With a dozen locations to choose from, Silicon Valley cybersecurity firm Infoblox named Tacoma as its flagship Center of Excellence in 2017 – and with good reason. Ripe with talent, innovation and partnership opportunities, Tacoma’s tech ecosystem has jump-started the company’s global growth.

It only took a year after Infoblox’s 2016 expansion to Tacoma, WA for the Santa Clara-based cybersecurity firm to realize it had landed somewhere special. In 2017, Infoblox designated its Tacoma location as a “Center of Excellence for Technology Innovation” and a “Hiring Hub” where the company could recruit a significant number of new employees.

The presence of the University of Washington’s School of Engineering and Technology and established tech companies, combined with an affordable cost of living, led Infoblox to choose Tacoma-Pierce County out of the 12 locations under consideration.

“We were looking for a place that had many of the factors employees look for to work, play, and raise a family,” said Norma Lane, Executive Vice President of People and Places at Infoblox. “Tacoma proved itself to be the top place for Infoblox to attract and retain talent.”

Time has justified that initial decision. Today, Infoblox is one of the largest employers and top tech companies in Tacoma, scaling up from 45 local employees to more than 225. The company has drawn from the tech talent pool generated by nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord, forged a close partnership with University of Washington Tacoma and contributed to Tacoma’s growing tech ecosystem. These strong relationships reinforced Infoblox’s decision in 2021 to retain its Center of Excellence and Hiring Hub in Tacoma for six more years.

Recently earning a $1 billion ‘unicorn’ valuation, Infoblox’s technology platform clearly has a great deal of room to grow. For Michael Brown, Director of Software & Development at Infoblox, the question of where the firm wants to pursue future growth has a straightforward answer: Tacoma.

“Should we grow here and can we grow? Of course the answer is yes. It’s affordable here, we don’t have traffic issues, and the weather is just as good,” said Brown.