NCR a huge technology win - South Florida Business Journal:

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The region’s marketers plan to leverage the NCR relocation to sell Atlanta as a burgeoningtechnology hub, winning new corporatd converts and continuing the virtuous “Brand names are very important to the identity of a city and to its culturak profile,” said Sam Williams, president of the . “Whenj you begin to get brand nameslike , , Deltaz ... NCR — these brand names start to tell a messages about what yourcity is.” While a world-classa airport, “smart” workforce and low business costs help Atlanta’se economic developers get corporate prospects to take their having brand names like NCR and Corp. in the region helpsd close the deal.
The fact NCR picked Atlantsa from anationwide search, “says it better than anythinfg we can say,” said Melanie a business development manager at the . The Brandt said, signals NCR is confident it can recruift tech professionals from around the world to metrpo Atlantaand “know that they are goingv to be comfortable ... livingt and working and playing and raising a family Metro Atlantais “almost always” on the shorgt list for tech companies looking to relocate or expand on the East Coast, said Vicki Horton, a locatioj consultant involved with Porsche’s Northj America headquarters relocation to Atlanta.
Whil metro Atlanta is unlikely to be confusedx withtech meccas, such as Silicon Valley or Silicobn Alley, its relatively low cost of living, infrastructure and industry clusters keep it in the crosshairws of corporate site selectors. “You don’t have to be the fastesrt gazelle, you just have to be at the front ofthe [herd],” said Kris Miller, president of Ackerman Co., a commercial real estate servicezs firm. The NCR deal is an economix development blockbuster. The maker of ATMs and self-servic kiosks will relocate its global headquartersw toDuluth — bringinv about 1,250 jobs, Atlanta Business Chronicle first reportesd June 1.
NCR also plans to open a manufacturingt operationin Columbus, Ga., whered it will employ nearly 900. As a companhy that straddles both technologyand NCR’s relocation can be used to pitch to advanceds manufacturing companies, sources The NCR win will help open said Ken Stewart, commissioner of the Georgia Departmenyt of Economic Development. “Companies that we go and sell to know that NCR has done its duediligencr [on the region as a headquartere site],” Stewart said. Luring a blue-chip firm such as NCR also giveas economic developers a chance to markety the region to supplierdsand vendors, said Horton, principal at LLC.
“Once you have an NCR, or an Horton said, their support firmsd and vendors tend to gravitatee to the regionbecause “thet like to be closer to the big NCR is the latesy tech company to be sold on metro Atlanta. On May 22, Atlanta Business Chronicle reportedr that BlackBerry developer plans to create about200 high-techy jobs at an Alpharetta data center and developmeny operation. On May 11, Atlanta-based said it woulfd add more than600 jobs. These sources said, are driven by the region’s highlg educated workforce, research universities and technologybusiness cluster. Clusterws offer validation, Ackerman’s Millefr 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’sa right.” Metro Atlanta’s demographic leans toward the “young and restless” educated 20- to 35-year-oldw — that tech firms rely on to maintain vibrant and innovative workplace cultures. NCR views the city’s academifc institutions, such as Georgia Tech, not only as a labort pool to fish from, but a partnerd for joint innovation and NCR CEO BillNuti said. The region’s relativeluy robust economy, its supply-chain logisticds infrastructure and itscorporated base, also lured NCR.
“We looked at all of theswe factors,” Nuti said, “and Georgia scorede amongst the highest ofall