Project Digital - Tomorrow

[LoveTheCity]

Hi guys. Just popped over from the Leeds thread to see whats going on across the penns. Found this thread and read through it all I was so intrigued. What ever's planned it sounds amazing. All the clues pointing to CISCO sound like they tie in well together and the article they released about they're vision for cities sounds amazing. If that is whats instore for Manchester then it sounds brilliant. Only one thing doesn't add up to me.. If it is indeed a new database of business/shops etc in the city, which is then accessed through various ways to point you in the correct direction etc, then why the sites at Birchwood and Knutsford? I realise these sites have large business parks however not many shops/cafes/attractions etc to warrant such a radical new technology? Either way whatever it is sounds really exciting for your city. I will keep an eye on this one.

[jaymmu]

Originally Posted by LoveTheCity

Hi guys. Just popped over from the Leeds thread to see whats going on across the penns. Found this thread and read through it all I was so intrigued. What ever's planned it sounds amazing. All the clues pointing to CISCO sound like they tie in well together and the article they released about they're vision for cities sounds amazing. If that is whats instore for Manchester then it sounds brilliant. Only one thing doesn't add up to me.. If it is indeed a new database of business/shops etc in the city, which is then accessed through various ways to point you in the correct direction etc, then why the sites at Birchwood and Knutsford? I realise these sites have large business parks however not many shops/cafes/attractions etc to warrant such a radical new technology? Either way whatever it is sounds really exciting for your city. I will keep an eye on this one.

The Birchwood and Knutsford sites are there to expand the project to the west and south of the city. As the project is based around connectivity it's important that they look beyond the boundaries of the city centre. I also believe that these sites are just the start of a larger project which will see more sites in Cheshire and Greater Manchester.

[VDB]

Not directly linked to Project Tomorrow, but it'll certainly help Manchester become this digital city it wants to be.

London vs. Manchester web design companies – the difference is cost

Once upon a time, before the dawning of the digital age, London was the undisputed champion of creativity.

These days, this is far from being the case. In the new age of online marketing, creativity abounds wherever you are, north or south. Today, the only real difference between London and Manchester web design companies is cost.

Of course, there will always be die-hard, London-centric marketers holding onto the glory days. Take London adman, Paul Burke of AMV BDDO. Earlier this year he received a barrage of abuse from regional advertising agencies after publishing an article in a well-known ad mag.

He asserted: “If you work in advertising and call yourself ‘creative,’ why on earth would you move away from London, away from the very hub of creativity? There’s no output without input and London will give you more input than any other place on the planet. It’s where whatever’s going to happen, happens first. Its pace, vibe and diversity can’t help but keep you switched on so if you work in advertising, isn’t this the place you ought to be?”

Burke went on to say that London has the broadest selection of everything: “Most importantly,” he argued: “It has the broadest selection of inhabitants. Clever, interesting people who value our capital city, contribute to it and couldn’t bear to leave it behind. So, doing what you do for a living, how can you?”

Well, you could argue that cost is a good reason. Nay, a great reason to leave London behind.

Since the recession began in 2008, traditional advertising has been declining rapidly, with spend dropping to less than half of what advertisers spent getting their messages into printed newspapers just five years ago. Somehow, now seems an inappropriate time to be getting overly precious about creativity. Especially since the IMF has warned the global economy is going to take a full decade to recover from the financial crisis, meaning marketing budgets will remain lean and mean until 2018.

Smart business owners have already ‘turned digital’ in their drive to get their messages across in the most impactful and cost-effective way possible. Whether their target audience is in London, Manchester or Moldova, forward-facing businesses are acutely aware that the future of marketing is online. They understand well that social media, mobile and multi-screen media are the mediums of choice for reading about and interacting with brands.

It comes as no surprise then that the undoing of some of the traditional London creative marketing agencies has, by and large, been due to their failure to develop a full service digital offering. Equally unsurprising is the way the ‘big agency’ holding groups have been very busy indeed acquiring web design and digital independents in all their key markets, including specialist shops that deliver web, mobile and app development, social media activity and search marketing skills.

The London ‘biggies’ with their strategically acquired digital arms, would have us cling to the belief that London web design and marketing is better. However, deep down, they know only too well this is a myth.

