Sachs says the state and local governments have worked hard to reduce barriers to entry for high- tech firms like TSP.
   "The government officials here are terrific," he says. "Over the last 10 years, the New Mexico state government has become very business friendly. The local government is also very business friendly. We are out trying to create good jobs for people.

Higgins Development Partners and the Plaza Companies are co- developers in partnership with USAA Real Estate Co. and the Arizona State University Foundation of the 1.2- million- sq.- ft. (111,480- sq.- m.) mixed- use SkySong development in Scottsdale, Ariz.

New Mexico is a very Democrat state, but in terms of business relationships it is non- partisan."
   Sachs says the key to New Mexico's ability to sustain its economic growth will be how well it facilitates high- tech startups and expansions.
   "That's the key ingredient for driving commerce – technology transfer," he says. "Other high- tech businesses are here, but we want more. We've got the good base with the national labs. New Mexico has become a good place for venture capital. Lockheed Martin has its Technical Ventures Corp., which has an annual symposium that puts tech companies in front of venture capitalists."
   That effort appears to be paying off. According to the just- released 2006 TechIndex report by Next Generation Economy Inc., two- thirds of New Mexico's high- tech company executives are either "positive or very positive about doing business in New Mexico," with fewer than 8 percent indicating a negative response.
   Some 67 percent of survey respondents said they were positive about the health of the New Mexico economy, 9 percent said they were "very positive," and just 6 percent were negative.
   In other findings, 56 percent of New Mexico's high- tech companies reported rising revenues in the first half of 2006, with only 12 percent reporting declining revenues. Sectors surveyed include aerospace and aviation, biological sciences, digital media and film, electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, energy and environmental firms, information technology and telecommunications, nanotechnology, optics and photonics, and software and high- performance computing.
   Recent corporate expansions in New Mexico include Intel's $750- million upgrade of its Fab 7 and Fab 11X chip- making facilities in Rio Rancho; Eclipse Aviation's announcement that it will add 850 jobs in Albuquerque by 2010 to produce 2,600 airplanes on back order; Verizon Wireless' $20- million, 400- job expansion in Albuquerque; and Precheck's $5- million, 200- job new facility in Alamogordo.