FOLLOW HIGH-TECH ROAD WEST; VENTURA COUNTY, WEST VALLEY FORM A NEW CORRIDOR FOR FIRMS.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

The emergence of high-technology businesses in east Ventura County and the west San Fernando Valley has brought the region a new identity - the ``Silicon Freeway.''

Business leaders in the region - which parallels the Ventura Freeway and the Santa Monica Mountains - are not quite ready to adopt the moniker. Yet they note the image is accurate, given the number of high-tech companies along the corridor, most notably in Ventura County.

``There are a surprising number in the Camarillo-Newbury Park area,'' said Ike Coron, chairman of California Amplifier in Camarillo. ``Some of them are doing very well on the growth curve.''

California Amplifier designs and manufactures microwave-signal equipment and scrambling technology for wireless cable and satellites. The company was founded in Newbury Park in 1981 and has been in its larger Camarillo location for more than a dozen years.

The area has benefited from a lot of similar home-grown companies that have remained in the area as they expand, Coron said.

``This area is starting to look like Silicon Valley in the mobility of professional people,'' he said. ``There are more options open to people today compared with even three years ago.''

The outlook for continued growth is favorable, according to the 1998/1999 Economic Forecast & Industry Outlook, issued recently by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

The aerospace/high-technology industry has been adding jobs in recent years, reaching an average of 218,300 in 1997 for the five-county area of Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino, the private, nonprofit organization said. In 1998, a further gain of 3,700 jobs is forecast for the area.

``Many people think that this industry went away,'' said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the corporation.

According to the report, there is vigorous activity along the Silicon Freeway in the industries of advanced information systems, communications, new media and biomedicine.

The Silicon Freeway is one of three developing technology clusters noted in the report. The two others are the ``Silicon Beach'' new media cluster in the Westside-South Bay area and in the Orange County city of Irvine, where biomedicine and biotech companies are maturing around the University of California campus there.

Kyser said development of the Silicon Freeway can be attributed to some of the mergers and downsizing among larger companies that used to have larger facilities in the region.

``A lot of these people are spinning out of what was the aerospace industry,'' Kyser said.

Ten of the Southern California Fast 50 companies for 1997, according to Kyser's organization, are from the west San Fernando Valley and east Ventura County. To qualify, companies must be locally based firms developing or providing technology products and services that have doubled company revenues over the past five years, with 1992 revenues of at least $50,000.

Leading the local firms on the list was Eltron, a Simi Valley company that makes label and plastic card printers.

Eltron plans to purchase and move into a 142,000-square-foot building in Camarillo after three years at its Simi Valley location.

``We're trying to plan for a longer life there,'' said Donald Skinner, Eltron's chairman and chief executive officer.

The company, originally based in the San Fernando Valley, chose Camarillo because of the availability of building space and potential workers, Skinner said.

``What's very important to us is the labor pool,'' he said.

That pool of skilled workers, in both the professional and manufacturing ranks, tends to grow once similar companies enter the same area, Skinner said.

Ventura County companies also find they can even lure workers down from Silicon Valley because traffic congestion is worse in the Bay Area and the cost of living is greater, industry leaders said.

Places like Ventura County have much more to offer to workers in terms of quality of life, Coron said.

``You've got an area that is adjacent to a large metropolitan area without some of the negatives associated with that area,'' he said.

The following west San Fernando Valley and east Ventura County companies were among 1997's Southern California Fast 50, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. To qualify, companies must be locally headquartered firms developing or providing technology products and services with revenues that doubled over the previous five years.

Eltron International Inc., Simi Valley

MRV Communications Inc., Chatsworth

Incomnet Inc., Woodland Hills

Trikon Technologies, Chatsworth

Integrix Inc., Newbury Park

Chad Therapeutics Inc., Chatsworth

ACT Networks Inc., Camarillo

Cardservice International, Agoura Hills

Interlink Electronics Inc., Camarillo

MegaDrive Systems Inc., Chatsworth