I think some corporate purchasing is cutting back.

D1 Companies' Buying Grows The index of corporate purchasing rose to its highest level since November 1994.

"We don't want our competitors to know what we're paying for silicon," said Roger Whittier, director of corporate purchasing for Intel, which expects to run its own reverse auctions soon.

Generally, Corporate real estate professionals approach the real estate market from the buy-side, or demand perspective, similar to corporate purchasing or procurement.

However, recent surveys by PC Week magazine of 2,500 to 3,000 corporate purchasing and support managers produced surprising results.

The MasterCard segment provides customers with a payment processing solution for their corporate purchasing and transaction monitoring needs.

Costco offers the refurbished products at its online store, www.costco.com, but sells most to dealers, said Mike Parrott, vice president for corporate purchasing and strategic businesses.

"The economic recovery galvanized in August," said Robert J. Bretz, director of corporate purchasing at Pitney Bowes Inc. and chairman of the association's survey committee.

"The markets ignored it," said Robert Bretz, director of corporate purchasing at Pitney Bowes.

"We're a mobile company, operating from project to project and trailer to trailer on short-term jobs," said Hal Manoogian, Ebasco's head of corporate purchasing.