SOME of the finest high-tech brains in York and East Yorkshire are uniting to win national contracts.

Agilysis, the York firm which was chosen to bring e-government to most councils in North Yorkshire, has linked arms with York Data Services and Salamander, both based at York Science Park, and Cybula, of Driffield.

The initiative for this marriage of technology came from Charles Mindenhall, chief executive of Agilysis, who believes that pooling resources will help them to "compete at a higher level".

Agilisys is working on a multi-million pound project to bring local government to the people using instant internet facilities, so that, for example, council tax or even parking fines can be paid online.

York Data Services specialises in high-performance connectivity of the kind which has made the new IT centre at York Science Park such a success. It won the contract to supply and manage IT services there for the next three years.

Salamander, which has developed a wide range of award-winning technologies for business architecture, knowledge mapping and performance management, is already working with Agilysis to re-engineer business processes for local councils.

Cybula, of Driffield, develops high-performance pattern recognition systems and already co-operates with the department of computer science at the University of York .

Mr Mindenhall said: "It makes good business sense. We all share a commitment to innovation and to transforming the way organisations do business, and we offer complementary solutions and services."

He said large technology projects could be so complex that they created an uneven playing field, where giant multinationals had competitive advantage.

"Unfortunately it makes commercial sense for these global entities to push their one-size-fits-all products, which may not be the most suitable or cost-effective. Worse, these companies stifle innovation."

Smaller companies united could offer more innovative and customised solutions, ones that often deliver better value for money. "Individually they risk being overshadowed in the market place. United, they form a distinctive and competitive offering," he said.

Mark Fordyce, chairman of York Data Services, said: "It's a great way of stimulating the local economy and bringing jobs to York, and an excellent opportunity to showcase local talent."

Updated: 10:15 Thursday, January 29, 2004