Forget Ireland as an e-commerce "hub". The preferred word is now "platform" - as in, a place from which international and Irish companies can jump off into the European market. That, at any rate, is according to the Gospel of the IDA, Silicon Valley branch, as preached by IDA vice-president Mr Paul Cronin.
Given the influence of the IDA in shaping how the world's companies see the Republic - they are, after all, the s State's frontline evangelists to the global business community - we'd better all change our vocabularies.
The little office of three in San Jose is pitching the P-word to the companies who define the digital economy. So if the e-commerce movers and shakers are going to say "platform", we'd better get used to it. It might even become a slogan on one of those signs that greet tourists in the arrivals hall of Dublin Airport: "Ireland: e-commerce platform into Europe."
Then again, the word "bridgehead" has its IDA fans. "I always use the term bridgehead," says vice-president Mr Gavan Egan. Senior vice-president Mr Patrick Howlin, just returned to California after 10 days in Ireland, laughs and refrains from casting a vote either way. It's 8 a.m. clock in the morning *SDA - an extremely un-Irish time of the day to be doing business. But breakfast meetings are all part of the job in Silicon Valley - in the technology world it's a favourite time slot for getting "face time" in a world of hopelessly busy schedules - and thus, the three be-suited IDA men are squeezed around the table in a Palo Alto restaurant, clutching mugs of coffee and talking shop.
Whatever we're supposed to call it, hub, platform or bridgehead, the Republic is much easier to sell these days compared to a year ago, says the California IDA crew. Back then, the telecommunications market still hadn't been fully opened to competition and there was no sign of the public/private partnership transatlantic cable project between the Government and telecommunications company Global Crossing, which now offers the promise of very fast, broadband Internet connections and a direct link to the US.
Mr Cronin says the importance of these two issues - connectivity and a deregulated telecommunications market - only began to clarify in October or November 1997. The IDA argued that unless the situation changed, new companies "would not come to Ireland and those that were there would slowly degrade what they did have", he says. Bluechip companies were moving away from signing local telecommunications contracts and looking for providers that could offer global connectivity.
The IDA was among many voices that began to push Government to address these points. Much to their relief, they got a positive response. "We were pushing an open door. The response rate of the Government was almost surprising to everyone," says Mr Howlin. The rate at which change has happened has made their job easier, too: "Big companies like to see things happen fast and a strong leadership," he says.
The IDA in Silicon Valley is now focusing on two things: getting the companies already based in the Republic to base their electronic commerce activities in the State and encourage the new Internet enterprises, known as "dot coms" after the tail end of their Web addresses, to locate there.
Losing the established, big technology companies concerns them more than luring in small, young start-ups at the moment, says Mr Cronin: "If we lose an Oracle, we have to find a lot of dot coms to make up the gap."
So how are they selling the State these days? "You talk the history," says Mr Cronin - s Ireland's success in attracting software companies, telesupport centres, shared services centres and technology manufacturing. The s State's biggest selling point in Silicon Valley remains the quality and number of its science and engineering graduates, they agree, but other elements are critical, too.
The Republic's export economy is very good at producing export-oriented middle managers used to pushing products and services into Europe, a talent that is very attractive to American companies. Irish managers also think in terms of two to three-year sales plans, not just the short-term, says Mr Cronin. He thinks the British underperform in this area, giving the Republic a useful advantage. Thus, they stress to American companies that they must decide whether they wish to be a pan-European player or not.
The British also have had problems in convincing Americans that they have a welcoming e-commerce environment, with successive e-commerce bills receiving a wide range of criticism from both industry and consumer advocates. In contrast the Republic has opted for light legislation, he says. "Also, we have no spooks," he adds. However, legislation remains in draft form and will need to become a reality or other European countries may well overtake the State in cementing pro-e-commerce legislation.
The Republic's great weakness is that it doesn't have a significant domestic market to offer clients, says Mr Cronin. But on the other hand, the smallness of the State means companies don't need to deal with large and bulky layers of government.
With major infrastructural projects underway in the Republic, the IDA men have the luxury of needing to think for a moment when asked what they feel most needs to change to encourage the growth of the technology industry in the State. Education needs to remain a priority, they agree, and the State needs a research centre with global stature and to put far more funding into research and development in general.
And, the Republic needs to have the best possible environment for e-commerce. "E-commerce is coming down the line like a train and you can't miss it," says Mr Howlin. In which case, being an e-commerce "platform" seems to be just the right metaphor.
