SANTA CLARA, Calif. and PLANO, Texas -- Security software provider Network Associates (www.nai.com) has decided to solidify and expand its operations in the U.S. Southwest. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has announced that it will build a 170,000-sq.-ft. (15,300-sq.-m.) regional office in Plano, Texas (www.planotx.org). The Dallas-metro operation will be located on a 15.6-acre (6.24-hectare) site in the 2,655-acre (1,062-hectare) Legacy business community.
        Network Associates' niche, security software, has been that rare technology sector that's flown above the economic downdraft. Global revenues for security software increased by some 12 percent in 2001, according to Gartner Group. Security-software revenues in 2002 are expected to soar even higher, registering an 18 percent annual increase, Gartner predicts.
        Network Associates' Dallas-area growth has mirrored the robustness of the company's business line. Over the past three years, the firm's presence in the Texas city has tripled in square footage and doubled in employee headcount, according to Network Associates' executives. That hyperactive growth surge has left the company with 800 local-area employees scattered in three separate leased facilities in the city of Farmers Branch.
        Owning a facility, Network Associates decided, would improve both its bottom line and its business efficiency, Chairman and CEO George Samenuk explained.
        "The time is right for Network Associates to make a long-term investment in the Southwest," Samenuk said. "The advantage of a central location and findings from a comprehensive fiscal cost analysis show that owning property in the Dallas area makes the most sense for Network Associates' customers and employees, as well as increasing operational efficiencies."

Projection: 300 Employees
Added over Five Years

Network Associates competes with Symantec to be the top dog in data security. Network Associates' operations are broken into three components: McAfee (anti-virus software); Sniffer Technologies, (network and application management); and Magic Solutions (Web-based service desk software). The California-based company recently dissolved its money-losing PGP Security business unit, laying off 250 employees.
        In Dallas, however, Network Associates has continually grown since it opened its operation in the Texas metro in 1997. After ranking as the company's fastest-growing operation for several years, Network Associates' Dallas-area presence has expanded to rank as the company's largest employee concentration. By comparison, the Santa Clara headquarters has 600 employees.
        Predictably, the new regional office will be built to accommodate more than Network Associates' current 800 employees, many working in technical support or in call center sales. The facility will be constructed to hold 1,100 employees - the local-are headcount that Network Associates is projecting within the next five years.

Further Expansion Options in Place

Network Associates is also building in options at its new location to accommodate further future growth.

In picking the Legacy development for its regional office, Network Associates will join a corporate roster that includes EDS's 15,000-employee headquarters campus (top photo, above) and J. C. Penney's 4,000-employee headquarters (bottom photo).

        The facility on the 15.6-acre site will leave open space on the acreage for possible future expansion. In addition, the company has acquired an option to purchase five acres (two hectares) that lie adjacent to the site it has selected, Network Associates' executives said.
        In Legacy, Network Associates will join a number of high-profile firms that make up the master-planned development's 36,000 workers. Included in that corporate clientele are Computer Associates International, Crossmark, Dr. Pepper/Seven Up Group, EDS Corp., Frito-Lay and J.C. Penney.
        Network Associates plans to move into its new facility by the first quarter of 2003. The regional office will focus on the Latin American, South American and Southwestern U.S. markets, according to company officials.
        Network Associates has some 3,200 total employees worldwide. The company's work force has been growing by some 30 percent a year.
        The robustness of the Internet security provider sector was underscored by another recently announced expansion in the Dallas metro. Entrust, which produces software to ensure the privacy of electronic communications, is moving from Plano to Addison, Texas. The move, said Entrust executives, will enable the company to double its current 50-employee staff over the next several years.