Charlotte Tech News

[J-Rob]

3 hours ago, tozmervo said:

I can't figure out who 5g is targeted at. Since 4g rolled out, I have literally never thought my connection was slow, even streaming good quality video.

Ever heard of the podcast called R&D in the QC? Two city councilmen host it, and Tariq Bohqari talks about it a lot. According to him it is important to attract new tech companies wanting experiment with the “Internet of Things”.  He uses the example of being able to create smarter traffic flow patterns.  He wants to create the first 5G city to attract tech companies and tech talent.

Edited April 26, 2019 by J-Rob

[elrodvt]

On 4/25/2019 at 7:49 PM, SouthEndCLT811 said:

It's a good marketing tool.  Similar to 4K which unless you're viewing at optimal distances commensurate to the size of the screen you don't really get much benefit from.  Just the latest and greatest thing people to buy into.  Coming from someone who used to be an early adopter to any sort of tech!

I'm curious, do you have a 4k tv and is it not a $400 job? With all due respect I call BS on that statement.

For me the difference is incredible. Especially for sports (same as HD transition). It is important it's not just 4k but also HDR or Dolby Vision. 

I agree with 5g btw. If they're going to still rip you off on data who cares. You just run out quicker. It's not like you can use it at home for internet with those caps. BTW, I love Google fi. Especially travelling out of country. 

On 4/25/2019 at 8:03 PM, J-Rob said:

Ever heard of the podcast called R&D in the QC? Two city councilmen host it, and Tariq Bohqari talks about it a lot. According to him it is important to attract new tech companies wanting experiment with the “Internet of Things”.  He uses the example of being able to create smarter traffic flow patterns.  He wants to create the first 5G city to attract tech companies and tech talent.

LOL, I'll wait for 1990 style triggered lights at night first. You really think we're going to invest in IOT? Same folks who led the cats app development work on this? Sorry to be so negative but I'll believe when I see it.

[SouthEndCLT811]

Oh I'm not saying 4K is bad in general. If sized and distance you're viewing is in an optimal range it can be really good.  I just question how many people consider that when buying.  Just worked for a local company that engineers and distributes electronics and got to see behind the scenes for years. Maybe made me jaded to a degree lol

Edited April 27, 2019 by SouthEndCLT811

[elrodvt]

Yeah been there too.

I have a LG OLED. It's fantastic from most angles and for my rec room size you can sit most any distance and appreciate the difference. Yes, most consumers are suckers. I mean going to see a picture at BB or something under their lighting is a joke. Let alone paying their price. I purchased via a massdrop which was a great experience. So I guess I've become un-jaded if that's a thing. :-)

[XRZ.ME]

ATT actually deployed true 5G last year in Charlotte in their first batch of cities. Even earlier than rebranding 4G LTE into 5G E. But no device can use it even now other than some brick like hotspot which is only available for business to experiment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[J-Rob]

On 4/26/2019 at 7:49 PM, elrodvt said:

I'm curious, do you have a 4k tv and is it not a $400 job? With all due respect I call BS on that statement.

For me the difference is incredible. Especially for sports (same as HD transition). It is important it's not just 4k but also HDR or Dolby Vision. 

I agree with 5g btw. If they're going to still rip you off on data who cares. You just run out quicker. It's not like you can use it at home for internet with those caps. BTW, I love Google fi. Especially travelling out of country. 

LOL, I'll wait for 1990 style triggered lights at night first. You really think we're going to invest in IOT? Same folks who led the cats app development work on this? Sorry to be so negative but I'll believe when I see it.

The city councilman is head of Charlotte FinTech, and a first time council member, so yes, I do believe his ambition. ...and it isn’t triggered lights obviously, even if that would be convenient for your sarcastic cynicism.    I don’t recall details but it was much more sophisticated than that.  You are the one always saying we shouldn’t settle for current standards, so why not be hopeful?

[elrodvt]

12 hours ago, J-Rob said:

The city councilman is head of Charlotte FinTech, and a first time council member, so yes, I do believe his ambition. ...and it isn’t triggered lights obviously, even if that would be convenient for your sarcastic cynicism.    I don’t recall details but it was much more sophisticated than that.  You are the one always saying we shouldn’t settle for current standards, so why not be hopeful?

It was sarcastic and it would be great to leapfrog to the Head of the class. When does cynicism become realism though?

I have read some very cool ideas about traffic shaping using IoT sensors in scientific American. From what I've read so far though they're all still in small pilots.

Still I'm intrigued by the fintech person. Who's that? It certainly can't hurt to have someone with tech experience setting visions. FinTech doesn't have anything to do with IoT does it? Thanks...

