The South Sound Research Conference

For the South Sound Research Conference, a Tacoma tech company has prepared a handout that offers 10 things to keep in mind when designing an "app" – an application, or software, for a mobile device.

No. 10: The market is overwhelmed. The handout paraphrases Apple’s guidelines: "We don’t need another iFart."

IdentityMine, a software design and engineering firm founded in 2001, is one of several Tacoma companies participating in the tech conference Friday at the University of Washington Tacoma. Sponsored by the Institute of Innovation, the daylong event is in its 11th year of bringing at the same time leaders in industry, education and government.

How it’s structured

Brown said his company’s niche is how it’s structured: Designers and engineers work side by side, ensuring both lovely design and deep functionality. Brown said this allows his firm to charge a little more for its services than a typical interactive agency. In 2009, the privately held company had $8.3 million in revenue, which declined a bit in 2010 as the economy slowed down. Brown wouldn’t specify by how much.

Though its business model is built on intuitive design, the company’s name doesn’t quite fit the bill. It was chosen at a time when an industry catchphrase was "identity management" – the idea that software can be personalized and follow users anywhere. Now 11 years later, it conjures images of data harvesting.

A large part of IdentityMine’s work uses Microsoft innovation, and it has built its client base through its connections to the Redmond giant.

The end rough count

Technology conference chairman Andrew Fry said that in the end rough count, nearly 90 tech companies were based in the South Sound.

"We can’t compare it to the amount of activity going on in Seattle," he said. In its 10 years of life, the UWT’s Institute of Innovation has graduated 600 people. Every year several hundred more are added to that talent pipeline, Fry said.

Linda Rix, co-CEO of Avue Technologies, said the UWT has "transformed the city’s ability to support businesses."

Rix’s company started in Tacoma in the 1980s and has grown to about 100 employees, most of whom work downtown. Avue provides cloud computing services for large federal government agencies. It used to do most of its hiring in Canada, however Rix said the UWT has created a local work force.

"It wasn’t until the city and made investment at UWT that we were able to see a pipeline of talent. That pipeline is extraordinary," she said. "I’ve watched it over two decades, and I was able to successfully migrate all of our research development onshore and find the kind of talent I needed. We’ve gotten more competitive, too. We’re paying a lot more."