Change is brewing
Aug. 31-Sept. 27, 2017 • The CSRA’s monthly business Magazine
Pages 28-29
Turning a corner The Critical Point in the Cyber Explosion By Witt Wells
whole family,” Johnson said. There might not be anything that will more effectively meet all those needs than Riverside Village, the new home of the Augusta GreenJackets. It’s one thing that will make North Augusta a unique destination. “If you’re not here, you should be,” Glover told business leaders. “I firmly believe we’re going to be the place to be for the next 10 years.” Riverside Village Glover said that although SRP Park – the recently named Greenjackets’ ballpark – is on track to be ready for the April 12 opener, not all of the Riverside Village
The U.S. Army is “open for business.” That’s how Army Chief Information Officer Lt. Gen. Bruce T. Crawford put it at Augusta TechNet 2017. The new CIO had been appointed to the position less than two weeks prior to the massive Augusta trade show that brings together thousands of cybersecurity professionals in the military, government and private sectors. “Regardless of whether you’re a large company or a small company, we want to leverage the power of your best practices, we want to leverage the power of your innovation, we want to deliver the network that the war-fighter deserves,” Crawford said. “And we can’t do that without your help.” Outside the walls of the huge conference room, hundreds of booths featured cyber technology in many different forms – from the latest virtual reality combat training to the kind of robots meant to attract middle-schoolers to computer programming – made by many of the entrepreneurs who make TechNet happen. Their innovation is only going to become more crucial. According to Crawford, the U.S. Army, as far as information technology goes, is going to “start acting like a customer, and it wants to be treated like one.” In Augusta, such demand has manifested itself in an ever-growing collection of cybersecurity and information technology companies, both big and small,
See BALLPARK on Page 8
See CYBER on Page 2
North Augusta’s growth is symbolized in the continued progress on the construction of the stadium portion of Riverside Village. The stadium was recently named SRP Park. Photo by Gary Kauffman.
Live, work, play ball North Augusta Primed for Business Growth By Witt Wells
Todd Glover, city administrator of North Augusta, is marketing the city as the perfect midway point between the Savannah River Site and Fort Gordon. There are a lot contractors, he says, who are involved with both. Glover said there are already $4 million in cyber contracts based in North Augusta. “If we become the geographical center – a base or hub of operations where they can have offices here and have staff at Savannah River Site or Fort Gordon, think about the advantage we have here from an economic development standpoint,” Glover said to a room full of business leaders at an Aug. 24 North Augusta Chamber of Commerce lunch event.
FREE DESSERT w/ meal
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Glover said this is the time to capitalize on the region’s cybertechnology growth. In the last year, North Augusta has either become home to or approved for the future construction of a host of new establishments, both locally and nationally based; Your Pie, Diablo’s, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Holiday Inn, IHOP, Petsmart, Burke’s Outlet and Ross Dress for Less have all opened in North Augusta or have been approved for building. Anne Claire Johnson, who works at the Savannah River Site and attended the presentation, particularly values the multiuse spaces being created in the area as it enters a new phase of robust development. “It sort of meets all the needs of the
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