The wireless ecosystem that is Austin, Texas

Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from RCR Wireless News’ March Special Edition, “The Perfect Storm – A Focus on Mobile Messaging, Marketing, Content and Apps.” The 80-page special edition is now available at RCRWireless.com.
More than 4,000 people are working within the wireless industry at more than 100 companies based in the metro area of Austin, Texas. The region is making its mark as a hub for technology and innovation. There are also a growing number of companies that work in the wireless space that are putting down roots and making their headquarters in the Austin area.
There are 3,400 technology companies with offices in the Austin area and a growing list of organizations who make it their sole mission to drive more innovation and business activity. More than 140 companies have relocated their headquarters from other parts of the country to the Austin area (the vast majority coming from the West Coast).
“There’s a pretty serious debate about what drives growth,” Tony Schum, economic development director at the Austin Chamber of Commerce, tells RCR Wireless News. “If you compare Austin decade-by-decade over the past century … Austin basically grows at the same clip of 3.25%.”
Consistent growth has helped Austin become a wireless hub with major design centers and offices for the top four wireless semiconductor companies all based in the region. More than ever the area is making its mark on the converged space of open wireless platforms and digital media entertainment. RCR Wireless News took an in-depth look at the market to provide more color about the wireless companies that are headquartered in this vibrant market.
Major companies headquartered in or near the Austin market:
Airband Communications – www.airband.com – A fixed wireless provider serving businesses a portfolio of high-bandwidth Internet access, point-to-point private line services and managed. Airband’s wholly owned network was built, starting in 2000, to bypass the local phone and cable companies. Airband now provides service to more than 3,500 businesses in 14 markets.
AT&T and AT&T Labs – www.corp.att.com/attlabs – AT&T Labs Inc. is the research & development arm of American telecommunications giant, AT&T. It also comprises elements of the former AT&T Laboratories, SBC Laboratories and BellSouth Laboratories.
Austin Technology Incubator – www.ati.utexas.edu – Beginning in 1989, and based at the University of Texas at Austin, ATI has worked with more than 150 teams of entrepreneurs, who have collectively raised more than $725 million in investor capital. The not-for-profit’s mission is to work with early stage technology companies and create jobs and wealth in Central Texas through technology entrepreneurship.
Bazaarvoice – http://www.bazaarvoice.com – Founded in 2005, the company is building business models around customer reviews to all types of business. With more than 600 clients under its belt already, Bazaarvoice continues to focus on customer input that can help companies make dramatic changes in their services, products and business practices.
CFE Telecom – www.cfeamerica.com/cfe-telecom – With a staff of 75, spanning coast to coast, the company has a combined experience of more than 150 years in site acquisition, engineering, surveying and project and construction management.
CSIdentity – www.csidentity.com – Squarely positioned in a market that’s expected to grow more than 20% year-over-year for the foreseeable future, CSIdentity provides proprietary software and data for the $2.8 billion identity theft protection market in the United States. The company provides identity theft and fraud protection services to business and consumers.
Dell – www.dell.com – The technology provider and PC manufacturer is making its presence felt in the wireless space with an increasing number of wireless broadband-equipped netbooks hitting the market, but even more prominent are the company’s plans in the smartphone space. The first Dell-built smartphone will be released by AT&T Mobility using the Android operating system.
Freescale Semiconductor – www.freescale.com – With more than 18 billion Freescale semiconductors already actively processing data across the world, you can be sure Freescale is finding its groove in the mobile space just as well. The semiconductor powerhouse employs more than 20,000 people overall.
Motion Computing – www.motioncomputing.com – A producer of slate tablet PCs tailor-made for mobile professionals in healthcare, government, field force automation and more. The company aims to deliver products that increase productivity for on-the-go users while providing security, power and versatility.
National Instruments – www.ni.com – Maker of an open graphical programming software and modular hardware that more than 30,000 customers use to test, control and deploy a variety of applications, ranging from gaming to breakthrough medical devices.
Pocket Communication – www.pocket.com – Formed in 2006, the flat-rate carrier recently formed a joint venture with Leap Wireless, to expand its fast growing customer base, which already includes more than 250,000 customers in the region.
Silicon Laboratories – www.silabs.com – Founded in 1996, the company continues to innovate on high-performance, analog-intensive mixed-signal integrated circuits, which enable the analog world we live in to interact with the digital world of computing. The company’s technology can be found in cellphones, set-top boxes, televisions and more.
Texas Instruments – www.ti.com – Based in Dallas, the company is the fourth-largest manufacturer of semiconductors worldwide and the No. 2 supplier of chipsets for cellular handsets after Qualcomm. Back in 1986, the company was the 13th firm to register its domain name.
Ultra Electronics Advanced Tactical Systems – www.ultra-ats.com – The division of Ultra Electronics Business has been named among the best companies to work for in Texas for the past two years. The company designs, develops, delivers, and supports real-time tactical command and control systems for defense and homeland security applications worldwide.
Key associations and groups based in Austin market:
The Wi-Fi Alliance – www.wi-fi.org – Formed in 1999 to drive adoption of a single worldwide standard for high-speed wireless local area networking.
Austin Chamber of Commerce – www.austinchamberofcommerce.org – Supports and promotes economic development throughout the five-county region surrounding Austin.
Austin Technology Council – www.austintechnologycouncil.org – Formed in 1994 to be the principal point of connection for tech companies that represent a critical mass of business in the region. A major part of the group’s mission is to ensure that Austin maintains its world-renowned technology status and that it continues to capitalize on assets such as university-based research, venture funding, an entrepreneurial culture and more.
Austin Wireless Alliance – www.austinwirelessalliance.org – A nonprofit organization whose primary objective is to develop, sustain and promote Austin as a global leader in business, technical innovation and community participation within the wireless industry. Has also developed and coordinated a series of major strategic wireless initiatives in the region.
Texas State Wireless Association – www.txwa.org – Formed in 2006 to bring the statewide wireless community together for education, business strategy discussions and quarterly gatherings.
Digita
l Media Council – www.skillpointalliance.org – Supports and promotes industry-le
d collaborations with educators and community leaders to advance the economic growth of digital media and creative technology and design industries in the region.
International Game Developers Association-Austin – www.idga.org – The Austin chapter of the nonprofit international organization is working to advance the careers and enhance the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development and advocating on issues that affect the developer community.
EDGE at the University of Texas at Austin – www.ece.utexas.edu – A research center working to transform the ways in which locally, nationally and globally distributed software engineering teams collaborate. The Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin graduates 400 engineers annually.
Interested in more content from the March 2010 Special Edition? Click here