With Cingular Preferred Nation, nationwide king distance is included and there are no roaming charges while on the Cingular Preferred Nation Network. Our National Plans take that one step further for our heavy business travelers by offering plans that allow our customers to travel America--all 50 states--and pay the same low rate for all their calls.
In addition, Cingular continues to set the pace as the only wireless provider offering "Rollover Minutes" plans that let customers keep unused airtime from month to month. Rollover is a big hit with Cingular's package plan users. Customers don't even have to do anything--unused talk time is automatically carried over into the next month.
But calling plans aren't the only way we are meeting the needs of our business customers. Wireless data has exploded onto the communications landscape in the . over the past few years. The nation's wireless users now seed hundreds of millions of messages every month on devices ranging from mobile phones to data-only handhelds. Cingular is leading the way in the wireless messaging and email marketplace, with applications ranging from business colleagues and customers conducting peer-to peer communications, to "discussing" business issues at any time, from any place, to road warriors managing their e-mail while away from the office.
Our Mobitex Packet-Data Network is always connected, secure and reliable. It is the backbone behind Xpress Mail GoodLink Edition, Xpress Mail with BlackBerry, Interactive Messaging PLUS and Wireless internet PLUS. We are the only carrier in the nation with Mobitex and we offer the most efficient network for enterprise wireless data needs today, covering more than 93 percent of the business population with a total population of 200 million people and over 130 of the top airports in the nation. With over 10 years of experience handling important data, Cingular continues to deliver secure, reliable service for companies like AAA, FedEx Ground and Honeywell on a daily basis.
Cingular is a proud sponsor of this year's Expo. We would like to welcome you to experience the latest technology innovations in the industry and learn how you can apply them to making your business more productive.
Gerald W. Denicola
General Manager
Cingular Wireless
Well another year has passed by. Looking back, it is not what you have achieved in the past year that really is important, but how much you have put things in place to achieve business growth in the future years to come. I am proud of Superior Office Products' achievements. In the . we continue to be in the top 10 in revenue produced among over 600 Xerox sales agencies. Superior Office Products has shown a tremendous growth in Office Supply Retail/ Copy/Print operations. We have outgrown our current location on Airline Highway and would like to take this opportunity to announce the building of our new location on about 5 acres of land we bare purchased along Interstate 10 near Highland Road. We are getting ready to break ground on a 65,000 square foot Office/Distribution Complex--Superior is going to use about 12,000 square feet and Xerox Corporation is negotiating to use about 5,000 square feet. I would like to invite anyone interested in commercial office space, retail space or restaurant space, to please give me a call and I would be happy to show you the site and the floor plan. Please take time to look at the plan in our ad on the inside cover of this publication. The complex will be very versatile in that it can be customized for any type of business needs. I think Baton Rouge will really be pleased with this new development. I would like to thank all of our customers for 2002 and we are looking forward to serving your needs in the future. I wish the Baton Rouge Business Report and all the exhibitors a very Successful 2003 Expo.
Randy M. Poche
President
Superior Office Products Inc.
We at The Business Bank are a proud part of the Baton Range and Louisiana community, and we are happy to welcome our neighbors to the Louisiana Business and Technology Expo.
We are a rapidly growing community bank, owned locally, which means that all of our loan and management decisions are made quickly right here in Baton Rouge.
The mission of The Business Bank is to work with commercial and family businesses to help them grow jobs, and to work with business owners, executives and professionals to handle their private banking needs.
We have been very successful in our nearly five years of existence, having doubled and doubled and doubled and doubled again in size, with more than $400 million in business and commercial loans successfully completed in Baton Rouge. The Business Bank is now the 10th largest bank in the entire Baton Rouge area, and we have just begun our work to help build a better community.
The Business Bank has tremendous optimism about the future of Baton Rouge and Louisiana.
One of the reasons for that optimism is a belief in what our strong community bank can do in a wonderful community like Baton Rouge.
We know first hand that The Business Bank can make a difference in the lives of a young married couple buying their first home.
We know first hand that The Business Bank can make a difference to a small company with growing pains.
We know first hand that The Business Bank can make a difference to a company in an economic downturn, where the character of the company can be as variable to its success as the numbers on its balance sheet and where that company's survival depends on a willing banker with a personal knowledge at its operations and the environment in which it operates.
From high-tech, online banking to old-school lending; from mortgages to retirement planning; from health care to business and generational planning; from "excellence in education" and "holes in the state budget" discussions, we are the bank of local people providing local solutions.
Buddy Roemer
President & CEO
THE BUSINESS BANK
WAFB, Louisiana's News Channel, is proud to help bring you the 2003 Louisiana Business & Technology Expo. It is the one event each year that allows business to business interaction. It brings companies together and gives us all the opportunity to introduce each other to our products and services. In today's business environment it is important to take advantage of every opportunity that comes along, both from a marketing standpoint and a sales standpoint. It is equally important to take advantage of opportunities to network and learn from our peers. The Business Expo offers us those opportunities.
This has been a challenging year for many Louisiana companies. The war on terrorism and the stock market slowdown has affected us all in some way. Even in the face of difficult economic times this period has been a time of renewal and community service. We are in the midst of redeveloping our downtown and the Capital Region as a whole. As a community, we have never been closer. WAFB has been very proud to be a part of that effort. One of our missions is to help our local businesses grow especially during tough economic times.
This has also been a milestone year for WAFB as we celebrate our 50th year of broadcasting. Throughout these past 50 years we have been proud to be a member of this community. We witnessed with you some of the most important events of the latter half of the 20th century. We laughed with you with the likes of Lucy and Desi and The Honeymooners and we grew up watching our very own Buckskin Bill Black as he taught us the values and morals that make us a great and caring nation today. We were with you in Tiger Stadium on Halloween night, 1959, when Billy Cannon became a part of Louisiana sports history with his famous punt return against Ole Miss. We cried with you on that November day in 1963 when an assassin's bullet took the life of President John F. Kennedy. We were also here in 1989 when Doc Pennington's dream of bringing a world class bio-medical research facility to Baton Rouge became a reality. We were here in 1991 to tell you about Louisiana troops going into battle in the Middle East with a . led coalition to extract Saddam Hussein's troops from Kuwait. We were also here when our country was attacked by terrorists in New York and Washington and we're with you now as our country continues its fight against the threat of terrorism.
The entire staff of WAFB is dedicated to bring you a high quality product daily, coupled with a tradition of integrity and professionalism. We give you our pledge that we will continue to be here for you and will actively work to make the Baton Rouge area a better price to live and raise our children.
Nick Simonette
Vice President/
General Manager
WAFB, LLC
The new edition of the Louisiana Technology Guide is now available. This comprehensive guide profiles emerging technologies among businesses, universities and research institutions in the state and includes a statewide directory of nearly 800 technology organizations.
Businesses are utilizing this guide to learn, research, network and locate technology leaders throughout Louisiana. State department heads, economic development leaders, universities and CEO's of all the top companies have their copy of this year's Guide. Get yours now!
Visit us online at .com and use the statewide searchable database of the 800 technology organizations listed in the Tech Guide directory. If your technology company or group is NOT listed in the current guide, register for your FREE listing on the Web site. Go to "Get your free listing" at .com.
Order your 2003 Louisiana Technology Guide for $25 plus S/H by calling 225-928-1700.
Published by the Baton Rouge Business Report in conjunction with Louisiana Department of Economic Development.
