The Corridor Journal of Strategic Alliances Silicon Island(c) | Page 6

Software and Electronics
Industry
on Long Island
Satya Sharma, Ph.D.
The information revolution, which has become a
principal driver of the global economy, has been
propelled by a succession of disruptive technologies.
New York State’s economy has also been influenced
greatly by this information revolution. The presence of
over 22,000 software and IT companies and 450,000
workers at these companies alone, not to mention the
existence of over 200,000 IT workers at non-IT firms
confirms New York’s arrival as a major destination in
the global information technology market.

According to Gartner, New York City is home to 39
percent of the State’s IT companies and 34 percent of
the State’s IT industry employees and ranks 1st with
more than 10,000 companies. Long Island accounts
for 18% of IT companies and 20% of total IT-related
employees and ranks 2nd in the state with more than
4,500 companies. There are close to 14,000 software
and IT companies that employ 10 or fewer people in
New York State. As these companies blossom into
mature organizations, there is no doubt the need for
skilled information technology employees will surge.
The Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information
Technology (CEWIT) and LISTnet (the Long Island
Software and Technology Network) provides support
to software companies in the Long Island region for
their continued growth in all of the sub-segments of IT
industry. The employees of these companies represent
some 10% of the total regional workforce, the largest
segment with the highest average salary. It is for this
reason that the software industry cluster is critical for
the Long Island economy.
Long Island has always been known for innovation.
Grumman’s recognized expertise in aircraft building
created a dominant defense industry that contributed
to countless air battles in 2nd World War. Grumman
built a new generation of flying machines, including
the Lunar Module that landed the first astronaut on the
moon. Scientists from all over the world at Brookhaven
National Lab continue to explore the mysteries of the
universe, while biologists and chemists at Cold Spring
Harbor Labs continue to explore the secrets of the
human genome resulting in a long list of Nobel laureates
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at both labs. Long Island is home to some
of the world’s best public schools and most
prestigious research institutions.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Long
Islanders re-invented their
economy by diversification,
including software and
electronics. The firm now
known as CA Technologies
was started by Charles B.
Wang and Russ Artzt in
the mid -1970s. It is now
a global IT management
software
company
serving the majority of
the Forbes Global 2000.
From the mainframe to
distributed to virtualized
and cloud, CA has a
history of developing
and delivering powerful,
integrated
software
to help customers
improve performance
and better compete,
innovate and grow their
businesses. In 2011,
CA Technologies was
named to the Forbes
“100 Most Innovative
Companies” list and in
2010, it was ranked among the top
50 greenest companies in the U.S.
by Newsweek magazine. CA is a
leading enterprise in infrastructure
management, IT governance, service
management, data center automation,
and security management for both
the mainframe and distributed
environments.
Another major IT company on Long
Island also emerged in 1980. Symbol
Technologies was founded in 1973 by

Jerome Swartz and Shelley A. Harrison. Symbol patented
the first hand-held barcode laser scanner, a data capture
productivity tool now common in myriad applications across
diverse global markets, and became a leader in handheld laser
bar code scanning devices. Symbol also patented the world’s
first hand-held scanner-integrated wireless computer and the
first spread spectrum wireless LAN (WiFi), enabling real-time
mobile data transactions. Symbol also led the development
of the first commercially accepted wearable computer, which
combines a ring scanner worn on the finger and a wireless
LAN-based, wrist-mounted computer for handling intensive
barcode and voice over IP applications. Symbol dominated
the Enterprise Mobility Management market and its laser
scan engines became the engines for data capture worldwide
having more than 55% of the world market share. Most of
symbol’s competitors also used Symbol’s scan engines in
their products. Symbol was instrumental in the ratification
of the IEEE 802.11b standard for Wi-Fi communication and
dominated the IEEE 802.11b market for years and designed
and created the first chip sets for Intel’s Wi-Fi offering. In
1999, Symbol won the National Medal of Technology, the
highest honor for technology innovation given by the US
Government becoming only the third electronics company to
have this coveted honor. In 2003, it won the Shingo Prize
for Operational Excellence, which Business Week has called
the Nobel Prize in Manufacturing. Symbol is now part of
Motorola Solutions. Now, new companies are emerging
on Long Island to shape the software landscape in various
segments of the IT space.
Verint is a global leader in Acti