Austin, Texas

The City of Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Travis County. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Austin has a population of 656,562 people, making it the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 16th largest in the United States. Situated in the region of Central Texas, the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area is one of the fastest-growing in the United States and is home to an estimated population of 1.4 million as of 2004. Residents of Austin are known as Austinites.

1 The local economy
2 Recent Austin business news
3 See also
4 External links

The local economy

Thousands of graduates each year from the engineering and computer science programs at The University of Texas at Austin provide a steady source of young, talented and driven employees that help to fuel Austin's technology sector. The metro Austin area also has much lower housing costs than, for example, Silicon Valley. As a result of the relatively high concentration of high tech companies in the region, Austin was strongly affected by the dot-com boom in the late 1990s and subsequent bust, although recovery is proceeding rapidly.

Austin's biggest employers include the State of Texas, The University of Texas, the SETON Healthcare Network, Dell, IBM and Freescale Semiconductor (spun off from Motorola in 2004). Other high-tech companies in Austin include Apple Computer, Vignette, AMD, Applied Materials, Intel, Motive Inc, Cirrus Logic, Samsung, National Instruments, United Devices and Sun Microsystems. The proliferation of technology companies has led to the region's nickname, "the Silicon Hills," and has spurred rapid development that has greatly expanded the city to the north and south.

In addition to global companies, Austin features a strong network of independent, locally-owned firms and organzations, the Austin Independent Business Alliance. The success of these businesses reflects the high level of commitment by the citizens of Austin to preserving the unique spirit of the city, and has been tied to the "Keep Austin Weird" campaign.

Source - Wikipedia: Austin, Texas

Recent Austin business news

Links to recent headlines via Topix.net

Robbery Turns Bad for Robbers: Two robbers got more than they bargained for when they tried to rob the Dollars and Cents store on Rogge Lane in East Austin.
Nuventix Names Gary Gay Vice President of Worldwide Sales : Gay...: AUSTIN, Texas October 6, 2008 -- Nuventix, Inc., innovators of SynJet technology active cooling solutions, today announced the expansion of its executive team to include Gary Gay as Vice President of Worldwide ...
Nuventix Names Gary Gay Vice President of Worldwide Sales : Gay...: AUSTIN, Texas October 6, 2008 -- 'Adding Gary to the Nuventix leadership team solidifies our strategy of taking SynJet technology to customers globally and is a huge win for our company,' said Jim Balthazar, ...
Hotels going up near airport for sale: Two hotels under construction near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport are on the market for $13.7 million.
Freestyle may sell or partner: Report: Freescale Semiconductor, a major supplier of cellphone chips to Motorola, plans to sell or form a joint venture for its cellphone chip business, the Wall Street Journal is reporting Monday.
UBS offices in Austin unaffected by layoff decision: The 2,000 job cuts UBS announced Friday won't affect any of its employees in Austin, a spokesman says.
Recovery Center Opens On Alabama-Coushatta Reservation: AUSTIN, Texas -- The second FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Center in Polk County will open in the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, Monday to Thursday, Oct.
siXis, Inc. Launches New Identity: The change was made to more accurately reflect the company ' s focus and significant progress in the field of chip level integration.