Telecommunications in Dallas

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Robert J. Potter" <RJPotter () RJPotter com>
Date: August 24, 2009 3:48:45 PM EDT
To: <dave () farber net>
Cc: "File" <rjpotter () RJPotter com>
Subject: Telecommunications in Dallas
Reply-To: <RJPotter () RJPotter com>


Dave,

There was a feature story on the telecommunications business in  
Dallas, in which I was quoted.

The story follows, and a pdf with the pictures is attached.

Bob

Robert J. Potter
R.J. Potter Company
5215 N. O'Connor Blvd.
Williams Square  Suite 360
Irving, Texas 75039
TEL     (972) 869-8270
FAX     (972) 869-6593
CELL    (972) 489-5400
E-MAIL RJPotter () RJPotter com
Website www.RJPotter.com

Telecom grows out of its corridor in Dallas-Fort Worth
11:25 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 12, 2009
By VICTOR GODINEZ / The Dallas Morning News
vgodinez () dallasnews com
Telecom is back in the Dallas area, but a corridor isn't big enough to  
hold it anymore.
During the 1990s and the first years of the new millennium, a thin  
patch of land wrapped around North Central Expressway in Richardson  
was seen as the center of the telecommunications industry.The  
Richardson Chamber of Commerce dubbed the stretch the Telecom  
Corridor, a branding effort that stuck.
That brand lost much of its luster in 2000 and 2001 as  
telecommunications companies with significant local operations  
floundered, filed for bankruptcy or just went under.
But just when it seemed that the region might have to surrender its  
telecom credentials, new companies have filled the void. And this  
time, for a variety of reasons, Richardson is playing only a  
supporting role.
"The footprint certainly has spread out," said Don Hicks, a professor  
of political economy at the University of Texas at Dallas.
The most notable arrival is AT&T Inc., which relocated its corporate  
headquarters from San Antonio to downtown Dallas last summer.
"AT&T has grown twelvefold and expanded into so many new businesses  
since it had moved its headquarters to San Antonio back in 1992,"  
spokeswoman Sarah Andreani said. "We're now a global corporation. So,  
given that really dramatic increase in scale, our leadership felt it  
was critical that we be located in a city like Dallas."
It was no accident that AT&T ended up in Dallas proper rather than  
Richardson, as Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert spent almost a year courting  
the company.
But AT&T isn't the only big telecom company that has found in the last  
few years that there's more to North Texas than just Richardson.
More moves
In 2007, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. chose the Las  
Colinas area of Irving, where it had a small office, for its new U.S.  
headquarters.
Nokia Siemens Networks, a 2-year-old joint venture of Siemens AG of  
Germany and Nokia Corp. of Finland, also chose Irving, where Nokia  
already had offices, for its North American headquarters.
Nortel Networks Corp., one of the hardest-hit Telecom Corridor  
tenants, recently agreed to sell some of its most valuable wireless  
technology to Ericsson AB. But those assets aren't going far, as  
Ericsson's North American headquarters are in Plano.
Technology and business consultant Robert Potter, based in Las  
Colinas, said "Telecom Corridor" was always a bit of a misnomer, as  
telecommunications companies and entrepreneurs have long thrived  
throughout the area.
"That [industry] may have been largely in the Richardson area, but in  
fact it was everywhere," he said.
Nor is it a surprise that the local telecom industry has changed since  
the corridor's heyday, Potter said
"It evolved with the business and the applications that customers  
wanted," he said. "It's terribly clear that they don't want the  
products that Lucent or Nortel are building today, and they do want  
the products that RIM is building and Nokia is building."
That doesn't mean the telecom business has abandoned Richardson. Many  
large, successful telecom outfits continue to do business there, and  
others have migrated in.
Prepaid cellphone company MetroPCS Communications Inc., for example,  
moved its headquarters from North Dallas to Richardson in 2007 and has  
largely thrived since then. Cellphone maker Samsung also has a major  
office in Richardson.
But there's no doubt that when telecommunications companies look at  
Dallas, they're no longer thinking just of Richardson.
For example, Interop Technologies, a wireless company based in  
Florida, recently announced the opening of an office in Las Colinas  
that will eventually employ 70 to 80 people.
'Availability of people'
"The availability of people with quality telecom and data expertise  
was a key factor in selecting the Dallas area for the next phase of  
company expansion," president and chief executive John Dwyer said in a  
statement.
Potter, the tech consultant, said it's a good sign for the region  
overall that the Richardson corridor no longer defines the local  
telecommunications industry.
"I think it's perfectly normal – and, in fact, healthy – for new  
companies and new industries and new technologies to emerge and  
replace those that have gone before them," he said. "That's life."

 


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