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New York City could be the new tech mecca, thanks to Google
- MrMan 16y agoI have servers at that location, but why would I ever go there? To interact with the handful of ad sales staff? To visit my rack?
- jonnii 16y agoBut it's google! They might buy your company and make you rich beyond your wildest dreams!
- muffinman2010 16y agowhat does server location have to do with an M&A?
- djjose 16y agoI dunno, my dreams are pretty wild.
- rbanffy 16y agoI was complaining this morning supervillains no longer recruit scientists and fly them to paradisaic tropical islands...
- hugh3 16y agoIt's worth noting that with the exception of the National University of Singapore, there's virtually no worthwhile research done in the whole of the tropics. Cold climates seem to be far more conducive to scientific productivity.
- rbanffy 16y agoThat's the point. A supervillain would want the research to remain secret, at least until the world domination plans are well under way. What better place to hide a top-notch science facility than a remote island nobody would suspect? Preferably one with a volcano, because geothermal is so hot these days.
- chrisaycock 16y agoOh, I'm going to have to steal that line! Boss: Want to go to New Jersey to see the co-lo facility? Me: Why? To visit my rack? (My original answer to his question wasn't nearly as impressive.)
- jimboyoungblood 16y agoYes. I also have servers at that location, and in fact I did ask the ISP for a tour so I could see my rack during one of my recent visits to NYC.
- brown9-2 16y agoConsidering that Google already has ~2000 employees in this building, then by this logic shouldn't they have already turned NYC into a "tech mecca"? This is silly. Anton says once Google buys the building, businesses will clamor to get in, if only for a chance to make that elevator pitch to CEO Eric Schmidt Quite a bit of hyperbole here. The building already has lots of big companies as tenants http://www.111eighth.com/ http://www.111eighth.com/
- Bostwick 16y agoI think this article shows how removed a lot of journalists and media are from the technology scene. They completely ignore the growing startup scene in New York - Silicon Alley, Digital Dumbo[1] - and latch on instead to a story about a huge, already established company that's buying a building they already have 2000+ employees in. Tech meccas are born from hundreds of small technology companies constantly pushing the limits of a platform, not from the presence of a single, large employer. [1] http://www.digitaldumbo.com/about/ http://www.digitaldumbo.com/about/
- wriq 16y ago"Tech meccas are born from hundreds of small technology companies constantly pushing the limits of a platform, not from the presence of a single, large employer." I would think having a few large tech companies in an area would aid in the creation of smaller ones.
- jimboyoungblood 16y agoI think you have it backwards.
- t_zz 16y agoHow is that backward? People from large companies do quit to create start-ups, and it usually happen in the same city/circles.
- akharris 16y agoAgreed. more than that, though, what you need is a series of very successful exits to create entrepreneurs/early funders with the cash to fund the next generation. We're getting there, in NYC, but the numbers are still tiny compared to the west coast.
- jimboyoungblood 16y agoThere are many places where there are large tech companies but few startups. That's because the people who quit to do startups go to the Bay Area, which has a lot more to offer little companies. For instance, there are a lot of ex-Amazon employees doing startups in SF now. There's a reason they left Seattle, and it's not entirely due to the crappy weather.
- hugh3 16y agoWhy would New York City want to be a "new tech mecca", anyway? They're already the de facto US and/or world headquarters for several huge industries, and the competition for scarce office and employee living space has already pushed prices to insane levels. Why would they want to throw another more-money-than-sense industry into the mix?
- jobeirne 16y agoWhy wouldn't NYC want to be a ``new tech mecca''? If the city wised up and killed rent control, ``scarce office and employee living space'' wouldn't be an issue.
- siculars 16y agoI would strongly disagree with that. Rent control is an absolutely necessity for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.
- hugh3 16y agoSure. The point being that if it were taken away they'd no longer be New Yorkers -- they'd move to somewhere more reasonable for their income. The employment market would adjust. What would happen if only rich people could afford to live in New York? Gee, I dunno, probably about the same thing that happens when only rich people can afford to live in Beverly Hills.
- rbranson 16y agoComparing NYC to Beverly Hills is apples and oranges. The only likeness they share is, perhaps, that they are both independent municipalities. Exhibit A, NYC: The most populous city in the US with the highest density and having the highest economic output. It is considered the world capital for finance and is a world cultural center for fashion, media, art, theater, food, and music. More people live in the city limits of NYC than 40 of the 52 states. Exhibit B, Beverly Hills: An affluent bedroom community with around 30,000 residents and a suburb of Los Angeles.
- rbanffy 16y agoYou mean there will be a small building in the middle of a large square housing a black... technological marvel?
- T_S_ 16y agoI moved from NY to SV this year. NYC is great but it is so large that the tech scene gets diluted by all the other industries. The suburbs are a tech wasteland (fine for other purposes I suppose). That said, the banks there have very large development teams, but it's all in the service of banking and trading. I've been there, done that; so I could be biased. Overall, the vibe is very un-tech--unless you think algo trading is the tech's ultimate expression.