Boise

City Introduction
•BoiseisthecapitalofIdahostate
•ItisalsoIdaho’slargestcityandthecenterofcommerceandpoliticsforthe
state1

Quick facts Key drivers for the city to emerge as a favorable IT-BPO
Boise is situated in a wide river valley at the foot of Rocky destination
Geographic
mountains, and can be reached from Seattle by air in about
Location
an hour and 30 minutes
• Boise has a number of reputed education institutions, including the
Time Zone GMT -0700 Boise State University that produce a technical talent pool
Climate is tempered year-round by air from the Pacific • An incentive system and easy funding has promoted a large
Ocean, with three seasons: summer, autumn and winter. number of start-ups in Boise. This has helped create a culture of
Climate The annual average temperature is 10.5 degrees Celsius. enterpreneurship and an injection of talent and ideas into the city
The average annual rainfall is 30.7 cm and annual average • Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine named the city of Boise as the
snowfall is 54.1 cm fourth best city in the country to “Live, Work and Play” for 20082
Population1 567,640 • Companies locating in Boise have the benefit of onshore
operations combined with a lower cost of living compared with
Literacy rate2 99 percent other cities in the US3.
Languages English

Defense equipment manufacturing and related services,

Major industries
Forestry, Computer components / systems, Tourism
Sources: 1 CIA 2006
2 CIA data for U.S. (literacy rates by city are not available)

Current IT-BPO scenario in the city Development of the current IT-BPO industry
•Boise’shightech4 industrystartedinthe1970swithcompanieslikeHewlettPackard
Key IT-BPO companies (Services offered) andMicronTechnologysettingupbaseinthecity
•ThecityplanstotakeadvantageoftheonshoretrendtakingplaceintheUSnow
Hewlett Packard (IT
Microsoft (IT services) •Boiseisbuildingitssoftwareindustrybyencouragingstart-upsandentrepreneurship
services)
•Microsoftacquiredalocalsoftwaredevelopmentfirm,ProClarityin2006.
MobileDataforce (IT
SCP Global Technologies
services – mobile Industry Profile – Size and Specifics
(BPO services)
software)
•Therearecloseto34,081hightechworkersemployedinBoise’sindustry5
Keynetics Inc. (R&D •Thecityischaracterizedbysmallandmediumenterprises.AccordingtotheIdaho
Synoptek (IT services)
services) DepartmentofCommerce,theBoiseareahasaround400softwareandinformation-
technologycompanies6
Sources: Company websites of Microsoft, Synoptek, Boise
Valley Economic Partnership •ServicesofferedfromBoiseincludeembeddedsoftwareandfirmwaredevelopment.

1 City of Boise website [Link] 4 High-tech includes high-tech manufacturing, communications services, and software and
computer-related services
2 City of Boise News Release
[Link] 5 Boise, Idaho: An Overview of the High-Technology Economy in the Treasure Valley. White
Paper written by Heike Mayer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Urban Affairs and Planning Program,
These rankings are based on growth in population, jobs and income; overall cost of living and Virginia Tech - Alexandria Center (February 2008)
the number of quality jobs in technology, education, and professional and technical services
6 Idaho Department of Commerce [Link]
3 [Link]

© 2010 KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. Member firms of the KPMG network of independent firms are affiliated with KPMG International.
KPMG International provides no client services. No member firm has any authority to obligate or bind KPMG International or any other member firm vis-à-vis third parties, nor does
KPMG International have any such authority to obligate or bind any member firm. All rights reserved.
Human Resources

•ThecityishometoinstitutionssuchasBSUCollegeofEngineering;ITTTechnicalInstitute1
•Boisehasahigherrateofnumberofstudentsgraduating(37percent)comparedtothenationalaverageof27percent2
•ThetotalnumberofgraduatespassingoutannuallyoutoftheBoiseStateUniversityisabout6,500.Thecityhoweverfacesatalent
shortage.In2007,theBSUgraduatedjust28studentswithcomputer-sciencedegrees3.

