Route 128…Technology Innovation…Then…And Now!

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“It’s very seductive to live here…,” says Virtual Computer’s
Vasilevsky.

Rte. 128 - crowded, gridlock, outdated, tortuous…

This is how many of us think of the highway now more appropriately referred to as Interstate 95.

But did you know that 128 is America’s Technology Highway?

The East Coast’s most notable technology corridor?

That’s right!  Silicon Valley is the West Coast icon, but 128 represents the innovation and technology brilliance that has been lauded around the globe.

And you may be very surprised about what’s going on in the 128 belt today.

BitWave Systems

The names may have changed over the years, but 128 is still a hotbed of tech, venture capital, and opportunity.

… people want desperately to remain in the neighborhood. And that’s perhaps the most upbeat conclusion that can be drawn. Executives from a dozen different technology companies extoll the desirability of the region. “People put down roots. They have a life,” says Alex Vasilevsky, who co-founded Virtual Computer Inc., which is developing personal computer management software through what is called virtualization. Peter Marconi, the company’s vice president of engineering, chimes in: “In California, it’s who’s got more money, who’s got three Ferraris instead of two. It drives me crazy.”

The attraction of this swath of New England is easy enough to understand, even during often-harsh winters. The corridor isn’t the endless string of faceless industrial parks, shapeless office buildings and cookie-cutter housing subdivisions that typify Silicon Valley. Rather, there are pockets of office complexes surrounded by terrain that is bucolic and often heavily wooded. Residents marvel about an ability to live in environments that range from forested mountains to rugged seashore, from storybook village to thriving city.

If Route 128 — now co-branded I-95 along one stretch — and I-495 are like bicycle half-rims, then some other arteries such as Routes 2 and 3 and I-93 are like spokes. The result: a catchment area that extends from the shore northeast of Boston into New Hampshire and west to rolling farmlands. “Within a 45-minute drive you can live in any environment,” says BitWave Semiconductor’s Cyr.

“We’re in a corridor that traverses many residential communities,” says Howard Berke, Konarka’s executive director and co-founder. “I can attract talent from Boston and Cambridge to come up, New Hampshire to come down. It takes me 35 minutes all on country roads to get here.”

- TheDeal.com

Rte 128 America's Technology Highway

Terrific story …

Full story on TheDeal.com

More:

Rte. 128 Revisited

JOHN PRESCOTT

-BostonKayakGuy

Top Real Estate Agent for more than 14 years, serving the real estate needs of Wellesley, South Natick, Weston, Needham, Wayland, Newton, Framingham and other MetWest communities. www.johnprescott.net

JOHN PRESCOTT

Vice President

Century 21 Commonwealth

508-523-9252

BostonKayakGuy…The MetWest Scene