Illustrations by Gabrielle Lamarr Lemee
More than a decade ago, downtown officials labeled Washington Avenue “St. Louis’ Silicon Alley.” Then, after the tech bubble burst, things changed. Today, startups are making a comeback—largely with business models far different than when Wash. Ave. first earned its nickname. In early May, for instance, nonprofit Arch Grants announced the winners of its inaugural startup competition, with funding going to outfits like Techli, an online magazine covering Midwestern digital startups.
Other companies on the rise are those involved with cloud computing, or the ability to process and store massive amounts of data online. While companies like Google and Facebook have been deploying massive server clusters for some time, it’s only in the past five years that the cloud has really taken off—creating change on the ground in regional hubs like St. Louis. Replacing expensive in-house servers, the cloud cuts company costs and lets employees access information remotely via laptops, smartphones, and tablets. St. Louis businesses like Connectria Hosting, Contegix, Datotel, Savvis, and Xiolink have jumped to meet demand, offering storage and software for a price. (In fact, the St. Louis Business Journal recently reported that Savvis’ cloud business is growing nearly 25 percent annually.) There’s even a committee, the St. Louis Cloud Coalition, working to develop a media hub along the Delmar Loop’s proposed trolley right-of-way.
Other sectors are also embracing electronic storage. Months before Kindred Healthcare acquired the company last June, RehabCare Group was reportedly using roughly 4,000 iPods, iPhones, and iPads to enter patient data and track medical records. At the same time, Maryland Heights–based Essence Group Holdings Corporation has led the charge for electronic health records. In September 2010, its ClearPractice subsidiary launched Nimble, a health-records app for the iPad. Last year, it introduced Eden, cloud-based health-records software that works on Apple’s iOS devices and computers.
Handheld health apps and the cloud were largely still a dream in 2000, when the Wash. Ave. tech corridor got its start—and now they’re changing the tech landscape in St. Louis and beyond.