The simple truth is this: If you are a business in need of a stunning web presence and brilliant online marketing, the only real difference between London and Manchester web design companies is cost.
It is cost that is prompting the growing number of London-based businesses to head north for their websites and online marketing packages.

These businesses have realised that Manchester web companies can offer a far more cost-effective online solution than their London counterparts; that Manchester can offer what London cannot: talent and creativity at a relatively low cost.

Contrary to the opinions of some London ‘creatives’ Manchester has always been a hub attracting diversity and creative talent. Now even the BBC has moved a significant portion of its operation to Manchester, placing Manchester digital agencies closer than ever to the very heart of the national media.

Operating from its impressive base at Media City UK and with regional offices in smaller Nothern cities such as Leeds, Hull and Sheffield, the move has facilitated the creation of exciting, new creative partnerships between the Beeb and cutting-edge northern digital companies.

Clearly then, creativity thrives up north. So if you are a London-based business looking for a web design company ask yourself two important questions. One: do I want to pay through the nose for my online marketing in London? And two: Is a Manchester-based web company, where I can hire creative talent at a significantly reduced cost, worth exploring?

Referring again to Burke’s ode to creativity, he mentioned the poor creative people who move out of London. He states: “I was talking to ‘one’ yesterday who told me he hadn’t been to the theatre in years. Of course he hadn’t! He lives too far away! His life is governed by train timetables! He calls his wife ‘the missus’ and informed me you get so much more for your money if you move out. I felt like saying it’s all over! Just give up and join the golf club! See how many points you can accrue on your Homebase loyalty card!”

Crikey, this poor bloke had only moved out to the suburbs of London. Just imagine how Burke feels about the rest of us. Anyway, the point is this - a point Burke seems to have brushed off as utterly trifling - that you do indeed get much more for your money outside London. And if you do happen to go outside to find a good Manchester web design company, you are likely to find out just how much more.
Today, when comparing London and Manchester web design companies the only real difference is cost and Manchester’s ability to bring that oh so important combination to your online marketing: creativity and cost-saving.

[DeeBee]

Anyone listening to Radio 4 today will have heard the huge hint that project digital is owned by Apple Inc. Puts an interesting angle on things, and perhaps explains the level of secrecy until now.

[VDB]

Link?

If true; christ. Just christ. That would be huge

[DeeBee]

It will be on BBC iPlayer, was on the Today programme (5-6pm). A feature about how the council has invested £25m or so into the Sharp Project. Halfway through they mentioned another large digital project code named Tomorrow involving a US manufacturer of iPods, iPads and other computer devices scheduled for 2013.

[DeeBee]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pgh5z

From 25min. Have a listen and see what you think.

[VDB]

Thanks for sharing - that's a huge giveaway

For those who don't know/cba listening; it goes a little like this;

"... and don't tell anyone - it's a big secret - but 2013 will see the announcement of a major project in Manchester involving a certain American company which makes phones, music players, tablets, computers...." and then the report ends with the sound of an apple crunching as it's bitten into....


Notice he says 'will see' rather than 'might/may see' - indicating that they're not just regurgitating the rumours the MEN coughed up a while back

[A6 Bypass]

The BBC report exciting but their sources could be ours...
ie nothing new, just recycling rumours discussed on these pages.
Hope not though...

[DeeBee]

Could be A6, although current culture in BBC is to cross t's and dot i's, especially on flagship news programmes! I wonder if the BBC are involved in one way or another..

[LNGCats]

Of it is just a large Apple data centre then it'll be a great let down, naff all jobs in the medium or long term at a data centre.

[Cherguevara]

Originally Posted by LNGCats

Of it is just a large Apple data centre then it'll be a great let down, naff all jobs in the medium or long term at a data centre.

We know it can't be a data centre as who'd build a data centre actoss so many sites.

[LNGCats]

Originally Posted by Cherguevara

We know it can't be a data centre as who'd build a data centre actoss so many sites.

Almost certainly correct.

But don't Microsoft offer private cloud technology in shipping containers, effectively with power, cooling and data ports on the outside.

Could it be akin to that across several sites?

[Cherguevara]

Originally Posted by LNGCats

Almost certainly correct.

