First USA abandons 160,000 sf at 10900 Stonelake Blvd. Janus hadvacated 92,000 sf at the Riata Corporate Park. Both facilities arein northwest Austin, off Research Boulevard. Just two weeks ago,Evoke Software Inc. had taken 23,650 sf of the Janus space as itexpands its Austin operations.

However, even with the big lay offs, call centers are still bigbusiness in Austin. "Whereas call centers were viewed as anemerging industry cluster in Austin several years ago, I think it'sgravitated to where it is part of our economic base," MarkHazelwood, president and chief executive of the Greater AustinChamber of Commerce, tells GlobeSt.com. "It is important. I thinkthere are still great opportunities here."Call centers employ13,000 to 15,000 in Austin, he says. The total may be more becauseof smaller centers embedded in their own companies.

The Austin Call Center Alliance lists nearly 50 centers asmembers. They range from well-known companies such as Dell ComputerCorp., Progressive and Farmers insurance companies to stateagencies to Sage Morpho, a subsidiary of a company based in Paristhat develops automated fingerprint identification systems.