L.A. software firms rush to meet demand for multi-task programs.

A handful of local software firms are jumping into the race to grab a piece of an emerging multibillion-dollar (annual sales) international market for "groupware," the industry term coined to describe multi-task computer programs.

"Most Los Angeles companies that have personal computers are evaluating different groupware to help them better manage their data," said Jon V. Ferrara, vice president of Encino-based Elan Software Corp.

The groupware market is being driven by businesses' need to work more efficiently.

One major way in which businesses are seeking to achieve that is by improving communication between their various computer work stations. That improved communication is being made possible by eliminating duplicated efforts. In most cases, groupware can be used on existing PC networks, said Ferrara and other consultants.

Before groupware and electronic mail, work done on PCs was most often printed out on paper before being sent to co-workers or supervisors for their input and approval, Ferrara said.

Prime groupware applications include work-flow management, document review, meeting scheduling, sales-lead management and product planning. Other functional areas that can be enhanced with groupware include: strategic planning, quality management, sales support, customer service and software development, said industry experts.

Elan developed and started selling GoldMine, a groupware product used with the DOS operating system on IBM PCs, in August 1992, said Ferrara, who originated the software concept. The company's president and namesake, Elan Susser, wrote GoldMine's code.

GoldMine can be used to support a company's marketing efforts by automating contact management, scheduling and sales forecasting, Ferrara explained. GoldMine's suggested retail price is $295 for a single user, $895 for up to five users and is incrementally priced for additional users, Ferrara said. Some of GoldMine's customers include Cypress-based Pacificare of California, a health maintenance organization; Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc. and the New York Times, he claimed.

Businesses have had a hard time quantifying PC-related productivity increases because desktop computers historically have focused on individual productivity, rather than group productivity. But businesses have found PCs more efficient since the advent of electronic mail, or "E-mail," which greatly facilitates communication between work stations.

Virtually all companies that have multiple work stations are now shopping for groupware, said Elan's Ferrara.

But Elan and other Los Angeles software companies must hustle if they want to overtake Lotus Development Corp.'s entry into the groupware market, a product called Lotus Notes.

Lotus Notes replicates databases, offers support for distributed servers, electronic mail and has built-in development tools, said computer software experts. Lotus Development Corp. is based in Cambridge Mass.

Frank Saldana, a senior systems engineer at Torrance-based InfoSystems Computer Center, works with hardware and software from many producers. He said Lotus Notes is the top-selling groupware in today's market, and InfoSystems is one of the largest Lotus dealers in the United States. But Saldana conceded that Lotus Notes and its competitor groupware products are relatively hard to learn how to use.

Primarily a communications-oriented groupware, Lotus Notes runs on the OS-2 operating system on IBM computers and clones. It sells for $500 per user and the per-user price drops as the volume rises, Saldana said.

"Lotus is scheduled to release Lotus Notes II by the end of March. It will be compatible with both Macintosh and IBM systems," Saldana said.

Lotus Notes is best used by companies that have 30 or more inter-linked PC terminals, Saldana said. He added that Big Six accounting firm Price Waterhouse has linked its offices throughout the world with Lotus Notes.

Price Waterhouse bought into Lotus Notes in a big way three years ago when it interlinked its 8,000-terminal global workstation network with Lotus Notes, said Rob Johnson, manager of computer services for the downtown Los Angeles office of Price Waterhouse. Using the Lotus Notes program, Price Waterhouse partners throughout the world are updated on legislative activity in Washington, D.C.

"Now anybody who works for Price Waterhouse anywhere in the world sees the status of legislation each morning. We can tell our clients about legislation that will impact their holdings before it passes," so clients can adjust their management strategies accordingly, Johnson said.

A spokeswoman for Pasadena-based Aquarian Inc. said that software company is aiming for a piece of the groupware market as well. Aquarian has written a groupware product called Lantastic, which runs on a Microsoft DOS operating system.

Marlene Gibb, Aquarian's marketing director, said Lantastic can be used to build local area networks with PC- or Macintosh-based systems. Lantastic sells for $699 for the first two stations and $299 for each additional station.

Montrose-based General Networks Corp., a company that helps clients put together PC networks, reports strong sales of "Beyond Mail," a Novell-based software that combines E-mail, scheduling and document-routing capabilities in a single program. Cambridge, Mass.-based Beyond Corp. Inc. produces the program, which sells for $100 per user, said Rick Nyhan, network consultant.

"We have about 1,000 network clients and estimate that half of them are considering buying a groupware, such as Beyond Mail," Nyhan said.