Intermountain to open Spokane branch
Sandpoint-based Intermountain Community Bancorp. said Tuesday it will open its first Washington state branch in May.
The new branch will be located in leased space at 200 N. Mullan, in Spokane Valley, said Doug Wright, the bank’s chief financial officer. Intermountain Community Bank will offer its full range of services there except drive-through banking, Wright said, adding, “that may not be our permanent location.”
The new branch will employ five or six people to start, he said.
The Spokane Valley location will be Intermountain’s 16th branch, Wright said. The only other branch outside Idaho is in Ontario, Ore.
The bank was founded in Sandpoint in 1981 as Panhandle State Bank, and it still operates in North Idaho under that name. Elsewhere the bank branches are called Intermountain Community Bank.
Wright said Intermountain is “certainly interested” in opening more branches in Eastern Washington in the future.
The bank also announced that its board of directors has approved a 3-for-2 stock split that will be paid to shareholders of record as of March 10.
GoBook III wins high rating
Laptop Magazine gave the new GoBook III notebook computer from Spokane-based Itronix Corp. a 4.5 star rating in its February issue. The publication called the new ultra-rugged GoBook a hot pick, adding “this is a top-of-the-line laptop that is not only virtually bulletproof but can connect to any wireless network you can think of.”
Itronix Corp. has offices on Spokane’s South Hill and a support and production center in Liberty Lake.
The GoBook III was introduced last fall. Because it’s sold to military users, the GoBook III can endure unusual extremes of heat, water immersion, cold, dust and impact. It retails for around $4,400.
Intel offers details on microprocessors
San Francisco Promising improved performance without greatly increased power needs, Intel Corp. unveiled details Tuesday of upcoming microprocessors that will put two or more computing engines on a single chip.
The world’s largest chip maker plans to use the technology across its processor lines, from those powering mobile computers to the brains of high-end servers. In all, Intel has 15 projects under way developing dual-core or multi-core chips.
Intel plans to launch dual-core desktop chips in the second quarter, offering two varieties geared toward high-end and mainstream users, respectively. It’s also planning dual-core and multicore chips for servers and notebooks for release later this year and in 2006.