But don't Microsoft offer private cloud technology in shipping containers, effectively with power, cooling and data ports on the outside.

Could it be akin to that across several sites?

I defer to your greater knowledge.

I'm perfectly prepared for this to be something a bit lame.

[LNGCats]

I really don't know to be honest.

I think it's quite probable that what is announced, assuming it is ever announced as opposed to just happens, won't tick the boxes that gets SSC excited.

That is not to say the scheme may not be very valuable in terms of the local economy, it may well be, just a slow burner though.

[Cherguevara]

Originally Posted by LNGCats

I really don't know to be honest.

I think it's quite probable that what is announced, assuming it is ever announced as opposed to just happens, won't tick the boxes that gets SSC excited.

That is not to say the scheme may not be very valuable in terms of the local economy, it may well be, just a slow burner though.

My suspicion is that it'll be all fireworks and no substance, like a product launched here that will soon be available anywhere, leaving no lasting impact on the city.

[retroscient]

First things first, the BBC Radio 4 report is almost certainly accurate - senior members of the Sharp Project/MCC are interviewed in it, keen to promote what is being done. It is obvious that such good news (ie. Apple will be setting up in Manchester) would have been informally disclosed to the station as part of this discussion.

So then, colour me very intrigued! This has a lot of potential, although we still know very little. But alas, from what do we already know of it, we can already rule out a few scenarios - for sure, Tomorrow is nothing on the scale of a new regional headquarters or major relocation, the sort of stuff that would make an imprint on the wider landscape of the UK technology economy. In fact, I still believe this is a consortium project - and probably an experimental development too - but not an major Apple development.

Radio 4 states that Tomorrow is "a major project in Manchester involving a certain American company", and I interpret the word "involving" as meaning "including, but not limited to" (although other interpretations are possible). It confirms the participation of Apple, but not whether it is their doing alone or as part of a group of firms.

Indeed, the unusual distribution of office space (17+ offices distributed across the region) also tallies with the consortium speculation, presumably with each site hosting a different firm, or work group.

It is worth noting that the cumulative total office space known to be linked with Tomorrow is equivalent to a bit less than two Chancery Place buildings worked to full capacity (Chancery Place is approx 100000 sq ft). The possible number of new jobs created by Tomorrow therefore figures in the mid-hundreds, but we should not expect to see lofty figures like this actually realised; if the project is indeed as innovative and as digital as is said, then it is very likely that a much lower number of jobs will be created than the total market footprint would usually imply (and if Tomorrow is indeed server/networking oriented in nature, the number of new jobs may be quite low indeed).

Additionally, if Tomorrow is a collaborative/consortium project, Apple's extreme preference for doing all product development in-house makes it very unlikely that it will yield a mainstream product. So I suspect this is a corporate scheme, but that is only because of my suspicion that the key to understanding Tomorrow lies in that puzzling distribution of office space.

-----

Realistically, given the reportedly innovative nature of the project, the assumed participation of multiple firms, and the decision to set-up in a relatively cheap area (Manchester vs London), I suspect that Tomorrow is merely a pilot for a corporate network scheme, and that, upon maturity, it will move beyond Manchester, producing little tangible long-term benefit for region.

I hope I am wrong. And there is some reason to think that I might be - the Radio 4 report describes it as a "major project" (but then, they might not be privy to the details anyway), and if this is more than a pilot scheme it could generate a long return for the region. Further to that, even if the total number of jobs created is not particularly high, the flipside is that they will mostly be high-paid, technology jobs - exactly the sort of field Manchester needs to be expanding in.

This is going to be one of the most interesting developments of 2013.

[jrb]

Originally Posted by retroscient

First things first, the BBC Radio 4 report is almost certainly accurate - senior members of the Sharp Project/MCC are interviewed in it, keen to promote what is being done. It is obvious that this news would have been informally disclosed to the station.

So colour me very intrigued then! Alas, from what we already know of Tomorrow, we can be sure this is nothing on the scale of a regional headquarters or major relocation for Apple - the sort of stuff that would have a lasting impact on the regional economy. I still believe this is an experimental project, of several companies, and not an major Apple development.

Although the BBC Radio 4 report does seem to vindicate the long-running speculation that Apple is doing something new in Manchester, it says little to address the other long-running bit of speculation, that Tomorrow is the product of a consortium.

