NCR a huge technology win - Business First of Columbus:

http://www.faq-all.com/?id=866792
The region’s marketers plan to leverage the NCR relocatiomn to sell Atlanta as a burgeoningtechnology hub, winning new corporate converts and continuing the virtuous cycle. “Brand names are very importanft to the identity of a city and to its cultural saidSam Williams, president of the . “When you begin to get brand nameslike , , Delta ... NCR these brand names start to tell a message about what your city Whilea world-class “smart” workforce and low business costs help Atlanta’xs economic developers get corporate prospects to take thei calls, having brand names like NCR and Corp.
in the regiojn helps close the The fact NCR picked Atlanta from anationwidse search, “says it better than anythint we can say,” said Melanie Brandt, a businessz development manager at the . The relocation, Brandt signals NCR is confident it can recruift tech professionals from aroune the world to metro Atlantaand “know that they are goinv to be comfortable ... living and working and playinv and raising afamily here.
” Metro Atlantsa is “almost always” on the short list for tech companiez looking to relocate or expand on the East Coast, said Vicki Horton, a location consultant involved with Porsche’zs North America headquarters relocation to Atlanta. Whild metro Atlanta is unlikely to be confused with tech such as Silicon Valley orSilicon Alley, its relativelh low cost of living, infrastructured and industry clusters keep it in the crosshairs of corporatwe site selectors. “You don’t have to be the fastestt gazelle, you just have to be at the fronft ofthe [herd],” said Kris Miller, president of Ackerman & Co., a commercial real estatwe services firm.
The NCR deal is an economicd development blockbuster. The makee of ATMs and self-servic kiosks will relocate its global headquarters toDulutg — bringing about 1,250 jobs, Atlanta Business Chronicl e first reported June 1. NCR also plansz to open a manufacturing operationin Columbus, Ga., where it will emplohy nearly 900. As a companyy that straddles both technologyand manufacturing, NCR’sx relocation can be used to pitcnh to advanced manufacturing sources said. The NCR win will help open saidKen Stewart, commissioner of the Georgiz Department of Economic Development.
“Companies that we go and sell to know that NCR has done its duediligencer [on the region as a headquarter s site],” Stewart said. Luring a blue-chip firm such as NCR also givews economic developers a chanc to market the region to suppliers and said Horton, principal at LLC. “Once you have an NCR, or an Horton said, their support firms and vendora tend to gravitate to the regionbecause “they like to be closedr to the big dog.” NCR is the latesr tech company to be sold on metro On May 22, Atlanta Businesas Chronicle reported that BlackBerry developer plans to create about 200 high-tech jobs at an Alpharetta data centedr and development operation.
On May 11, Atlanta-basexd said it would add more than 600 These investments, sources said, are driven by the region’s highly educatee workforce, research universities and technology businesw cluster. Clusters offer Ackerman’s Miller said. “It’s kind of like double-checkint your work in he quipped. “If everybody in the classz gets 21 asan there’s good chance 21’s right.” Metro Atlanta’s demographic leanx toward the “young and — educated 20- to 35-year-olds — that tech firms rely on to maintaij vibrant and innovative workplace cultures.
NCR views the city’s academic institutions, such as Georgia not only as a labor pool to fish but a partner for joint innovation and NCR CEO Bill Nuti The region’s relatively robusty economy, its supply-chain logistics infrastructure and its corporate also lured NCR. “We looked at all of thesde factors,” Nuti said, “and Georgia scorer amongst the highest ofall states.
”