IT incubator UUNET Bandwidth Barn, part of the Cape IT Initiative (CITI), has seen such increasing demand for its services that it has to search for larger premises and hopes to move early next year.
CITI as started three years ago with the objective to bring prosperity to the Western Cape through the development of the IT industry. The UUNET Bandwidth Barn was begun in January 2001 as a project where small, entrepreneurial IT companies could find a nesting place during their formative phase while they perform research and development of their products.
Other projects include entrepreneurial support and skills development, and the soon to be launched CPE Lab where Cape-based IT companies can learn how to expand their business into Europe.
According to CITI marketing manager Judith Middleton, the UUNET Bandwidth Barn now houses 47 different companies with a total of 107 people, so space is now at a premium.
"We need at least another floor to accommodate the requests we have had for space by the start-up companies. The lease at our present site expires in January and we are looking for another site that should be about a third larger than this one," she says.
Within the Western Cape there are between 400 and 500 IT-related companies, many of which are struggling start-ups. Space restriction at CITI means some good companies and products that may have just needed the "leg-up" that the facility offers may have missed out.
A number of options are available to entrepreneurs at Bandwidth Barn ranging from proper corporate-type offices to a one-office set up, or even lock-up and go workstations that can be rented for about R900 per month.
Companies within the UUNET Bandwidth Barn include those exploring uses for short-message services, IT policy issues and those attempting to bridge the digital divide in education.
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