If you read the news on Thursday, it was reported that Oracle, the California business software company, passed over the Treasure Valley for a proposed new data center that would have brought some much-needed high-paying jobs.

Regardless of the reason, it is unfortunate the company didn't choose this area to expand. It would have given a nice shot in the arm to what has become a depressing economic picture.

Oracle will likely build the data center in Salt Lake City. Oracle isn't talking, but the skeptic in me suspects that Oracle's decision to not build in the Treasure Valley probably had to do with what Utah can offer versus Idaho.

The one positive take-away is that companies like Oracle have Idaho on their radar.

The economic development experts at the Boise Valley Economic Development Partnership say there are nine other active recruiting efforts that could bring up to 4,000 jobs. How close any of those are to becoming reality is anyone's guess.

What's alarming is that this is the third potential expansion project that we've lost in the last few months. The first two, which were not disclosed, were from lack of power. And now Oracle. And these are the ones we know about.

I couldn't even get the Boise Valley Economy Partnership to confirm it had talked to Oracle, despite confirmation from the Department of Commerce and the city of Meridian, where the data center would have been located. So there's no telling how many others have fallen through.

I'm frustrated looking at this from the outside. I can only imagine how the economic development experts are feeling. It seems the Treasure Valley economic developers just can't quite get there to close the deal.

Given what has happened over the last few months, I would hope everyone is taking a close look at why we're losing these opportunities.

We can't afford to screw it up again. We've been extremely lucky that the Boise area has yet to lose its luster nationally. Granted it is a great place to live, but even I continue to be surprised at how often the area lands in the national media as a great place for business, careers and whatever.

But we've yet to really capitalize on any of that national attention. It's that coverage that gets companies like Oracle and others looking at the area, but looking is a long way from setting up shop.

The more I see the failures of trying to recruit outside companies, the more I have to side with the camp that thinks we should invest in our own companies and grow our own success.

This week we had a perfect example of a local success story.

Boise-based CradlePoint, which employs 40 people in Boise, was purchased by Sierra Wireless in a stock and cash deal valued at more than $30 million.

The nice thing about this deal - other than the fact that a number of local investors got very wealthy - is that Sierra Wireless is keeping CradlePoint in Boise just as Microsoft did with ProClarity a few years back.

Pat Sewall, CradlePoint's CEO, said the purchase will lead to more growth locally, which will lead to more jobs.

On a related note, the Idaho Department of Commerce finally has a new director. It's been nearly two months since Jim Ellick's abrupt departure from the department. Since that time, Don Dietrich, the department's economic development administrator, has been acting as interim director.

But now Dietrich has the job full-time. I think it was a good move on Gov. Butch Otter's part. Otter I'm sure wasn't going to repeat the mistake of bringing in an outsider who had no connection to Idaho.

In full disclosure, I worked with Dietrich when I was at Commerce and Labor, and I think he's more than qualified for the job. I know he has Idaho's best interests at heart.

By Ken Dey - kdey@idahostatesman.com

Edition Date:  04/11/08

Ken Dey is the high-technology reporter at the Idaho Statesman. Read his TechIdaho blog at IdahoStatesman.com. Reach him at 672-6757 or kdey@idahostatesman.com