Rancho Santa Margarita-based Melissa Data Corp., a maker of software for managing and sorting mailing lists, has acquired part of a struggling publicly traded company that does call center and data management services. Melissa Data bought Ml Data & Analytics, a unit of Beaverton, Ore.-based Metro One Telecommunications Inc., which has seen its shares fall 90% in the past year to a recent market value of about $600,000.

In September, Metro One's shares were delisted from Nasdaq and moved to the lowprofile Bulletin Board exchange.

In the past year, Metro One has been selling off patents, product lines and other assets.

Melissa Data, which had worked with Ml for years, saw an opportunity, according to marketing director Greg Brown.

"There is a pretty good overlap as far as cus tomers are concerned and it was worth it to bring this in-house as opposed to reselling it, he said. "With the recession, there really i value in the market."

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Melissa Data make software that helps businesses and marketers streamline data for direct mail and people searches.

M1 collects data from one of the top three telecommunications companies in the U.S. and resells the information to companies looking to market to people and businesses that have just moved.

The company compiles and maintains databases that are sold as "new mover lists."

"Anytime there is a new telephone connection made at a business or a residence, they resell that information as a mailing list," Brown said.

Melissa Data wanted MI's database and software, which has a "matching" feature that allows you to pull up a name that's close to what was searched for.

The company plans to keep some of Mi's workers, who are set to integrate their database into Melissa Data's offerings, Brown said.

The company is seeing sales growth as its customers look to scrutinize their marketing budgets during tough times, according to Brown.

"We are finding that every marketing dollar is more important than ever," he said. "You see companies starting to look at bringing in customers cost-consciously and staying in contact with existing ones."

Melissa Data's customers include Verizon Communications Inc., Nestle SA, Xerox Corp. and the Automobile Club of Southern California.

The company was started in 1985 by Raymond Melissa, who helped develop computer printers.

Melissa Data got into mailing list management when Raymond Melissa had the idea to provide bulk mailers with a database of ZIP codes on floppy disks.

The privately held company, which has 100 workers here, expects to see about $30 million in sales this year.