NATCHEZ &8212; Running his own business again for the past three years, Gary Blackwell has found good niche marketing for his products.

T&E Enterprises is not a store-front, walk-in business but rather a busy office and warehouse where Blackwell and his two associates, Lee Willard, office manager, and Mike Jones, warehouse manager, keep track of thousands of items that come in from suppliers and then go to customers.

After many years as an office supply distributor &8212; particularly paper products and office forms &8212; Blackwell has expanded his product lines through an affiliation with International Business Solutions Alliance, an Indianapolis-based enterprise.

&8220;There are only two IBSA distributors in Mississippi, and I&8217;m one of them,&8221; Blackwell said.

IBSA, founded in July 2002, finds distributors throughout the country and, through them, services large, nationwide accounts.

According to company information, IBSA within two years &8220;assembled a nationwide team of professional document management providers with well over 300 million dollars in combined sales from over 100 affiliate members.&8221;

Blackwell said the idea is to provide the service a local representative can provide along with the benefits only a large national company can offer. Dealing with a local wholesaler helps the local economy.

&8220;We&8217;re on our own, running our own business,&8221; Blackwell said. &8220;They like to say, &8216;local service, national expertise.&8217;&8221;

Times have changed from his first years in the computer-supply business in the 1980s, he said. &8220;We have diversified and sell all types of office products now,&8221; he said. &8220;And we have a supplier for any niche a company needs.&8221;

A fast-growing area of the business is in medical offices and clinics. &8220;This is really getting busy now,&8221; he said.

Showing some of the new products, Blackwell demonstrated how a small towelette in a package, used on a specially coated paper, can make fingerprints without leaving any sign of ink or residue on the skin.

Called Imation Identifier Inkless Fingerprint/Footprint System, it is designed for the identifying footprint required of newborns.

&8220;It can be used anywhere you need to do a fingerprint, but it&8217;s marketed for newborns and is exclusive with us at this time,&8221; Blackwell said.

He believes that in time hospitals will be required to use the inkless system.

Another product from IBSA that he expects hospitals will use universally in the near future is a packet of sterile pens and labels for operating rooms and catheterization labs, for example.

Manufactured by Viscot, the medication labels and pens meet the safety requirements of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations that &8220;all medication and solutions need to be labeled on and off the sterile field,&8221; Blackwell said.

&8220;This is another product sold exclusively by us,&8221; he said.

Another innovative technology for clinics and medical offices is the electronic &8220;clipboard&8221; that physicians may use to keep patient records, including charts, prescriptions and referrals.

&8220;This is software-driven,&8221; Blackwell said. &8220;The doctor can move from room to room with this and keep all the patient records in it. It saves time, saves paper and saves on transcription costs.&8221;

The national affiliation has increased the volume of his business, Blackwell said. It provides all his customers, old and new, with better choices. &8220;People can call me for anything for the office, printing, promotional products, office supplies, furniture &045; I can get it for them.&8221;

Blackwell said his two employees have been essential to the success of his business. &8220;Without Mike and Lee, I wouldn&8217;t be where I am today.&8221;

The phone number for T&E Enterprises is 601-445-9841.