Former Dublin mayor Guy Houston once coined the term “Digital Dublin” back in 2000 to refer to our city’s ascent as a player in the high tech office space sector. At that time, Dublin had just landed high tech juggernauts Oracle, Cisco, Commerce One and Sybase. Companies were being drawn by Dublin’s ample inventory of available space to build, business-friendly City Hall, proximity to I-580 and I-680, and pool of highly skilled knowledge workers.

While the tech bust in the early 2000s put a crimp on Dublin’s growth in the high tech office space market, the advantages that were a draw for high tech companies at the beginning of the new millenium are still in play today. A survey of the current landscape in Dublin indicates that we may be at the forefront of “Digital Dublin Redux”. For example, Dublin-based companies like Sybase have been enormously successful in Dublin (located kitty-corner to Hacienda Crossings). With CEO John S. Chen at the helm, Sybase has become a major player in the information management and (more recently) mobile technology fields. Mr. Chen was one of the first to envision the vast potential in the text message processing market. Sybase is now a $1B+/year company with revenue growth of over 15%/year.

You may have also read this article about Dublin-based Taleo. This pioneering provider of talent management software and solutions is located in the Dublin Corporate Center. Taleo has been enormously successful as evidenced by their nearly $150M/year of revenue and 25%+ growth rate. Please click here to read more about Taleo. Another large high tech firm in Dublin is Carl Zeiss Meditec which is an integrated medical technology company specializing in opthamology and surgical instruments. While Carl Zeiss is headquarterd in Germany, they have made their North American home in Dublin, CA. Related to medical technology, Dublin is host to medical device incubator Center for Medical Device Innovations. One of their key products in development is a wireless fetal monitor that will provide expecting mothers with a continuous stream of data related to the functioning of their baby’s heart.

Dublin has also added another arrow to its quiver for attracting businesses – office condos. The Venture Commerce Center on Clark Avenue in Dublin provides entrepreneurs with an opportunity to own their office space vs. the traditional approach of leasing office space. Centrally located just outside the proposed future Downtown Dublin District, the Venture Commerce Center will be a huge draw for nascent high tech businesses that are looking for a great location, flexibility for interior improvements, and a way to diversify their asset base (by holding “hard” assets in addition to intangible assets).

There are many indicators that Dublin is at the forefront of “Digital Dublin Redux”. Dublin has a fantastic future as a hub for high tech product and service innovation. This is great news in that non-industrial high tech companies tend to offer relatively high-paying jobs, create a minimal environmental “footprint”, avoid usurious sewer/water hookup fees for new offices, and are a siren call for the media (which creates a virtuous cycle of attracting other high tech companies).