LONDON -- Where do Russian computer workers get work now that the collapse of Communism means dwindling opportunities in space and military programs?


Richard Pick, owner of small U.S. software company Pick Systems, says 60 of them are commuting electronically to Pick's Irvine headquarters in California every day via a "virtual office" system to work on a range of software projects.


"You could call them electronic immigrants," said Pick in an interview. "We're using mirrored systems: What they do in Moscow is mirrored on our systems in Irvine," he said.


Pick says the breakup of the Soviet Union has released many highly skilled Russian computer workers, some of whom he has been employing since 1990.


"We've got PhDs in Russia, released after the Soviet Union wound down its space projects. The caliber of the people is very good," said William Rice, vice president of sales at Pick. "Their general English might not be too good but their technical English is excellent."


The company only recently revealed its Russian venture, keeping it secret from its competitors while using Russian skills to develop its product range more quickly and more cheaply than it could in Irvine.


And the U.S. company's approach with its virtual office, hooked up to Irvine via electronic-mail systems using the Internet global computer network, points to the future for other companies' overseas operations.


"People would like to do it but remote management is a problem," says Pick. "These people are directly on our payroll. We don't have an American there full time and I have direct control over the multimedia projects they're working on," said Pick.


High-quality labor costs are down but property prices as Russia races towards a free-enterprise system are booming, and this to some extent offsets some of the savings.


"Office space is even more expensive in Moscow than it is in Irvine," said Pick, in London to announce the opening of a direct subsidiary in South Africa to sell into the anticipated database market there as companies move into the country following the overthrow of apartheid.


He shrugged off a suggestion that the company was deliberately seeking global hot spots as bases to exploit software opportunities. "That's just the way it's turned out."


Pick Systems employs the bulk of its 175 worldwide workers in California and is working on a number of software projects including database systems and applications solutions and some multimedia packages.


"We're going to take our database and add multimedia capabilities to it over the next six to 18 months," says Pick.


Database applications for multimedia, the convergence of computers, leisure and telecommunications, would involve the storage and manipulation of voice, image, data and video information. One small example of what Pick is working on in multimedia is the PIX 100, a small handheld gadget with liquid-crystal display screen, compact-disc memory and a keyboard under development with Japan's Sony Corp.


With a 640,000-bit memory the device far outguns other handheld organizers and is aimed at workers such as sales representatives and estate agents who can download stock or property details from the PIX onto simple terminals such as televisions, ensuring mobility.


"This is the low-end application, we're working on bigger things," says Pick, whose company has major contracts with automobile dealerships and government bodies around the world.


Pick would not comment on the company's revenues, saying only, "We are profitable and all our growth is self financed."