Guru.com, Seagate, Intel, Google now Ansys pulls in another one

[PghUSA]

The long time 'burgh resident Ansys (southhills actually) has just stepped up in the world of major tech players by (and get this) taking business and innovation from other regions and incorporating them into the 'burgh scene (beats the Lycos and Lexis/Nexis models where they left town for greener tech pastures). Although the New England facilities of the bought company will probably stay put, it increases the depth and breadth of the southhills HQ and offers Ansys yet another avenue of marketshare. Wall Street seemed to love the deal pushing Ansys up 7% in one day as the stock heads for 50.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06047/656408.stm

[mercurypa]

Congrats for Ansys. Technology has been a tough business the past 3 years. I wish they were in the city though.

[tooluther]

we said the same thing about American Eagle, and look what happened. Maybe there will be more migrations into city limits

[PghUSA]

We could try the alternative: annexing Canonsburg!

So what if its in another county, the sunbelters do it all the time (i.e. Atlanta)!

[mjcatl2]

Getting AE was a coup. but it's note the rule. I, personally am happy that Canonsburg, which is not a suburb, but a town, is able to be part of a corridor that is creating jobs. In fact that stretch of 79 is one of the bright spots in the metro.

[Evergrey]

Getting AE was a coup. but it's note the rule. I, personally am happy that Canonsburg, which is not a suburb, but a town, is able to be part of a corridor that is creating jobs. In fact that stretch of 79 is one of the bright spots in the metro.

I agree... I have no problem with actual "towns" like Canonsburg and Washington growing their economies.

[PghUSA]

I share your enthusiasm about the I-79 corridor but would be quick to point out that in fact Canonsburg is very much a suburb of Pittsburgh along with Washington, not just by the last 20-30 years of census data but by both Washington and Allegheny county leadership decisions, etc. I really haven't seen one official piece disputing it being a suburb.

I get where your coming from traditionally to the man/woman on the street the "south hills" end at the county line, but again I think we don't think big enough in this region, Upper Saint Claire and Canonsburg both watch KDKA and WTAE, they both root for the Steelers and Pens, and Pitt, they both get airlifted to AGH or UPMC if something major happens, we need to start erasing these fiefdom lines and think of our region in global terms, Singapore, London and Sao Paulo would think of Canonsburg as Pittsburgh why shouldnt we? (The Sony and before that VW "Pittsburgh Works" are along the turnpike in Hempfield Twp. Westmoreland county, according to the Germans and Japanese that is Pittsburgh). Globally not locally

[tooluther]

I think we need a commuter rail line that runs from Morgantown-Washington-Cannonsburg-Downtown-Oakland...that would solidify the connection between Pittsburgh proper and the outer "suburbs"

[PghUSA]

Morgantown is a bit of a stretch, it depends on which metric you look at (Neilsen for instance considers Morgantown as much Pittsburgh as Polish Hill) but I'd love to see a few commuter lines SEPTA style along the Allegheny Valley, Mon Valley, and up the Ohio!

Talking of luring tech companies I know W.V. has done a lot to call the I-79 corridor "tech alley" down there, not sure how successful its been but I could see in the next generation a megalopolis forming from Cleveland through Canton, Akron, Ytown, Wheeling, Pittsburgh and down to the WVU research and tech facilities.

I think more partnerships could be useful between Cleveland and W.V.'s tech and bio greenhouses with Pgh.

[mjcatl2]

Canonsburg and Washington were and are their own towns. They formed well before the car-burbia post war explosion of burbs. That doesn't mean that they didn't transform into burbs of sorts since the decline of their respective industries... that is what is a unique challenge to the region.... many, many, towns formed by industry (now gone) are now essentially burbs in that the locals must commute to the city for work.

This doesn't mean that these towns shouldn't try create jobs. Now the corridor is also made up of typical contemporary sprawl, but I see this as a necessary evil as well.

There is no escaping suburn office parks and if Pgh doesn't offer qualilty office land, then another MARKET will, because it is likely that most of these decisions are not city vs burb but market vs market.

If it's a question of Southpointe or Columbus, what would you prefer?