Western Massachusetts' large and diverse IT industry leverages the region's cutting-edge infrastructure, highly-educated workforce and geographic advantages to serve clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to celebrities such as Mick Jagger.
Nearly the best data-carrying infrastructure in the nation belongs to Western Massachusetts. As the crossroads of all national and international fiber optic backbones serving the Northeast (with points of presence for AT&T, MCI WorldCom, Sprint, Verizon and Frontier), Springfield is well known for low costs, redundancy, an excess of bandwidth and route diversity.
The Springfield Technical Community College Technology Park, is outfitted with state-of-the-art fiber optic telecommunications infrastructure for voice lines, high-speed data and Internet access. One of the least expensive locations for a business to send and receive high-speed data transmissions in New England, the park is connected to fiber-optic cables laid alongside the region's interstate highways as well as several local fiber loops, including a direct fiber connect to The University of Massachusetts and the Five College System. Also a major switch hub of the Northeast, the park is home to switching centers for several major long distance telephone carriers. In addition to the park's tenant company's investments in equipment and technology, the Western Massachusetts Electric Company provides two separate 13,800 volt feeders derived from separate sub-stations.
The Knowledge Corridor's 29 colleges provide a consistent flow of two-year, four-year, and advanced degree graduates, equipped with the industry-specific skills to meet and exceed the region's high-tech workforce demands. Many area colleges are noted for IT-excellence and work closely with the local IT Industry, providing interns, academic research assistance and custom training courses for companies. Specifically, the University of Massachusetts' Computer Science Program has been the recipient of a number of prestigious industry designations, including being ranked among the top 20 Computer Science Ph.D. programs in the U.S. according to a National Research Council Study.
A large and diverse creative economy, based mostly within technology-driven fields, thrives in Western Massachusetts. The immense workforce of the region's high-tech industry is exemplified through organizations such as Hidden Tech, a rapidly growing group of 1900-plus small and home-based companies. This peer-networking group provides forums for business development, alliance-building and advocacy for issues of economic planning and technology services. A majority of the businesses represented by Hidden Tech operate from the college-town atmosphere of the Northampton-Amherst area while providing their services to clients around the globe.
Industry Resources
MASSHIRE Hampden County Workforce Board (MHHCWB) is a business-led, non-profit corporation established by state and federal legislation and supported by local business, education and labor leaders as the primary policy-making authority in developing workforce skills. In partnership with government, business, labor and education and training providers, they coordinate, fund and oversee all of the region's publicly funded worker training and employee placement programs. The MHHCWB also assists with accessing grants aimed at upgrading the skills of workers, enabling business owners to retain talent and become more strategically positioned in the competitive marketplace.
The Massachusetts Small Business Development Center (MSBDC) Network provides one-to-one free comprehensive and confidential services focusing on business growth and strategies, financing and loan assistance as well as strategic, marketing and operational analysis. In addition, low cost educational training programs are offered across the state targeted to the needs of small business.
The Springfield Business Incubator is located within the Springfield Technical Community College Technology Park and provides comprehensive support services within a professional office environment to new businesses in order to accelerate their growth and stimulate economic development in Western Massachusetts. Amenities include affordable leases, free advisory services, T-3 connectivity, free parking, conference rooms, computer training rooms, copying and faxing equipment, free, on-site business consulting services, training opportunities and access to local lenders interested in working with small business clients.
www.innovateholyoke.com is a portal for information regarding the state-of-the-art Green High Performance Computing Center (GHPCC) being developed in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Created by Brendan Ciecko os Ten Minute Media, this project's site maintains up to the minute information about the project's progress as well as messages from it's collaboration of developers which include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, some of the state's leading research institutions, the region's economic development organizations, Governor Patrick's office, and the management consulting firm Accenture.
Western Massachusetts IT Companies*
Atalasoft is a growing independent software provider that specializes in providing commercial imaging products, developer components, and custom solutions to companies around the world.
Court Square Group provides professional consulting services in strategic information technology, business processes and service management using best practices, including ITIL and PMI. They also provide life science subject matter expertise spanning the drug development cycle with a range of technology, quality and audit services.
Comcast, the country's largest provider of cable services and one of the world's leading communications companies, delivers digital services including broadband cable, internet and broadband phone service.
DIF Design, Leverages the power of being online with an experience-driven website. This is not a simple task, but we are with you each step along the way, from defining your goals to strategy creation, interface designs to developing of interactive features, website launches to showing you how to make changes on your own.
Financial Partners Inc. provides "one-stop shopping" for business management and support services, from technology and software support to general ledger accounting and management reporting, focusing on solutions, not products.
Gravity Switch specializes in data-driven solutions and CD-ROM Programming for custom web site and interactive CD-ROM solutions including new website creation, redesigns, full e-commerce solutions.
Instrument Technology is an engineering-based firm specializing in the design, development, and manufacture of high quality Borescopes, Fiberscopes and Videoscopes for inspection or observation into hostile environments or inaccessible areas.
ITT Power Solutions is a producer of connectors, switches, keypads and cabling used in telecommunications, computing, aerospace, and industrial applications, as well as network services.
MetaComet Systems is the premier provider of royalty solutions to the publishing, entertainment and licensing industries.
Millitech, LLC specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of millimeter-wave components, assemblies, subsystems and fully integrated systems for applications in satellite communications, radiometry, radar and remote sensing.
Ten Minute Media is a leading design, marketing, and branding company that has created web solutions for clients including music industry giants such as Virgin, Warner Brothers and Columbia Records record companies as well as celebrities such as Mick Jagger.
TNR Global (TNR) is an experienced scalable web and search solutions provider that designs and develops content intensive web sites and web systems, specializing in enterprise search solutions in the industries of News Sites, Publishing, Web Directories, Information Portals, Web Catalogs, Education, Manufacturing and Distribution, Customer Service, and Life Sciences.
Universal Mind was founded in 2003, and headquartered in both Westfield MA and Golden CO as a distributed network of regionally based resources across the US. Working with clients across the globe, Universal Minds specializes in rapidly delivering optimized web solutions to critical problems that demand high levels of competency in Adobe web technologies.
VCI Solutions is a provider of sales, traffic and automation software systems designed exclusively for broadcast and cable station operations.
Verizon Communications Inc., is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers through the nation's most reliable wireless network. Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network.
*This list represents a sampling of the region's many IT companies