IT heartland developing in Western Sydney

More than 400 of Sydney's most influential stakeholders gathered to learn of the trade, investment and employment opportunities now being created within the region, which has been tagged Australia's economic powerhouse.

"For the past three years it has enjoyed economic growth of between four and five percent a year - four times the NSW average," Premier Bob Carr said.

Investment and relocation by companies including Compaq, Cable & Wireless Optus and IBM has helped drive the region to house the third most concentrated IT&T workforce in Australia.

The industry generates more than AU$2.5 billion in turnover and of the 600,000 people employed within its boundaries, more than 18,000 are employed in IT&T.

Turnover is expected to grow by 53 percent to AU$3.85 billion by 2006, while local employment should also record a rise of 5,000 additional workers.

"The Greater West is now an attractive destination for the IT industry," Chairman of the Greater Western Sydney Economic Development Board Jim Bosnjak said.

"Factors such as the University of Western Sydney, an advanced telecommunications network and land prices up to 90 percent more competitive than the Sydney CBD is resulting in a flood of new IT investment."

With location no longer the primary focus in the IT industry, investors are being attracted to the region's combination of a skilled and available workforce, competitive land prices, modern communications infrastructure, efficient transportation networks and an existing base of clients or partners, Bosnjak said.

Norwest Business Park at Baulkham Hills is one example of a modern IT business facility, with over 337 hectares of land home to a network of local Australian and multinational companies - including IBM, Global Services, Optus Communications, Cathay Pacific and Texas Instruments.

Asian hub?

"These companies not only choose local estates like Norwest over other areas in Australia. We are beating the best estates in the Asia-Pacific," according to Bosnjak.

Other local business parks include Huntingwood Estate at Blacktown, Chullora Estate at Bankstown and the upcoming Wonderland Business Park at Eastern Creek.

"The Greater Western Sydney market is well in step with current technologies and trends in telecommunications," Cable & Wireless Optus CEO Chris Anderson, said at the State of the Region address.

"Outside of North Sydney and North Ryde, the West has the highest concentration of IT&T workers in Australia. For us, the West is particularly important. We have six sites - call centres, data hosting sites, exchanges - in addition to our training centre in the region."

The GWS Economic Development Board said the greatest IT strength of the Greater West was the contribution it made to the giant local sector of advanced manufacturing.

Many of the world's biggest names in electronics and computers operate either their headquarters or manufacturing facilities from the Greater West.

One such company is Compaq, which selected Rydalmere as the site for its Australasian Technology Centre in 1998.

The Rydalmere facility is the only computer hardware manufacturing plant in the region and was therefore an important part of the growth of its IT industry, according to Ray Muffett, director of manufacturing at Compaq.

Muffett said there were many reasons for their decision to locate their factory in GWS.

"The cost of the facility was significantly lower than similar locations closer to the Sydney CBD, with the advantage of proximity to the Parramatta CBD.

There was a relatively well-trained labour-force which would find Rydalmere easily accessible, especially by public transport. Transport was also an important issue."

The GWS Economic Development Board will initiate a pilot project in the Macarthur region of South-West Sydney this year to boost the IT opportunities of the local manufacturing sector.

The total manufacturing turnover for Macarthur totalled AU$1.6 billion - or one dollar in every three generated by the region, Bosnjak said.

However, he said that while some sectors of the manufacturing industry such as structural and sheetmetal would experience exceptional rates of growth this decade, its current IT infrastructure placed it at a relative disadvantage to its Asia-Pacificcompetitors.

"The majority of manufacturing firms utilise basic IT cabling as opposed to coaxial or fibre-optic cabling," he said.

"An opportunity exists therefore to not only encourage the application of advanced manufacturing processes through IT application, but to encourage the provision of hi-tech IT and communications by suppliers and industry alike."

Ritzy addresses lacking

Another local initiative receiving widespread attention is Bradman Corporation's development of a smart housing estate at Camden.

"One of the problems in attracting major IT investment in Western Sydney has been that our local residential estates have lacked the edge of those now being developed in cities like California or Dallas," Bosnjak said.

"Senior IT executives earning high salaries have not been able to find the specialist properties they need to operate 24-hours a day. Bradman Corporation is developing houses that will meet the technological needs of any IT specialist or home business operator."