PUSHING PAST PAPER CD-ROMS GET SPIN AS BUSINESS CARDS.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

VALENCIA- A Santa Clarita company is propelling businesses into the 21st century with a product that makes even the most elegant business card look outdated.

Vertical Mind, a Web-development company, created a business card CD-ROM that holds everything from a company's Web site or power point presentation to a complete product catalog, and can contain video, audio and Flash animation.

``We tailor the CD to what the client is looking for,'' said Neil Shah, Vertical Mind national sales manager.

The CD business cards look similar to traditional business cards and are presented in clear vinyl sleeves. They come in three sizes, with varying storage space.

The largest - a full-size CD - holds 650 Mb of information; the medium size holds 180 Mb; and the smallest, which looks like a business card, holds 50 Mb.

The full-size CDs are used mostly as sales tools and distributed during trade shows, or to exchange presentations at networking functions, Shah said. The CDs are also training tools.

``Rather than sending VHS tapes and brochures to their employees, they send a CD,'' Shah said.

Vertical Mind is the only company in the area that designs the cards' content and provides the CD replication service. The cards can be purchased for $1.39 per CD. The regular size CDs are less than $1 each, depending on the quantity ordered.

Owner Mark Ryan said the company is competitive within the industry because it caters to people with varying budgets.

``We can compete with anyone because we have the templates already,'' he said. ``We can create a Web site for someone who wants to spend about $500, and we can design sites that cost $15,000.''

Vertical Mind has been operating in the Santa Clarita Valley for four years. It started as a Web-design firm, but the idea for the business cards evolved after a client's request.

``They wanted to find out where they could get the CD-ROM business cards, so we did the research and figured out a way to get the cards for them,'' Shah said. ``Clients tell us that when they hand out the CD, it impresses people and it gives them a competitive edge.''

Al Trotter, vice president of sales and marketing for Air Packaging Technologies Co., said he uses the full-size CDs for promotions and training.

``I will be using more of it, especially in dealing with an international company like 3M,'' he said. ``They don't want to deal with paper.''

Nina Chouinard, Vertical Mind vice president of operations, said the CD- ROMs are a novelty item that people have seen but just don't know where to buy it.

``The cards are efficient tools for many companies, but I think the problem is that people don't know how to go about getting them,'' she said.

Shantanu Dutta, marketing professor at the University of Southern California, isn't sold on the concept and questions the card's practicality.

``I think they need to explore in depth how these cards are better than traditional business cards for their intended function,'' he said.

But Ryan is convinced that the CDs will eventually replace brochures because they make more sense.

``It's the new millennium brochure,'' he said. ``People will soon ask, 'Do you have your minidisc?' instead of asking for the brochures.''

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Photo:

(color) Neil Shah, national sales manager for Vertical Mind, displays some of the Santa Clarita firm's CD-ROM business cards.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News