Market facts: Utah information technology stengths.

• Position: Telecom & Technology

Industry Outlook

CLEARLY, UTAH IS NOT SILICON VALLEY. THERE AREN'T 87 VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS WITH A BILLION DOLLARS IN INVESTMENT CAPITAL SITTING ON THE SIDELINES ON STATE STREET, BUT THE REALITY IS IN THE LAST FIVE OR SIX YEARS WE'VE DOUBLED THE NUMBER OF VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS THAT ARE BASED HERE AND WE'VE AT LEAST TRIPLED THE NUMBER OF VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS THAT ARE INVESTING HERE.

Hal Widlansky, Mangia

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SOCIAL NETWORKING IS REALLY STARTING TO CHANGE THE TELECOM LANDSCAPE. USING SOCIAL NETWORKING INSTRUMENTS, LIKE FACEBOOK AND TWITTER, TO INTERACT WITH OUR CUSTOMERS AND FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS GOING TO BE A MAJOR CHANGE.

Spencer Cox, Western FiberNet

GREAT ENTREPRENEURIAL ATMOSPHERE AND EXISTENCE OF STRONG INFRASTRUCTURE

* Utah ranked 1st in the nation for the top tech-savvy states; Utah County ranked 10th among medium-size counties in the country; and Salt Lake City and Orem ranked 3rd for medium- and small-size cities, respectively, in the country. (2)

* Utah ranked 2nd in the nation for e-government and investor patents. (3)

* Utah ranked 6th in the nation for data storage technologies. (4)

* Brigham Young University is the 1st university in the nation to receive an IT school accreditation. (5)

(1) Source: Utah Technology Council

(2) Source: Center for Digital Government. 2008 Digital Cities Survey

(3) Source: Kauffman Foundation, 2007 Stats New Economy Index

(4) Source: CDW Government. "State and Local Government Technology Investment Curve," 2007 rankings

(5) Source: Brigham Young University. 2006 data

High Technology Field Utah Employment...