Apparently, the City of San Jose which styles itself "The Heart of Silicon Valley" finally noticed the stream of high-tech companies that were leaving the valley for more hospitable sites like Texas and Arizona. The conditions of all aspects of life in Silicon Valley have steadily deteriorated in inverse proportion to the population growth of the area. Taxes for business and residents alike have been considered excessive while services have been perceived as ever-scantier. Combine an almost unnavigable maze of the user-hostile bureaucracies of overlapping regional governments with the above scenario and the equation adds up to the flight of high- tech companies that are sure that the grass is greener somewhere else.

So, San Jose, not wanting to lose its broad tax base, decided to actively support the growth of the area's burgeoning software development industry. The software industry in Silicon Valley is rapidly replacing silicon-based manufacturing (i.e., semiconductor design and fabrication, with supporting services) as the mainstay of the area's economy. Intelligently, San Jose joined forces with private industry. The result is that Novell, Inc. and San Jose have initially funded the Center for Software Development with approximately US$750,000; the Center has also received support from other diverse sources.

Meanwhile, small local software developers are benefiting from the enterprise. The Center provides testing labs for various hardware and software platforms and network configurations at established hourly rates. Developers who would rather not display their "garage"-based work sites may demonstrate their for third parties at the Center. There is a Walk-in Lab with pre configured machines available for hourly rental. There are also Custom Labs, essentially secured rooms that may be rented for days or even weeks at a time with custom setups (setups are done by the staff, although developers may bring their own hardware). Currently, the Center employs five staff members, all with engineering and/or marketing backgrounds. This number will increase when the Center expands to 24 hour a day operations, which is planned for sometime in the future.

Skip Addison, the director of the Center of Software Development, is on loan from Novell for two years. Skip says of the Center, "We have a useful general purpose lab and solutions for developers working with specific configurations." The "hot" products being developed right now in the labs are for multimedia and mobile (wireless) computing. Another area that is very much in demand is setups for testing products that will be networked.

One of the solutions for developers is the International Lab, co-sponsored by World Ready Software, which opened on June 15th. This is a place for developers to design, test and operate non-English versions of their software and hardware. Because the International Lab is still new, it is not yet well-equipped. The Center is trying to obtain donations of different types of software and hardware (older versions of applications are very welcome) from various companies for the International Lab. The most successful efforts have been with Asian companies like NEC and Sony, which are very interested in making it possible to develop applications using their equipment. Efforts to obtain European-language software and hardware have been less successful. It seems that in many cases, the domestic headquarters of companies with international branches must wait for software to be shipped from their non-U.S. branches to the Center; this has resulted in long delays before the donated software arrives at the International Lab. However, European language versions of software are much-desired.

The Center has been the site of meetings of the International SIG of the Software Entrepreneurs Forum (trade association). From the beginning these meetings have been surprisingly well attended. In addition, World Ready Software has hosted monthly roundtable discussions on issues pertaining to internationalization and localization. These meetings are also very well-attended as developers from the area try to learn more about the localization process. For various reasons, however, there has been no major demand for help in localizing products at the Center. This may be the result of the newness of the Lab, with its current somewhat under-endowed configuration and minimalist marketing about the availability of such a facility. In addition, there is the "Why do I have to localize?" mindset of the typical new software developer who is still working to get the initial English version up and running.

This is prime territory for the education of software developers. The timing is also right for a concerted effort in that direction. The International Lab is new enough that it is somewhat unfocused. This means that there is abundant opportunity for making it an essential component of the development process at the Center, mostly by making it a useful and well-equipped place in which to work, with intelligence guiding its development. Parties interested in promoting internationalization and localization already exist but so far have not consolidated their efforts. This would be a good opportunity for an organization like LISA to become a driving force in the development of the internationalization/localization group within the International Lab.

The 6500 square foot facility also includes the "Resource Center." In addition to an extensive library of reference materials and other cogent information, the Resource Center offers programs sponsored by various service providers. For instance, there is a monthly "Venture Capital Day" when members may consult by appointment with representatives of local venture capital firms about business plans and ideas. This popular service is available at no cost to members. Meeting rooms are also available for discussions with software publishers, other venture capitalists, end users, etc. Plans are in place to offer access to the Internet and CompuServe and various types of business planning services.

Meanwhile, the young organization has received support from computer industry leaders such as Apple, H-P, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and Sun among companies that have donated software, hardware and expertise. Providers and users of the services and advice of people like accountants and venture capitalists have enabled small developers to better understand what a business needs to make it viable. And, of course, the opportunity to test one's applications on various platforms at relatively inexpensive rates is advantageous when it comes to discovering and destroying bugs in software. To provide an even greater array of services to its growing membership, the Center is soliciting donations of unused hardware and software; older versions of applications are still in demand. (Because the Center is a not-for-profit organization, such donations are tax-deductible in the U.S.)

The continued support of the area's companies and the city, once the novelty diminishes, will be necessary to ensure the Center's survival. While "there's no such thing as a free lunch" developers must pay for services offered by the Center these are essentially services that would otherwise be unavailable to most of the entrepreneurial software spirits who use them. Silicon Valley is an area where government and private industry have viewed each other's interests as mutually exclusive (or worse). The very existence of the partnership that produced the Center for Software Development is a notable milestone in the relationship between the public and private sectors here. If the concept succeeds, perhaps it may become a model for other public and private entities wishing to unite in support of a common goal.