffered in recent years. That doesnt mean, though, that the roughly 210-employee operation is withering.


It has developed, for example, recent upgrades to a retail-banking software system called Mosaic OA, that is used widely, including by some banks here, and to a newer software product, called Globalfs, that allows banks to integrate their branch, call center, and Internet banking systems.


It also is working on other potential new products and product upgrades, mostly for the financial-services industry, and is exploring possible knowledge-sharing collaborations with banks here, says Leni Selvaggio, Spokane-based vice president of Getronics Business Solutions & Consulting division.


We have leading-edge people who really know the business, and were developing things here for major financial institutions worldwide. Thats something for Spokane to be proud of, Selvaggio says.


What we develop here is sold by Getronics subsidiaries worldwide as well as through a network of distributors, and is designed to be adapted to a variety of languages, currencies, and regulations, he says.


The Liberty Lake facility, located at 22425 E. Appleway, is our major facility in what we call business solutions, which includes a range of research-and-development, engineering, software-customization, system-implementation, and client-support services, Selvaggio says.


The majority of Getronics employees here are involved in banking-related products and services. The Liberty Lake facility, however, also has a help desk that that provides outsource computer-system assistance under contract to large companies, and has some workers involved in marketing and other functions.


Although employment at Getronics Liberty Lake facility has slipped slightly over the last year, Selvaggio says he expects it to remain stable this year and perhaps to increase a bit in 2004.


Its going to depend on the acquisition of new business. We stand poised to grow, he says.


The banking industry has been healthy over the last year, and industry analysts are predicting a strong branch renewal spending program in coming years, both of which are positive signs for Getronics operation here, Selvaggio says. The weakness of the overall economy, though, has caused many financial institutions to put off sizable information-technology system expenditures, he says.


Meanwhile, the Getronics facility here continues to improve on some of the companys currents products.


Last October, the company rolled out a new locally developed 2.0 version of its Mosaic OA (Open Architecture) software system that allows the application to work with a broader range of transaction-processing systems, Selvaggio says. Already in use at thousands of bank branches worldwide, Mosaic gathers customer information from diverse data sources and presents it to bank employees in an easy-to-use format.


Then, last month, the company announced the availability of what it believes is an important new enhancementalso developed at Liberty Lakefor its Globalfs product, which integrates banking systems used to provide customer service at branch locations, at call centers, and over the Internet. The enhancement, it says, enables clients to use thin-client server-based networks seamlessly even when the connection with the network is broken.


Banks have been slow to embrace such networks for teller automation, due to a lack of fail-safe systems that would enable tellers to complete transactions when their work stations are in stand-alone mode and unable to communicate with the network. With the latest enhancement, Globalfs addresses that concern by storing all transactions at the workstation, providing an off-network audit trail, and then automatically updating the server and host system when the connection is restored. The teller conducting the transaction is alerted with an on-screen message when the workstation switches to off-network processing, but neednt take any action.


Getronics executives here say the new feature, which no other vendor offers, eliminates a critical barrier to banking-industry acceptance of greater server consolidation and centralization, and should translate into increased business for the companys Liberty Lake facility.


History of change


The local operation now is 26 years old, and over that time arguably has gone through as much upheaval and change as any Spokane-area high-technology company, if not more.


It was founded in 1977 as International Systems Corp., later changed to ISC Systems Corp., a Spokane-based maker of computer hardware and software for the banking industry. In 1984, ISC developed the sprawling 305,000-square-foot, two-story building where Getronics now is a second-floor tenant. In the late 1980s, ISC employed as many as 700 people on its 46-acre campus there.


In 1989, ISC merged with Bunker Ramo, a U.S. subsidiary of Italy-based Olivetti S.P.A., to form ISC/Bunker Ramo. The company changed its name to Olivetti North America Inc. about two years later, then to Olsy North America Inc. in 1997. Olsy merged with Wang Laboratories Inc. in 1998 to create Wang Global, and Getronics bought U.S. rival Wang Global the following year.


Through that transformation, the markets that it served also changed and it ceased all on-site manufacturing. Getronics closed a call center at the Liberty Lake facility in May 2000, eliminating about 50 jobs, and since then it has shrunk from about 280 employees to its current level.


Getronics NV, its Dutch parent, is a $3.6 billion conglomerate with about 26,000 employees, making it one of Europes largest providers of information-technology services. It has been dealing with its own financial problems, though, announcing recently that it plans to sell some assets to trim its debt by more than $300 million. The company had amassed much of its debt when it bought Wang Global for about $2 billion.