Back in 1997, Ron Staton, Michael Duncan and Michael Kujawski were employees of Training Systems Inc., a Wilmington company that develops and runs training programs primarily for the lumber and wood pulp industry.

And they were chafing at the bit.

"We wanted to branch out into other stuff that wasn't training-related," said Mr. Staton. That included ideas for multimedia presentations and other sales and marketing tools.

The trio didn't have any customers lined up, had no office and no employees.

"We had a beer on the porch," Mr. Duncan said.

"And an idea," added Mr. Kujawski.

Out of that porch-front meeting, Sage was born.

Their first customer was the University of Alabama. Sage designed a computer-based training course to teach consultants how to inspect workplaces on a voluntary basis and coach them how to improve safety so they can pass inspections by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.

Today, Sage's showcase product is Conductor, a software application designed to bring together every part of a corporation's training program. It tracks an employee's progress through training programs, the person's licenses achieved and grades made, builds a curriculum tailored for each job and delivers the repetitive parts of new-worker orientation programs.

"It builds a career path for employees," Mr. Duncan said.

It can also generate reports such as how many employees in a department have participated in safety training courses.

The company has branched out into computer-based training, which are the actual lessons taught to employees, and is putting new emphasis on selling Web-site design services and installing e-commerce programs for Wilmington-area businesses.

Clients include New Hanover Heath Network and other health organizations throughout the country, the N.C. Association of Certified Public Accountants, the N.C. State Bar, Wilmington's Wagner Gourmet Foods, Central Carolina Bank and others.

Sage put Cape Fear Community College's class schedules online.

E-commerce, or selling over the Internet, is a growing area for Sage.

"Two or three years ago, companies just wanted to get their name on the Web," Mr. Duncan said. "Now a site is not just a pretty picture, it's got to do something."

The company recommends that clients purchase VeriSign accounts, a way of encrypting data to ensure that credit-card transactions over the Net are secure.

The three split up the duties nicely. Mr. Staton was an accountant in Wilmington, and he runs the business side. Many of the company's early customers came from his accounting client base. A member of the first graduating class at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, he was the chief financial officer for Training Systems before Sage was formed.

Mr. Kujawski is the programmer. He moved to Wilmington from Pennsylvania to work for Pharmaceutical Product Development in 1993, and had a stint at Vision Software before joining Training Systems.

Mr. Duncan is a Wilmington native and UNCW graduate who describes himself as the artist of the group. He does the graphic designs.

The company is low-key, operating in an office park just off Oleander Drive. In the back, next to the company refrigerator, are three cases of Sun-Drop soda cans, and there's no other brand in sight.

"We run on Sun-Drop around here," Mr. Duncan said.