[joenc]

Bay Area has horrible ISP, hasn't hurt them. We have better service here.

Talking about Google Fiber/5G as a tech driver is one of those signals that someone* read a PR piece somewhere and doesn't really understand what's going on

Edit:

*I'm talking about our elected officials

Edited April 28, 2019 by joenc

[J-Rob]

19 hours ago, elrodvt said:

. Who's that?

https://charlottenc.gov/CityCouncil/Pages/TariqBokhari.aspx

I would agree FinTech doesn't necessarily have anything to do with IoT, but my point was more that he is a successful innovator in a technology field.  I understand skepticism, but I am also hopeful.

Edited April 29, 2019 by J-Rob

[joenc]

https://www.forbes.com/fintech/2019/#cb6927b2b4c6

None of the top FinTech startups are from Charlotte.

[KJHburg]

15 minutes ago, joenc said:

https://www.forbes.com/fintech/2019/#cb6927b2b4c6

None of the top FinTech startups are from Charlotte.

No longer a startup but it was started here and now is a Billion dollar company AvidXchange automated billing software.   Plus there are plenty of smaller FinTech startups here go back to the beginning of this thread and read about many of them.  

[joenc]

Look into these things a little deeper. Look who the founders are at these top 50.

It's mostly youngish CS majors, not 'executives' as old financial companies. A lot of them have no experience at all! Experience may even be a liability in the new age.

There are changes coming across all industries and we, as a region may be on the wrong side of them.

There will be a thrashing and hiring of a lot of 'tech workers', but to what end?

Edited April 29, 2019 by joenc

[KJHburg]

from Business Journal subscriber article about Tresata

"Tresata Inc., a Charlotte-based data analytics firm, is looking to expand its employee base here to accommodate rapid growth. The company would like to add 50 new positions in the next 12 to 18 months, said Brittany Box, chief administrative officer. That would more than double its current base. Tresata is hiring for multiple job types, including data, operations and product engineers and developers.  Tresata is one of this area's fastest-growing companies — logging 73% revenue growth in 2015-17. Last year, it landed at No. 2,380 on the Inc. 5,000 list, which logged the nation's 5,000 fastest-growing companies based on revenue growth from 2014-17.  "It’s an exciting time for the company. We’re also looking at property expansion," Box said.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/05/06/whats-behind-local-tech-firm-tresatas-latest.html

[KJHburg]

Tech job openings in Charlotte metro up 55% year over year fastest growing in job openings in tech in NC and yes that include Raleigh and Durham metro areas.

https://www.wraltechwire.com/2019/05/22/high-tech-job-openings-surge-in-triangle-but-dip-slightly-acrcoss-north-carolina/

[wilmore]

On 5/6/2019 at 8:03 PM, KJHburg said:

from Business Journal subscriber article about Tresata

"Tresata Inc., a Charlotte-based data analytics firm, is looking to expand its employee base here to accommodate rapid growth. The company would like to add 50 new positions in the next 12 to 18 months, said Brittany Box, chief administrative officer. That would more than double its current base. Tresata is hiring for multiple job types, including data, operations and product engineers and developers.  Tresata is one of this area's fastest-growing companies — logging 73% revenue growth in 2015-17. Last year, it landed at No. 2,380 on the Inc. 5,000 list, which logged the nation's 5,000 fastest-growing companies based on revenue growth from 2014-17.  "It’s an exciting time for the company. We’re also looking at property expansion," Box said.""

 https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/05/06/whats-behind-local-tech-firm-tresatas-latest.html

This article, like every piece of Tresata coverage, manages to use a lot of words without saying anything. 

[Blakcatfan]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article230656429.html#storylink=mainstage_lead - Lowe’s considers Charlotte for new 2,000-employee tech hub

This would significantly change the Tech Job numbers in Charlotte.

[KJHburg]

Passport acquires its 2nd company  this year.  Passport is another tech success story from Charlotte. 

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/06/06/charlotte-based-passport-acquires-second-company.html?iana=hpmvp_clt_news_headline

 

[KJHburg]

Amazon's Alexa was born in Charlotte!   Big tech companies should not dismiss NC but need to invest here heavily.  Siri is based in a data center in Catawba County but check this article out from the Triangle Business Journal (subscriber)

 

""A startup with bold ambitions, big backers and an Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) pedigree is looking for a “marquis” headquarters location in Raleigh as it doubles down on artificial intelligence.Igor Jablokov, CEO of Raleigh’s Pryon, doesn’t mince words about his bold vision for his new startup’s future.

