<< Return to Mile High published Aug 16, 2006 | updated Dec 19, 2008

Working in Boulder

Boulder is home to one of IBM's largest facilities in the United States. There are approximately 3,500 employees working at the IBM Boulder site, located on the Diagonal highway that runs from Boulder to Longmont. When IBM built their primary Colorado site in Boulder County, the City of Boulder subsequently annexed the land making the IBM site technically in Boulder city limits though it lies a few miles from the concentration of Boulder.

When IBM built their site in Boulder, they consulted with architects at the University of Colorado on the details of the site, partly to create goodwill with the neighboring university. One of the decisions that was made through this partnership was that the facade of the site should be made of indigenous rocks so that the large site blends into the land and does not interfere with Boulder's natural beauty.

The IBM Boulder site began as a manufacturing center, but has transformed over the years where printing and services now dominate the facility. The site has a disaster recovery control center where all IBM sites are monitored continuously and disaster monitoring and preparedness strategy are undertaken. While the disaster center operates in the background most of the time, it becomes a critical function for the company in times of emergency like the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina. IBM not only handles response and strategy for IBM services and employees during disasters, but coordinates and assists clients in a variety of ways.