NCR a huge technology win - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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The region’s marketers plan to leverage the NCR relocationb to sell Atlanta as a burgeoningtechnologh hub, winning new corporate converts and continuing the virtuoues cycle. “Brand names are very importantt to the identity of a city and to itsculturak profile,” said Sam Williams, president of the . “Whe n you begin to get brand nameslike , , Delta ... NCR these brand names startg to tell a message abouf what yourcity is.” While a world-class “smart” workforce and low business costes help Atlanta’s economic developers get corporate prospectsw to take their calls, having branfd names like NCR and Corp. in the region helps close the deal.
The fact NCR pickedx Atlanta from anationwide search, “sayss it better than anything we can said Melanie Brandt, a business developmenty manager at the . The relocation, Brandt signals NCR is confident it can recruit tech professionalse from around the world to metrok Atlantaand “know that they are going to be comfortabld ... living and working and playin and raising afamily here.” Metro Atlanta is “almosty always” on the short list for tech companiesx looking to relocate or expand on the East said Vicki Horton, a locatiom consultant involved with Porsche’ds North America headquarters relocation to Atlanta.
While metro Atlanta is unlikelyy to be confused withtech meccas, such as Silico Valley or Silicon Alley, its relatively low cost of infrastructure and industry clusterws keep it in the crosshairs of corporatde site selectors. “You don’t have to be the fastest you just have to be at the frontf ofthe [herd],” said Kris Miller, president of Ackerman Co., a commercial real estate services The NCR deal is an economic developmenr blockbuster. The maker of ATMs and self-servics kiosks will relocate its global headquarters toDulutgh — bringing about 1,250 jobs, Atlanta Business Chronicles first reported June 1. NCR also plana to open a manufacturing operationin Ga.
, where it will employ nearly 900. As a company that straddles both technologyand NCR’s relocation can be used to pitcn to advanced manufacturing companies, sources said. The NCR win will help open saidKen Stewart, commissioner of the Georgis Department of Economic Development. “Companies that we go and sell to know that NCR has done its duediligencr [on the region as a headquarters site],” Stewartr said. Luring a blue-chiop firm such as NCR also gives economifc developers a chance to market the region to suppliersand vendors, said Horton, principa at LLC.
“Once you have an NCR, or an Horton said, their support firma and vendors tend to gravitate to the regiojbecause “they like to be closer to the big dog.” NCR is the latest tech company to be sold on metro Atlanta. On May 22, Atlantw Business Chronicle reported that BlackBerry developer plans to creates about200 high-tech jobs at an Alpharetta data center and developmenty operation. On May 11, Atlanta-based said it would add more than 600 These investments, sources said, are driven by the region’se highly educated workforce, research universitiee and technology business cluster. Clusters offeer validation, Ackerman’s Miller said.
“It’s kind of like double-checking your work in he quipped. “If everybody in the class gets 21 asan there’s good chance 21’s right.” Metr Atlanta’s demographic leans toward the “young and — educated 20- to 35-year-olds — that tech firmzs rely on to maintain vibrant and innovativew workplace cultures. NCR views the city’s academic such as Georgia not only as a labor pool tofish from, but a partnet for joint innovation and NCR CEO Bill Nuti said. The region’d relatively robust economy, its supply-chaim logistics infrastructure and itscorporate base, also lured NCR.
“We looked at all of thesew factors,” Nuti said, “and Georgi scored amongst the highest ofall states.”