Israel's Tech Capabilities Are Drawing Attention From The World Leading Tech Companies

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Wall Street Journal: Israeli Army Builds a Desert Outpost—Tech Firms Follow

EMC, Oracle, Lockheed and others open offices near future home of cybersecurity command

BE’ER SHEVA, Israel—A global tech hub is sprouting in the Israeli desert.

Over the next decade, Israel’s army is moving a large portion of its offices—including those of many of its key technology commands—out of the greater Tel Aviv area and relocating them some 60 miles south, to this city in Israel’s rock-strewn Negev desert. Many of the world’s biggest tech companies are following, eager to stay close to the Israel Defense Forces’ tech-savvy workforce.

EMC Corp. , the U.S.-based data storage and cloud computing giant, set up shop in a new industrial park on the outskirts of town last year. It was one of the first big firms to open offices in Be’er Sheva, anticipating the long-planned army move.

“The main reason EMC wants to be in Be’er Sheva is for access to talent,” said Maya Hofman Levy, the company’s site manager here. “It’s a place the company looked at and thought it would be good to be at [for] the long run, seeing what is being formed here.”

Neighbors now include Deutsche Telekom AG , Lockheed Martin Corp. , Oracle Corp. , and International Business Machines Corp. In March, eBay Inc. ’s PayPal unit bought cybersecurity startup CyActive Ltd., which is based in Be’er Sheva.

WNU Editor: When it comes to cyber security issues Israel has always ranked beside the U.S., China, And Russia. I guess this global tech hub in the middle of the Negev desert is a recognition of this fact.