Thursday, June 19, 2008

HP Techno-savior

Recently I quipped about the potential loss of Arkansas' telecom giant, Alltel. Jobs, future state investments, and - to an extent - state economic stability are all on shaky ground. Verizon could very easily pull up Alltel's roots and trek off to whereever they want it to go.

In steps HP - yes, the computer people. Just hours ago, the Governor announced that HP has chosen Conway as a site for a new multimillion dollar manufacturing facility. In an instant, uncertainty - due to the Verizon deal - has been snatched from the abyss. HP's investment brings with it the potential for more white-collar investment from the information and technology industry. 1200 jobs were created with a flip of the wrist and couple "John Hancocks" here and there. Thank you HP.

Perhaps, I need to re-examine the potential IT foreign investment options such as the Samsung and others...

Folks at the Commission were pretty ecstatic this afternoon. AEDC was a happy office, and I could faintly hear the big-wigs giggling with glee.* Verizon could still play party pooper and take away Alltel's presence, but at least we have a nice replacement waiting in the wings.

2 comments:

Sara said...

robert and i kept referencing you today in our daily hour-long conversation.

we miss you!

Sara said...

i had to check to see that i had the right word, but yes - i did. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/referenced

as in, we were referencing your character traits, i.e. how cool russ is. . .

did you steal the little pug-let for me? robert is considering jobs in portland and wants me to move back there if i don't find my ideal job in little rock - i told him the only way i would EVER move back there is if i received a pug within 2 weeks and if we had a small yard in which my pug and i could have long leisurely afternoons.

he said he'd think about it.