Power Breakfast: Alpharetta becoming high-tech magnet, tax breaks for tourism, Wi-Fi, Turner, Aflac, oil prices

Alpharetta is becoming a key hub for high-tech firms, AJC reporter Pat Fox writes.

When Bob Trotter toured Alpharetta as a possible site for his company’s IT operation, he was struck by the miles of underground fiber-optic cable and a world-class broadband network, Fox reports.

But what really blew him away was what was above ground.

“If it was just technology, we’d have located to Chicago or Dallas,” Trotter, North American president of ThyssenKrupp Corp., told Fox.

But what distinguishes Alpharetta from other tech-wired cities, Trotter said, is its proximity to all the elements that contribute to an inviting lifestyle — good schools, good roads, access to university systems, quality housing, the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Fox writes.

ThyssenKrupp, a German-based industrial conglomerate, invested a year researching 138 cities for its North American IT Shared Services operation. Its selection of Alpharetta in January will bring $30 million and 110 employees to the local economy, Fox reports.

They’re not alone. Seven of metro Atlanta’s top 25 technology employers call Alpharetta home, Fox writes. Close to 900 technology or tech-enabled companies are here, according to Technology Association of Georgia, a trade group that tracks the industry.

This year alone, tech companies have committed more than $125 million to expand or relocate businesses to the city, bringing nearly 300 jobs with them, Fox reports.

Also in the AJC:

• Tourism projects could get big tax breaks under new legislation
• Privacy dangers from Wi-Fi are real
• Ted Turner puts his money to work on global issues
• Aflac’s search for the perfect quack about to end

In other media:

• Oil nears $113 as damaged fields shut Libyan output
• How S&P’s warning could help U.S. debt
• Bail-bond agents shun homes as collateral

- Henry Unger, The Biz Beat

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