More Tech Companies Moving Into the Tri-Valley

Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore have been working for years to bring more high-tech companies into the Tri-Valley. With the difficult economic times, the results have been mixed. But there is a new influx of smaller upstart tech companies moving here.

Area leaders have always hoped the Tri-Valley would become a tech hub, but progress has been slower than hoped for. Peoplesoft was headquartered in Pleasanton, and Oracle (which purchased PeopleSoft) continues to occupy space there. AT&T has large operations in San Ramon, and Comcast in Livermore. Sybase occupies a large building in Dublin. Plans to have other companies move to the area (Cisco, KLA Tencor and Lam Research) fell through when the dot com bubble burst and the economy struggled.

“The newcomers to the area include Perquest Inc., Bridgelux Inc. and Callidus Software Inc. Up-and-comers that are homegrown in the region consist primarily of Taleo Corp., Polycom Inc., Workday Inc., Amerimade Technologies and Pandigital.”

As more tech companies move here, others are attracted to the area. BART extensions to Dublin/Pleasanton have improved transit, and the proposed Livermore extension will improve it even more. The Lawrence Livermore and Sandia Labs are improving private sector collaboration and innovation. Add to that the fact that rents and housing prices are low in the Tri-Valley (compared to the South Bay), and even more affordable housing lies just over the Altamont Pass, and you have a strong mix of attractions for this area (just don’t tell anyone about the traffic on I-580).

“Rental costs in the Tri-Valley are about 50 percent of what they are in Silicon Valley,” Rob White, Livermore’s economic develpment director said. Low building costs and room to grow were among the factors that coaxed Bridgelux to move to Livermore from Sunnyvale, Perquest to move to Dublin from Oakland, and Callidus to move to Pleasanton from San Jose.

This a great story of long term planning and efforts by many people in the Tri-Valley. Silicon Valley continues to be the engine that drives the Bay Area, and the Tri-Valley is extremely well positioned to capitalize on the growth driven by technology. With its access to affordable housing and quality of life, we should continue to see more tech firms move this way, bringing with them more jobs. And that is good news for everyone.

Source: Contra Costa Times