RALEIGH — North Carolina entrepreneurs and high-tech companies want the world to know about them. About 50 local companies are showing off their newest products at theNorth Carolina Technology Showcase 2000.

Triangle residents may have heard of Triangle companies such asKoz,Sci-Quest,3TexandAuction Rover, but the rest of the country may not have heard of them The 2000 technology showcase at N.C. State's McKimmon Center hopes to make North Carolina technology better known.

"We've had media come in here from national trade publications," says Dan Davies ofBusiness Leader Magazine. "We've even have had media from Malaysia and Canada in here."

Several Triangle companies plan to go public this year, and recognition is critical. Koz.com produces software that allows groups or individuals to build communities online.

Networking with other local high-tech companies is a bonus of the showcase.

"We really do have this vision of community, not only markets around the country and around the world, but also our own market," says Phil Calverts of Koz.com. Red Hat Software,Cisco SystemsandLucent Technologieshave made their mark. "We are actually now being seen as an Internet-related research area, and that is going to be phenomenal in terms of the growth that we'll see in terms of great jobs coming into RTP."

Seminars teach how to enter e-commerce and manage the new companies. For some visitors, the showcase gives a glimpse of the future.

"It gives us an opportunity to see what's new in technology, and what these companies have to offer to make us more productive," says Kim Dupree, Technical Director for Wilson County.

The two-day show is the first of its type in the area, and organizers hope to make it bigger and better next year.

Although the showcase was not a recruiting venue, a number of people did talk with exhibitors about jobs. Organizers encouraged university and community college high-tech students to attend and talk to companies that need their skills.