EDS is expanding its customer contact center operations in New Zealand.

With its English-speaking population and South Pacific location, New Zealand is on the radar screen of many U.S. firms seeking to expand customer contact center operations. One of the recent expansions involves EDS, which plans to employ 300 to 400 over the next three years as it establishes a new center on the country's North Shore to focus on business process outsourcing. EDS current employs 2,300 in six New Zealand cities.
        "We are seeing a growing appreciation by U.S. corporations of the sophisticated telecommunications infrastructure and the well-educated work force New Zealand offers," says Catherine Ragan of Investment New Zealand. "New Zealand is linked to the U.S. via five high-capacity submarine cables, and some 34 percent of agents are multilingual." Recent studies indicate New Zealand customer contact center costs are 40 to 48 percent cheaper than in the U.S.

The World Teleport Association ranks Glasgow, Scotland (above), and Victoria, Australia (below), among the world's top intelligent communities.

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), a project of the World Teleport Association, has announced its Top 7 Intelligent Communities for 2003. ICF compiles the annual rankings to bring attention to the use of broadband communications to enhance economic growth.
        This year's communities are:
        • Glasgow, Scotland
        • Victoria, Australia
        • Spokane, Wash.
        • Yokosuka, Japan
        • Western Valley, Nova Scotia
        • Taipei
        • Sunderland, U.K.

        "This year's selections demonstrate the role that government is playing to positively influence the development of intelligent communities," said John G. Jung, ICF chairman. One of the seven will be named Intelligent Community of the Year in June 2004. Sunderland made the list for the third consecutive year.

Photo credit: easyJet airline company limited

U.K. low-cost airline EasyJet is landing in continental Europe in a big way by locating a base in Berlin that will create 300 to 400 jobs. EasyJet will operate 11 routes to six countries from its new hub at Berlin Schonefeld Airport by July 2004.
        "As the German economy returns to full strength and the European Union expands eastward in 2004, Berlin is likely to be one of the major cultural and business growth markets of the future," says Ray Webster, EasyJet chief executive. "This is just the beginning. Over the next few years, we will base more aircraft in Berlin, employ more people and operate more routes."

Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker's European Cities Monitor (ECM) has named London as Europe's best city for business for the 14th consecutive year. London beat out 29 other European cities and was followed in the rankings by Paris, Frankfurt, Brussels and Amsterdam. The survey gives London top marks for qualified labor, external transport links, quality of telecommunications and languages spoken.
        ECM gives these cities high marks in specific categories:
        • Warsaw for cost of staff;
        • Dublin for climate created by the government;
        • Lisbon for office space values;
        • Berlin for availability of office space;
        • Paris for internal transport;
        • Barcelona for quality of life;
        •Oslo for freedom from pollution.
        The Global Competitiveness Report 2003-2004, released in October 2003 by the World Economic Form, says Finland is the world's most competitive economy. The report gives Finland top ranking for its all-around performance in macroeconomic environment, quality of its institutions and the state of its technology and supporting infrastructure.
        Following Finland in the report's rankings are the U.S., Sweden, Denmark and Taiwan.

Kao Corporation, a Japan-based manufacturer of facial soap, detergent, shampoo and other consumer products, is building a 1,723,200-sq.-ft. (160,000-sq.-m.) facility in the Amata Nakorn industrial park in the suburbs of Bangkok. Opera-tions will move from the current plant in Bangkok when the new US$83.9 million facility is complete in 2005. The new plant will increase production threefold.

The Lotte World II Tower in Pusan, South Korea, will be one of the world's tallest buildings when finished in 2008.

The Far East seems to be the place for scraping the sky.

Taipei 101, now the world's tallest building, is just one of the 22,669 skyscrapers punctuating the Asian skyline.

        Skyscrapers.com, a Web site dedicated to the construction genre, says Asia leads the way in high-rise buildings with 22,669 as of November. That's about one third of the world's total, using the Emporis Data Committee's definition of high-rise structures at least 35 meters (115 ft.) high. China has the most of any nation with 8,386, and Hong Kong has the most of any city with 6,944.
        In October, Taipei 101, a 1,674-ft. (508-m.) office tower in Taipei, took honors as world's tallest from the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. Now, the Minneapolis architectural firm Parker Durrant International has designed a 107-story tower for Pusan, South Korea, which will rival Taipei 101. Initial site work for the 1,620-ft. (494-m.) building is under way, with completion expected in 2008.