The power of attraction of IT companies to each other

The holiday season 2014 has finally ended. FirstVDS shares a sketch of an employee of the marketing department on the topic "How I spent this summer." In this article, he talks about his impressions of visiting the EA Games office in Canada. He talks about the attraction of companies to each other, working in high-tech areas, and the formation of local counterparts of Silicon Valleys.

In the summer of this year, I was able to go to Canadian Vancouver for a few weeks. And, as always happens when you find yourself in new places, the feeling of curiosity sharply worsened immediately after arrival. I wanted absolutely to see and scout everything.

Leaving museums and theaters from tourist guides for last, I went to look at life in the suburbs. Moreover, there is something to look at! It is here, on the coastline, there are numerous houses from the public places of Vkontakte, built right into the rocks. But the story, of course, is not about that.
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During the planning of the trip, I planned to visit the office of EA Games. It is located in Burnaby, the satellite city of Vancouver. Directly in this division they create my favorite series of sports simulators FIFA and NHL, as well as a lot of other well-known games.



Generally, Electronic Arts is not allowed to enter the territory, however, company employees regularly hold parties / open doors dedicated to the premieres of fresh releases, national holidays or simply as promotional events designed to attract fresh blood to the company.



It’s not that EA Games’s office is as cool as Facebook or Google’s, but it’s also not an ordinary language. The working conditions of Canadian employees are little different from those created for employees of the largest IT enterprises of Silicon Valley in the USA. From the outside, it is more and more like a five-star resort, where everything is included, rather than a place where people work.

Of course, the company that creates the best sports simulators has all the conditions for playing sports: its own football field, beach volleyball court, basketball court and an excellent gym.



For lunch in the dining room brought food for employees. Naturally, all for free. Sitting at a table and gobbling up tasty food, I involuntarily overheard how one employee complained to another about the fact that fruits are not brought every day. Indeed, tragedy!



Conceived in EA Games and about the rest of subordinates. There is a billiard table, a kicker, a library with literature, necessary for work and not only.



Personally, I could not get past the slot machine hall. I missed a rally for gifts, but I played enough in Street Fighter. In general, an amazing place.



Having seen enough of all this disgrace, I decided to walk around Burnaby neighborhoods. I have already made here a comparison with the "Silicon Valley", it turned out that it was not for nothing. The town is literally crammed with IT enterprises.

Directly across the road from EA are our Canadian colleagues - hosting provider Doteasy. A little further is the Kodak office. And, judging by the building, they are doing quite well. I specifically went to their site to find out what they are doing now. Three minutes away are the creators of the Dead Rising series - Capcom Vancouver. Further office of the largest Canadian telecommunications operator Telus.



And dozens or even hundreds of other companies. The names told me very little, but almost every name contained the words Technologies, Media, Systems, Solutions.

All this led me to think about the causes of this phenomenon. What attracts high-tech companies to each other? Why exactly Burnaby and not some other nearby town? After talking with a couple of friends, it turned out that everything is quite simple. And the answer is not tax breaks imposed by the Government of Canada or the city authorities.

It so happened that since the 60s, the British Columbia Institute of Technology has been located here. Later in the area, several large IT enterprises built offices at once: Electronic Arts, IBM and NOKIA (the latter two have recently closed their offices due to financial problems). Convenient transport accessibility, proximity to downtown Vancouver and low property prices have made the city an ideal place for the construction of large offices.



Currently, the company having a “office in Burnaby” ​​receives a bonus as a modern and high-tech company, which has a positive effect on the image as a whole. The number of enterprises in the city is constantly increasing, in spite of the prices of real estate that have grown strongly due to the demand.

I observed exactly the same situation in Barcelona. By itself, this Spanish city attracts many startups in the IT sector due to the concentration of capital and the presence of a large number of investors. Companies that managed to get money for development, open a business in the north-western part of the city, where real estate prices are suitable for beginners. In this case, they are next to each other, forming a kind of IT cluster.

What do we have in Russia? It would be very interesting to hear in the comments how this matter is in your city.

I can say that in Irkutsk, although in a reduced form, there is definitely something similar. In the area where the head office of FirstVDS is located , there is an increased concentration of IT enterprises. Our neighbors include international software developers, major software distributors, and numerous web studios, not to mention a technical university that forges the vast majority of staff for all these companies.