The Boston area has its own share of big technology companies, but what about companies like Facebook, Microsoft and IBM? While many of them aren't based here, quite a few of them have been making moves in the Boston area, ranging from office expansions to acquisitions of local companies.
Here is what Amazon, Facebook, Salesforce and other tech giants were up to in Boston in 2016:
Amazon
Amazon has had a bevy of consumer activity in Massachusetts this year, including the controversy over its decision to skip over the Boston neighborhood of Roxbury for same-day delivery — which was quickly resolved. The ecommerce giant also launched its own grocery delivery service and it’s planning to open a bookstore in Dedham (yes, you read that correctly). Amazon’s Cambridge office happens to be where some of the major work on Alexa happens. Earlier this year, the Cambridge team announced it would be hiring for a new “People Tech” team that would help Amazon develop its own human resources software. Michael Toulomtzis, a senior principal engineer at Amazon, told me that team could reach the triple digits in a few years.
It’s been three years since Facebook came back to the Boston area and opened an office in Cambridge. Back in October, we were told that the company now has roughly 100 employees, nearly double from what it had from the end of last year, and it’s currently in the process of taking the entire eighth floor of One Broadway in Kendall Square. Read more about Facebook’s ever-expanding Cambridge office here.
Salesforce
Salesforce acquired not one, but two Boston-area tech companies this year and could have acquired more if things had worked out differently. First, Salesforce announced it was acquiring Demandware, the Burlington-based ecommerce software company, in June for $2.8 billion. Then, in September, it announced it was also scooping up HeyWire, a smaller Cambridge-based startup that provides business messaging software. Besides the newly acquired companies, Salesforce also has its own Boston office, with nearly 1,000 employees in the area. A Salesforce executive told The Boston Globe in October that he wouldn’t be surprised if Salesforce eventually had a tower in Boston with its logo on top, like it does in New York, San Francisco and elsewhere.
Oracle
About a month after a massive cyber attack targeted Dyn, a New Hampshire-based DNS provider, Oracle announced it would acquire the company. While Oracle didn’t disclose the value of the deal, separate reports said it was over $600 million. And no, the acquisition wasn’t related to the cyber attack.
IBM
Back in February, IBM Security acquired Cambridge-based Resilient Systems for $100 million, adding on to IBM’s Security division that originally started with its 2011 acquisition of Waltham-based Q1 Labs. Fast-forward several months later and IBM Security celebrated the opening of its new 10,000-square-foot global headquarters in Cambridge. The new compound includes the IBM X-Force Command Center, which is meant to train organizations how to respond to cyber attacks in real-time using simulated scenarios. Read more about it here. Cambridge is also the headquarters of IBM Watson Health, which acquired Michigan-based Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 billion earlier this year and gave $50 million to the Broad Institute for cancer research.
Microsoft
Back in January, Microsoft announced it would move 300 sales and marketing employees to a former Nokia office in Burlington that would make it easier for the company to access surrounding states in the sales region. As a result, the company said it would leave its 255 Main St. office in Cambridge while renovating its New England Research and Development Center at 1 Memorial Drive in Cambridge for an expansion.
Cisco
In June, Cisco announced it was acquiring Waltham-based cybersecurity firm CloudLock for $293 million. As part of the acquisition, CloudLock’s team was expected to join Cisco’s Networking and Security Business Group.
Dell
Nearly a year after the deal was announced, Dell closed on its multi-billion dollar acquisition of Hopkinton-based data storage giant EMC. The deal, which required an extraordinary amount of cash, ended up having a major impact on other parts of Dell’s and EMC’s businesses. For instance, Dell sold off Dell Software Group and SecureWorks and EMC sold off its Enterprise Content Division earlier this year to help finance the deal. Dell Technologies President Michael Dell has since bought an $11 million condo in Boston’s Millenial Tower.
GE
This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning General Electric’s activity within Massachusetts. At the beginning of the year, GE announced it would relocate its headquarters from Fairfield, Conn., to Boston, which would bring around 800 employees to the city. Since last year, Boston has been the home to Current, an energy efficiency business launched by GE, and it will now be joined by other new GE ventures in the city, including the GE Digital Foundry, GE Brilliant Career Labs and a startup accelerator. GE has other operations within Massachusetts, including its life sciences headquarters in Marlborough.
