Industry Spotlight INNOVATION/Information Technology
the growth of Texas Instruments and the
founding of Electronic Data Systems (started
by H. Ross Perot in 1962, now an HP
company). “It started with a powerful
growing number of companies that were
hiring engineers, IT professionals and
scientists, and it all sort of started to build
upon itself,” Sproull said.
The University’s Role
The significant expansion of the region’s
technology sector over the past couple of
decades has resulted in a very large, diverse
and well-educated workforce, according
to Gray Mayes, director of government
relations for Texas Instruments (TI). The
University of Texas at Arlington, Texas A&M,
University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and the
University of North Texas (UNT) are
turning out a large talent base of employees
each year, and are also making huge
advances in attracting more dollars.
UTD was recently ranked as one of
the top engineering schools in the nation,
and Collin County Community College
recently received a $20 million workforce
development grant. Because of investments
like these, according to Mayes, “North Texas
has become a true innovation hub, and
ensures our region will be a notable player
in the transformation of the global economy.”
Big Players in Tech
The Telecom Corridor® is located 15 miles
north of downtown Dallas and covers an
area of approximately 30 square miles. The
campus of TI, UTD and portions of the city
of Richardson are located within the corridor,
along with a large cluster of some of the
major players in tech – Samsung Mobile,
Fujitsu, Honeywell, Verizon, MetroPCS,
Cisco Systems, Ericsson and many others.
Verizon Business moved its wireless,
wireline and a few other groups to the
Corridor because they found conducting
business in the region gave them many
advantages, even on a global scale. “We
are able to find the professionals with the
technology and management skills we
need in this area,” said Audrey Lundy, a
spokesperson for Verizon Wireless central
Texas region.