2 IT centers open in southwest Virginia
By Sue Lindsey (The Associated Press)
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) – Two Virginia governors were on hand Wednesday for the official opening of a pair of major information technology centers that will bolster the distressed economy of southwest Virginia.
CGI Group Inc. and Northrop Grumman Corp. have created a technology corridor in the Russell County town of Lebanon with centers that will employ hundreds of people in jobs that would be attractive in any part of the state. Wages range up to $80,000, said Hugh Taylor, chief information officer for Northrop Grumman.
Former Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, persuaded the companies to locate in the coal-mining region in 2005. On Wednesday he called the commitments by the two companies ‘my proudest moment as governor.’ ‘These are world-class jobs,’ he said in a telephone interview from the Northrop Grumman center.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said he could sense excitement about the job prospects among high school students who attended the Northrop Grumman ceremony, and he talked to two people who had moved back home from urban areas for high-tech jobs.
‘You can’t imagine how much a shot in the arm it is for people,’ he said.
Canada’s CGI Group opened a Russell County center in temporary quarters in January 2006, but this week moved 236 software developers, analysts and consultants into a new 42,000-square-foot building.
‘This center is our first in rural America and allows us to offer high-quality, more cost-effective services onshore in the U.S.,’ Michael E. Roach, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The state has outsourced its IT infrastructure to Northrop Grumman, which was awarded the $2 billion contract on the condition that it would establish a center in rural Virginia. The Lebanon center will provide desktop support for state agencies as well as handle internal IT operations. About 40 people are working there now.
The Russell center is one of seven the defense contractor has established in rural areas, Taylor said, and with an eventual employment of 500 in a 101,000-square-foot building it will be the largest.
James O’Neill, president of Northrop Grumman’s Fairfax-based IT sector, said the defense contractor had made a decision to keep its information technology jobs in this country.
‘Rural America affords us an opportunity to do that,’ he said. ‘There’s no downside to this.’ CGI officials said staffing at their center was ahead of a goal of 300 by the end of 2008.
They said they chose southwest Virginia for its proximity to clients, access to a large talent pool from colleges and universities in the area and incentives and collaboration offered by the state. CGI received more than $3 million in state incentives.
(Copyright 2007, Associated Press) December 12, 2007: 04:42 PM EST