Wireless Valley
Encyclopedia
The term "Wireless Valley" has several competing uses.
It seems to have been coined around 1990 by Ted Rappaport while he was a professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia
, alluding to his research program in wireless communications and the location of Blacksburg between the Appalachians and the Blue Ridge Mountains
. He later founded Wireless Valley Communications (of Austin, Texas), which trademarked the phrase "Wireless Valley" in the United States
.
Wireless Valley is also a nickname and an attempt to describe several regional clusters of companies in the information technology
sector:
It seems to have been coined around 1990 by Ted Rappaport while he was a professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia
Blacksburg, Virginia
Blacksburg is an incorporated town located in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 42,620 at the 2010 census. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford are the three principal jurisdictions of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which...
, alluding to his research program in wireless communications and the location of Blacksburg between the Appalachians and the Blue Ridge Mountains
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
. He later founded Wireless Valley Communications (of Austin, Texas), which trademarked the phrase "Wireless Valley" in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Wireless Valley is also a nickname and an attempt to describe several regional clusters of companies in the information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
sector:
- One such cluster is located in northern StockholmStockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. This also included a number of companies that saw themselves as belonging to the new information based economyEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. The nickname was based on an analogy to CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's Silicon ValleySilicon ValleySilicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
and reflected the hopes of trying to mimic that success. EricssonEricssonEricsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
, the world's leading supplier in telecommunications has one of its main design centers in the Stockholm suburb of KistaKistaKista is a district of Stockholm Municipality in Sweden. Located northwest of central Stockholm, Kista is divided by the Stockholm Metro blue line into a western part which is primarily a working class and middle class residential area, and an eastern part occupied by commercial ventures, mostly...
. - FinlandFinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
also has a high-tech area in EspooEspooEspoo is the second largest city and municipality in Finland. The population of the city of Espoo is . It is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Kauniainen. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen....
, sometimes called "Wireless Valley", based on NokiaNokiaNokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
. - A third such cluster consists of the telecommunications formed in San Diego, based on QualcommQualcommQualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...
- A new high-tech program has been initialed in Nanjing, China, called 'China Wireless valley'. It is based on two national key laboratories of Southeast University.