Nearby

The speaker list for the event affirms that, as center for commerce, Fairfax County has few peers. On hand are executives from three of the largest telecom companies in the world—Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom and China Telecom USA. Andres Jordan, a vice president for Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems unit, notes at one point in his lunch talk that his firm moved to Fairfax County in 1996 partly because “so many startup communications companies were in this area and we wanted to be part of this dynamic group. It was a natural fit—and a great place to live.” Luis Fiallo, a managing director of China Telecom ($36 billion in annual sales), says that CT moved its U.S. headquarters from Los Angeles to Herndon recently. “One reason was the impressive talent pool here. We wanted to learn from other [companies] in the region. There are a lot of resources.”

After the luncheon, which was attended by consultants, headhunters and specialized service providers, there was a buzz that could not be ascribed solely to chocolate cake and coffee. Like every industry, the telecom business has been hobbled by the recession—but the mood at the Tower Club, as business cards and handshakes were exchanged, seemed cautiously upbeat. And why not: The U.S. government, the world’s biggest buyer of communications and IT services, is almost immune to hard times and located only a few miles away from Tysons Corner, in D.C. What’s more, the pace of innovation in this über-dynamic sector, in a region that thrives on communication and contact (digital or otherwise), hasn’t slowed. That is, opportunities await.

Virginia is a state with contrasting topography, geography and culture—north and south, east and west. Charlottesville has its Jeffersonian buildings and UVA, Hampton Roads has its muscular military bases, Richmond its historic homes, Roanoke its railroad heritage and mountain karma. And Fairfax? There are still a few people who grouse that northern Virginia is not “Southern,” perhaps forgetting the Civil War intrigue that swirled in Fairfax City. Certainly, history doesn’t seem to occupy as much mindspace in northern Virginia is it does in other parts of the state, even though Mount Vernon is a premier attraction. Perhaps it’s that Fairfax County’s more than 1 million residents are simply too busy for reflection, which is why the area can lay claim to being the state’s brash, diverse economic catalyst, with a critical mass of people, jobs and wealth that almost no other county in America can match.