QUEENS INC. / Edgix to Close, Lay Off Most of Its 100 Workers

Edgix Corp., a provider of technology that speeds the

delivery of popular Web pages, is closing down and laying off most of its 100

employees, a person familiar the company's plans said yesterday.

The Manhattan-based company, the latest Internet company to fail, told

employees of the decision in a midday meeting on Wednesday that was also

carried by conference call to Edgix's offices in South America, Europe and

Utah, the person said on condition of anonymity.

Edgix officials didn't return calls. A spokesman with a public relations

firm that used to represent Edgix declined to comment.

Much like Kozmo.com Inc., the online delivery service that shut down last

week, Edgix executives chose to act before the company was forced into

bankruptcy, the source said, noting that workers are getting a "very generous"

severance package that might not have been possible if the remaining money was

used to keep operating.

Edgix is a provider of computer systems that an Internet service would

place at the outermost points of its network - closest to the end user and

their personal computers. The servers would be continuously updated with

popular content, such as Web pages from Yahoo or America Online, for download

by Internet users on their personal computers.

In effect, the servers acted as duplicate sources of the same Web content,

providing more firepower to deliver information quickly, rather than connecting

back to a Yahoo or AOL server every time a user clicked on a new link.

It wasn't clear when the company would cut off service for the

small-to-midsized Internet service providers that use Edgix to help run their

networks more smoothly.

Edgix tried to cut back sharply on expenses in February by laying off about

50 people, but Internet service providers were also cutting back in a bid to

weather the economic downturn that's ravaged many small Internet-related

companies. -The Associated Press

47 More Laid Off

At NY Times Digital

The New York Times Co. is cutting 47 more jobs at its Internet division,

closing the offices of Winetoday.com and Abuzz, an online information-swapping

service, a company spokeswoman said yesterday.

The cuts, which are part of a broad job reduction program that the company

announced last week, were the second to affect New York Times Digital this

year. The company cut an additional 69 jobs there in January.

The online division has also lost additional jobs through attrition,

transfers and the sale of GolfDigest.com, leaving it with about 250 employees

after the latest cuts, company spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said. The company's

annual report lists the division as having 450 employees as of the end of last

year.

The offices for Winetoday.com in Santa Rosa, Calif., will be closed and its

operations managed out of the company's offices in New York. Likewise, the

Cambridge, Mass., offices of Abuzz will be closed and those operations handled

out of Boston.com.

-The Associated Press

LaGuardia 1st in

Concessions Contest

LaGuardia Airport's central terminal won first prize in the large airport

category for food and beverage programs at the Airports Council

International-North America's fourth annual Excellence in Airport Concessions

Contest.

LaGuardia competed against airports in Philadelphia, Atlanta and other

larger North American cities.

"In repeated surveys, our customers have told us that one of our top

priorities should be providing a range of restaurants offering good food at

reasonable prices," said William R. DeCota, the Port Authority of New York and

New Jersey's aviation director, in a statement.

The Port Authority chose MarketPlace Development Inc. for an $18 million

development program at LaGuardia that will create about 50 new shops and

restaurants at the central terminal.

The Port Authority won an Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine award

for limiting flights at LaGuardia during peak periods last fall. The airport

also won three first prizes in the Airport Retail News Best Airport Concessions

2001 competition.

-Katia Hetter