Radio 4 states that Tomorrow is "a major project in Manchester involving a certain American company", and I interpret the word "involving" as meaning "including, but not limited to" (although other interpretations are possible).

And the unusual distribution of office space - a large cumulative office space total, split across multiple offices distributed across the region - also tallies with the consortium speculation (with each site possibly hosting a different company, or split workforces).

Apple's extreme preference for doing all product development in-house also makes it very unlikely that Tomorrow will yield a mainstream product - further dampening my excitement.

Realistically, given the innovative nature of the project, the apparent participation of multiple firms, and the decision to set-up in a relatively low-cost base (Manchester vs London), I suspect that Tomorrow is merely a pilot scheme for a corporate networking technology, and that, upon maturity, it will move beyond Manchester, producing little tangible long-term benefit for region.

I hope I'm wrong, and there's still every chance I am.

With all due respect Retroscient, can you be a little more specific please.

I've just consumed 4-750 ml bottles of Stella, and my head is a little Betty Spaghettied.

Sincere apologies for not........

[retroscient]

Originally Posted by jrb

With all due respect Retroscient, can you be a little more specific please.

I've just consumed 4-750 ml bottles of Stella, and my head is a little Betty Spaghettied.

Sincere apologies for not........

I've rewritten my post, although it is probably even more confusing now!

[js1000]

Originally Posted by retroscient

First things first, the BBC Radio 4 report is almost certainly accurate - senior members of the Sharp Project/MCC are interviewed in it, keen to promote what is being done. It is obvious that such good news (ie. Apple will be setting up in Manchester) would have been informally disclosed to the station as part of this discussion.

So then, colour me very intrigued! This has a lot of potential, although we still know very little. But alas, from what do we already know of it, we can already rule out a few scenarios - for sure, Tomorrow is nothing on the scale of a new regional headquarters or major relocation, the sort of stuff that would make an imprint on the wider landscape of the UK technology economy. In fact, I still believe this is a consortium project - and probably an experimental development too - but not an major Apple development.

Radio 4 states that Tomorrow is "a major project in Manchester involving a certain American company", and I interpret the word "involving" as meaning "including, but not limited to" (although other interpretations are possible). It confirms the participation of Apple, but not whether it is their doing alone or as part of a group of firms.

Indeed, the unusual distribution of office space (17+ offices distributed across the region) also tallies with the consortium speculation, presumably with each site hosting a different firm, or work group.

It is worth noting that the cumulative total office space known to be linked with Tomorrow is equivalent to a bit less than two Chancery Place buildings worked to full capacity (Chancery Place is approx 100000 sq ft). The possible number of new jobs created by Tomorrow therefore figures in the mid-hundreds, but we should not expect to see lofty figures like this actually realised; if the project is indeed as innovative and as digital as is said, then it is very likely that a much lower number of jobs will be created than the total market footprint would usually imply (and if Tomorrow is indeed server/networking oriented in nature, the number of new jobs may be quite low indeed).

Additionally, if Tomorrow is a collaborative/consortium project, Apple's extreme preference for doing all product development in-house makes it very unlikely that it will yield a mainstream product. So I suspect this is a corporate scheme, but that is only because of my suspicion that the key to understanding Tomorrow lies in that puzzling distribution of office space.

-----

Realistically, given the reportedly innovative nature of the project, the assumed participation of multiple firms, and the decision to set-up in a relatively cheap area (Manchester vs London), I suspect that Tomorrow is merely a pilot for a corporate network scheme, and that, upon maturity, it will move beyond Manchester, producing little tangible long-term benefit for region.

I hope I am wrong. And there is some reason to think that I might be - the Radio 4 report describes it as a "major project" (but then, they might not be privy to the details anyway), and if this is more than a pilot scheme it could generate a long return for the region. Further to that, even if the total number of jobs created is not particularly high, the flipside is that they will mostly be high-paid, technology jobs - exactly the sort of field Manchester needs to be expanding in.

This is going to be one of the most interesting developments of 2013.

A 10 year lease has been taken out on 180,000 sq ft of office space. I'd associate a pilot development scheme in the technology as being 4 years max.