In addition, roughly 50 media outfits — including Newsweek and Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times — used the software earlier this year to transmit images of the U.S. invasion of Iraq back to the states.

Sorenson Media also is riding a wave of prosperity with its D-Link i2eye video phone, used for video conferencing over the Internet. A modified version of the phone has been a smash success within the hearing-impaired community. The video phone, manufactured by California-based D-Link, allows an interpreter and a deaf person to see each other and communicate live. The sign language is then instantly translated to the intended party, allowing the call's receiver to carry on a conversation.

The video phone this year pushed the company's sales growth to more than 600 percent, according to David Parkinson, a spokesman for the company. And Parkinson predicts that Sorenson Media will sell four times as many phones — about 250,000 — over its leading six competitors combined this year.

James Lee Sorenson also is responsible for the establishment of a new venture capital buyout firm that targets troubled or undercapitalized companies in the $25 million to $150 million revenue range.

As co-chairman of the senior investment committee for the fund, he was instrumental in attracting a top-level business team that includes Fraser Bullock, chief operating officer of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games; former NFL quarterback Steve Young; and business executives Ron Mika and Richard Lawson.

The size of the fund is anticipated to reach $200 million to $275 million by the end of this year.

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com