Infrastructure

•Office space (IT Parks): Thereis1.9million[Link].ofofficespaceinBoiseandthecityhasavacancyrateof9percent4

•Power supply: IdahoPower,thecompanythatsupplieselectricitytoBoise,nolongerhasapowersurplus,andwouldneedtoadd
1300MWtomeet"current"demand3;expectedtobeaddedafter20123
•Telecom Infrastructure: TimeWarnerTelecom(nowTWTelecom)providescompletevoice,dataandnetworksolutions,withnearly100
routemilesoflocalfibernetworkinthecityofBoise5
•National and International connectivity: BoisehasseveraldirectairconnectionstocitiessuchasDenver,Phoenix,Seattle,Chicago,
LosAngelesandSanFrancisco.Thecity’sairporthasbeennewlyrenovated
•Upcoming projects: BoiseWaterCooler,abusinessdevelopmentcenter,isbeingsetuptoprovideofficespaceandoffersupport
servicestostart-upbusinesses.TheWaterCoolerhasroomforeightsmallbusinesses,additionalcubiclespaceformorethan15people,
andspacefortrainingandmeetings3.

State/ city specific incentives for IT-BPO over and above country level incentives, if any6

•BusinessesthatinvestaminimumofUSD500,000innewfacilitiesandcreateatleast10newjobsaveragingUSD40,000annually,plus
benefits,mayqualifyforavarietyofincentives.Qualifyingcompaniesreceive:
-AnenhancedInvestmentTaxCreditof3.75percentuptoUSD750,000or62.5percentoftaxliabilityinany1year
-NewjobstaxcreditstartingatUSD1,500andclimbingtoUSD3,000perjob
-A2.5percentrealpropertyimprovementtaxcredituptoUSD125,000inany1yearalongwitha25percentrebateonsalestax
paidonconstructionmaterialsforthenewfacilities
-Uponrequestfromthecompany,therespectivecountycommissionersmayalsoauthorizeafullorpartialpropertytaxexemption.

Quality of life

•Cost of living: The2008costoflivingindexinBoiseis89.0,whichislessthantheUSaveragetakenat1001

•Crime rate: AccordingtoFBIstatistics,Idaho’scrimerateisthelowestintheWest.Therateofseriouscrimeis21.3percentlessthan
thenationalaverage7
•Pollution levels: Pollutionlevelscanbehigh.Beingavalleycity,Boisefacesaproblemofwinterinversion,whichleadstopollutionand
smogbeingtrappedclosetotheground
•Ease of commuting: ValleyRideprovidesregionalpublictransportandfixed-linebusserviceinBoise.Citytaxis,whichcanalsobe
bookedonline,areavailableinBoiseforlocalcommuting.Averagecommutingtimeisabout18minutes6
• Availability of Hotels: Thereareseveralhotels,includinginternationalhotelchains,andmotelsavailableinBoise.

Risk: City specific

•Catastrophic risks: ThecityofBoiseisexposedtowildfire8 risksasitislocatedclosetotheBoiseNationalForest

•History of disruptions: InAugust2008,awildfiredestroyed10housesanddamagednineothersinSoutheastBoise9.

1 [Link] 6 Starting A Business In Idaho Publication 2007 - 2008 by Idaho Department of Commerce C.L.
"Butch" Otter, Governor
2 Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine [Link]
7 Visit Idaho website [Link]
3 Idaho Statesman article
8 The term “wildfire” is used for uncontrolled fire that destroys forests and many other types of
4 Office Market Trends Boise – Grubb and Ellis Research 2008
vegetation, as well as animal species
5 Red Orbit news article
[Link] 9 Fox News article (25 August 2008)
ise_voice_and_data/[Link]
© 2010 KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. Member firms of the KPMG network of independent firms are affiliated with KPMG International.
KPMG International provides no client services. No member firm has any authority to obligate or bind KPMG International or any other member firm vis-à-vis third parties, nor does
KPMG International have any such authority to obligate or bind any member firm. All rights reserved.