Saturday, December 18, 1999
Internet cradle not Silicon 2
Beltway boasts high-tech roots
BY PAUL TOLME
The Associated Press
TYSONS CORNER, Va. — Every tech-savvy American has heard of California's Silicon Valley, but raise your mouse pad if you can find the “Home of the Internet” on a map.
No clue?
Try the Washington suburbs of northern Virginia, an area that has rapidly grown into one of the nation's leading high-tech havens. Half the world's Internet traffic passes through the region, which 30 years ago was known more for dairy farming than technology.
“You really don't get credit for what you have created here,” Federal Communications Chairman William Kennard said during a recent speech to northern Virginia business leaders.
A catchy nickname would sure help.
Fairfax County bills itself in national ads as the “Home of the Internet” because Internet pioneers Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn did their groundbreaking work here for the Department of Defense. Others have called the area the “Beltway Byteway,” the “Internet Capital” or the “Silicon Beltway,” but none of the names has stuck.
Just don't call northern Virginia the “Second Silicon Valley,” as it is sometimes referred to, says Gerald Gordon, executive director of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority.
Mr. Gordon dislikes com parisons to Silicon Valley, which got its start as a center of computer hardware manufacturing. Northern Virginia's high-tech sector is rooted in Internet research and telecommunications.
“We create ideas, not things,” Mr. Gordon said.
Regional business officials say the Washington area has one of the largest concentrations of high-tech jobs in the country — roughly 300,000. Most of these are in northern Virginia, where America Online, PSINet and the more than other 100 Internet providers are located.
Silicon Valley has roughly 500,000 high-tech workers.
Within a few decades, the pastures and Civil War sites of northern Virginia have been transformed into sprawling office complexes and high-tech campuses with glass buildings. Fairfax County, the state's leading dairy producer in 1970, is now home to more than 2,000 technology firms and has more office space than most American cities. The Washington area overall has about 9,000 technology firms.
Loudoun County, home to America Online, is one of the fastest-growing counties in the country, according to the Census Bureau. Northern Virginia is adding 31,000 new residents per year, and the region's roads and schools are ill-equipped to handle the growth.
This growth began in the 1980s as the federal government began to hire outside firms to do more of its work. Federal workers provided skilled labor, and they formed companies in their backyards.
“It has one of the highest proportions of college-educated people in the country, which is necessary for these sophisticated activities,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist with Regional Financial Associates in West Chester, Pa.
Mr. Zandi says northern Virginia's tech sector — which includes Internet, hardware, biotechnology, telecommunications and satellite technology companies, among others — is more diverse than other areas.
“That may be part of its identity problem,” Mr. Zandi said.
Fairfax County has spent millions on advertising to lure companies, and in January will open its third overseas office — in Frankfurt, Germany. The county already has offices in Tokyo and London, and the third office would make its international operation bigger than that of most states.
Gov. Jim Gilmore last year appointed the state's first secretary of technology to ensure northern Virginia remained one of the nation's hottest regions for Internet start-ups. One of Virginia's newest specialty license plates carries the slogan “Internet Capital.”
Mr. Stafford, who travels frequently to Silicon Valley, says the culture of northern Virginia's high-tech community differs greatly. T-shirts and shorts may be fine out there, but Washington is still a suit-and-tie town.
“We're a little more stuffy,” he said with a smile.
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