The Truth Makes A Great Story

The August edition of Cyber Trend Magazine featured Tacoma as one of four mid-size cities with big tech ambitions. I researched and wrote the q-and-a that subsequently appeared online and in print.

An excerpt:

What makes Tacoma particularly enticing for tech businesses?

Tech companies’ biggest resource in Tacoma is the University of Washington’s Institute of Technology, which focuses on the rapid development of high-technology academic programs to serve the state. The institute partners with companies to stay on the cutting edge of industry trends and needs, and it gives students practical work experience. The institute’s 40 faculty members are research leaders in the fields of cryptography, information theory and information security.

Another unique resource is Centeris, the nation’s first transpacific data and fiber hub located minutes from Tacoma. Centeris also provides direct fiber connections to the most significant West Coast network access points, including Portland/Hillsboro (Pittock), Silicon Valley (Great Oaks) and Los Angeles (One Wilshire); and dark fiber to Seattle (Westin). The cutting edge facility includes direct connections to major public clouds, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and IBM SoftLayer.

Tacoma is a beautiful, affordable city with a vibrant arts and culture scene—a key part of life that draws young, creative people working on the industries of tomorrow. San Jose and Austin showed a similar pattern of a blossoming tech sector initially attracted by a thriving arts culture.

Click here to read the full article.