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ocated at the crossroads of America, Memphis has long been known as "America's Distribution Center." With the world's leading air cargo airport, outstanding ports on the Mississippi River, five class-one railroads and interstates 40 and 55, Memphis has staked its claim as the city of choice for some of the world's most respected and profitable companies. All you have to do is mention names like FedEx, International Paper and AutoZone – all Fortune 500 companies with headquarters in Memphis – to understand that business here is booming.
   Over the past few years Memphis has experienced incredible growth in the biotech sector and emerged as a national leader in the area of orthopedic medical devices. A major portion of the world's hip, knee and elbow replacement joints are manufactured and distributed in Memphis by companies like Medtronic, Smith & Nephew, and Wright Medical Technology. These three companies alone employ over 4,000 people in Memphis and ship their products around the world overnight from Memphis International Airport.
   Quickly establishing itself as one of the country's leading centers for biotech, Memphis' UT-Baptist Research Park offers advantages no other cluster can offer. This world-class facility is ideally situated for biobusinesses to take advantage of an established scientific community and the latest technology. UT-Baptist Research Park is a state-of-the-art campus designed for the highly specialized needs of Memphis' growing bioscience community. When fully built-out, the park will feature 1.2 million square feet of laboratory, research, education, and business development space located on a 10-acre campus in the heart of the Memphis Medical Center. The campus is strategically located and positioned to integrate research, teaching, and biomedical development needs, as well as to serve the support business for the bioscience community.
   As one of Northwest's Airline's three U.S. hubs, Memphis International Airport offers nonstop flight service to 90 cities and direct international service to Toronto and Amsterdam. It has also been recognized as the world's busiest and largest air cargo airport for thirteen years running. The airport is home to the FedEx World Hub, a major hub for UPS and one of the nation's largest mail processing centers.
   Memphis is also at the forefront of technology and electronic commerce due to significant investments in telecommunications infrastructure by virtually all of the top service providers. This is coupled with a diverse workforce, prepared by nationally recognized schools and training programs, to help ensure Memphis' competitive edge in the future.
   Memphis touts a veritable who's who of technology operations. It is home to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's Hartwell Center for BioInformatics & Biotechnology – one of the top 500 supercomputers in the world. Harrah's Entertainment's corporate headquarters and IT Center call Memphis home, too. For the past five years, Computerworld Magazine has ranked Harrah's IT Center one of the best IT places to work in the nation.
   Memphis is home to the FedEx World Technology Center, a 9,000 square foot campus where over 3,000 employees develop technology that makes FedEx a world leader in distribution. Founder Fred Smith once described the technology developed for the tracking of a package as just as important as the package itself. With that web-based technology and tracking mechanisms, FedEx sorts half-a-million packages per hour.
   International Port of Memphis, located on the shallow draft portion of the Mississippi River, is the 4th largest inland Port in the United States. The port covers the Tennessee and Arkansas sides of the river with 68 water-fronted facilities moving products such as petroleum, tar, asphalt, cement, steel, coal, salt, fertilizers, rock, gravel, and grains. The port is 400 river miles from St. Louis, 600 river miles from New Orleans and is ice free year round.
   The port area is also home to Valero Energy Corporation, the only oil refinery in Tennessee. The facility primarily processes light and sweet crude oil with a total output of 200,000 barrels per day.
   The Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park consists of 3,000 acres of prime industrial land. The park is designed to provide companies with the most efficient access to every major market in North America. It is located minutes from the Memphis International Airport; and accessible to I-40 and I-55. The park also has access to the five Class I railroads. It is served by 16" gas lines, 20" water lines and 10" sewer lines.
   Memphis' unique central location offers the ability to reach more major metropolitan markets overnight than any other city in the country. It is also home to almost 400 trucking companies offering service to all of the continental U.S., Canada and Mexico.
   When it comes to rail capabilities, the options run five-fold. Memphis is one of only three cities in the U.S. offering service from five Class I railroads including: single system shipments to all 48 contiguous states, Alaska, Mexico, and Canada; intermodal service at all seven rail yards; daily switching; super piggyback capability; double-stack trains; and microbridge transfers.
   Memphis had two major corporate headquarters relocations in 2005. International Paper, a Fortune 100 company, relocated their global headquarters from Stamford, Connecticut, to Memphis. This move brought 100 top executives and resulted in a new 41,560 square foot lease deal and a $9 million investment. ThyssenKrupp moved their North American headquarters to the Memphis suburb of Germantown bringing 226 jobs, a $19.5 million investment and taking 78,000 square feet of new office space.
   According to CoStar Group, the Memphis office market ended 2005 with a Class-A vacancy rate 13.8% and an average quoted rental rate for Class A space of $19.49. There was a total of 306,250 square feet of Class-A office space absorbed in 2005. There were 82,990 square feet of office space under construction at the end of 2005.
   Be it technology, bioscience, transportation or distribution, Memphis delivers the right location for business.