He sees a $1.7 trillion (“Yes, that’s trillion,” he reiterates) market for the company, which develops augmented intelligence for the enterprise. And he sees his 20-person firm (including half a dozen employees in Raleigh) as making a major dent with a technology “unlike anything that’s out there.”  “We’ve done it before,” he says.

And it’s that pedigree that drives much of the firm’s talking points as it looks for what Jablokov calls a "marquis" location in the Raleigh area. 

In 2011, Jablokov led a tiny startup called Yap in Charlotte, North Carolina, which sold a technology to Amazon – a piece of AI that would, eventually, be called Alexa.

He calls it “proof” that small teams can do big things.  “Most people don’t know the trivia that Alexa was born in North Carolina,” he says. “It’s a little bit mind-bending to them… they always expect it to be born in downtown Seattle, Silicon Valley… and there were so many anonymous people in Charlotte, North Carolina, working right outside of Panther’s Stadium working on a technology that nobody wanted… and then Amazon came and said, hey, what’s that?”""

Now, eight years later, his new company wants to do it again – and backers seem to be buying in.  Pryon just disclosed a $20 million funder from big name investors, including AOL cofounder Steve Case’s initiative, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. Breyer Capital, Greycroft, Digital Alpha Advisors, as well as existing backers such as Bootstrap Labs, Engage, Good Growth Capital and Two Sigma Ventures all participated in the funder, according to the company.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/06/11/ai-startup-with-amazon-pedigree-looks-for-marquis.html

Not all innovation takes place on the west coast take note big tech companies!   NC Tech Rising and big tech you need to be here in NC! 

[J-Rob]

From Charlotte Ledger newsletter (which I really like if you haven't signed up yet):

[KJHburg]

^^^ See related article above and here is Credit Karma is doubling its office space here in Charlotte and plans to hire 30 more people this year.  From CBJ subscriber article

""The firm is doubling its space as of Monday — going from 8,500 square feet to more than 18,000 square feet at the office in Ballantyne, said Colleen McCreary, chief people officer. Soon after the physical expansion will come a push to hire about 30 more people in product, engineering and marketing roles, she said. About 70 people are employed there now.  The goal is to double the size of the Ballantyne office in the next year or less, McCreary said.   "I think Charlotte has a really great talent base, especially with all of the financial institutions and the growing number of tech companies coming in, and we want to take advantage of that."  McCreary said the firm prefers to start locally to fill the new roles. Credit Karma is also hiring in San Francisco and Los Angeles, she said.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/06/17/how-credit-karmas-office-in-ballantyne-is-readying.html

 

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

I think it will be interesting to see how IBM's acquisition of RedHat impacts RTP's job numbers. Could see a series of overlaps there, or perhaps an even greater IBM focus on RDU.

[elrodvt]

6 hours ago, CarolinaDaydreamin said:

I think it will be interesting to see how IBM's acquisition of RedHat impacts RTP's job numbers. Could see a series of overlaps there, or perhaps an even greater IBM focus on RDU.

It will be. Unfortunately IBM, where I worked a long time, doesn't have a stellar record of growing businesses they purchase.

[joenc]

Raleigh-Durham hasn't been doing as well as you'd think in the booming tech economy. It has big offices for a lot of the legacy tech companies like Cisco, IBM, and Lenovo, but none for Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google or the new crop of unicorns.

Look at what's happening in Austin (https://austin.curbed.com/2019/6/17/18681769/google-austin-expansion-major-downtown-saltillo) and Seattle for comparison.

HB2 probably hurt Raleigh the most, more than Charlotte. Also can't forget the trend of many of the newer tech companies wanting to be in urban offices.

There are success stories like Epic Games, (and Red Hat, I guess, if selling to IBM is a good outcome) but I can't think of any other recent big time successes

EDIT:

There was also this last year: https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/12/13/apple-picks-austin-for-1-billion-campus-that-will-hold-up-to-15000-workers/

Edited June 18, 2019 by joenc

[Bruco72]

8 minutes ago, joenc said:

HB2 probably hurt Raleigh the most, more than Charlotte. Also can't forget the trend of many of the newer tech companies wanting to be in urban offices.

I preface this by saying that I was 100% against the debacle that was HB2. 

But with that said, did PayPal ever actually expand anywhere? 

[KJHburg]

11 minutes ago, Bruco72 said:

I preface this by saying that I was 100% against the debacle that was HB2. 

But with that said, did PayPal ever actually expand anywhere? 

actually they laid off some people. 

https://technical.ly/baltimore/2019/03/28/paypal-will-close-its-hunt-valley-office-plans-380-layoffs/