The first employer of Sophia gathers the overall of services which were spread on a sole site (36,000 m2 of offices). At the same time, it launches the concept of Amadeus Labs.
For Amadeus, at Sophia Antipolis, the inauguration of the underground tunnel was only an excuse to launch the Amadeus Campus. Created in 1987, the GDS (global computerized distribution system of reference travel products), had set up its offices of research and development at Sophia Antipolis. Since then, it faced a continuous growth on the French Riviera becoming the biggest employer of the research park, with its 1,100 employees and its 300 contractors. They had to manage a fast growth, among others in the real estate sector.
Established on four sites
Amadeus Campus' concept comes from the grouping of the overall of activities spread on Sophia on a sole site with about 36,000 square meters of offices. Because of the property shortage, the group had to take additional premises depending on the opportunities. Thus some services were set up at the Templiers where Compaq is established, and others in the buildings "Les Vaisseaux". This spread was obviously uncomfortable. As a consequence, the objective, realized today, was to gather the overall on a united site.
"Amadeus was spread on four sites, Jacques Lignières notes, general manager of Amadeus Development. Our main site that we took in leasing is of 16,000 square meters. There is the company's restaurant: 1,400 square meters which will be extend soon to 2,600 square meters. First, we have rent at the opposite of the Pin Montard, the Tiades (5,500 square meters), then, the Oréades (2,300 square meters) and finally, the Espaces Antipolis, currently under construction (12,000 square meters). We will then have nearly 20,000 square meters of premises available, that we rent on the other side of the road. The tunnel that we inaugurated on May 3rd, enables to gather the two poles on an only campus."
Amadeus Labs for the technology watch
The restaurant (currently 700 meals a day), the library, the internal travel agency, (9,000 bookings a year), the business centre, the automated cash dispenser as the other services will then be more easily accessible to the overall of the staff. Indeed, it will set up progressively. More than 400 people already work in the buildings of the Triade. The premises of the "Vaisseaux" and the "Templiers" will be vacated at the end of the year and the grouping will be fully done only in the course of the year 2001.
As regards the tunnel, there is nothing anecdotal. Works lasted 4 months for an approximate cost of 2.5 million francs. It is 30 meters long and goes under the rue du Pin Montard and then allows to link the two sites without going out of the campus.
Another concept for the Amadeus Campus launched at the same time: the Amadeus Labs, as the "Bell labs" of Lucent. This technological laboratory will be developed in collaboration with research centres and universities in order to concentrate the state of the art in information technology. "We were already doing technology watch on an informal basis, Jacques Lignières notes. However, we decided to gather 25 people who will be dedicated to a technology watch oriented on information technology. The aim is to see how what isn't already on the market could become an Amadeus product."