Facebook-Owned Company Opening Research Office In Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Four years ago, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg came to Carnegie Mellon University to recruit graduates to his operations in California.
"We have a lot of Carnegie Mellon alums at Facebook, and a lot of them are some of our best engineers," Zuckerberg told reporters at a press conference on November 8, 2011.
Now it seems he wants to attract talent to work right here in Pittsburgh at a subsidiary company soon to open on Bayard Street just a few minutes' walk from both CMU and Pitt.
Oculus, owned by Facebook, has confirmed that a new building in Oakland called Schenley Place will be its new Pittsburgh headquarters.
The company is expected to occupy about 20,000 square feet, roughly one fifth of the building.
And Oculus tells KDKA money editor Jon Delano that they're going to create a small Pittsburgh team to do something called virtual reality research.
Virtual reality?
"You can wear something that is right in front of your face and as you move around it's almost as if you are in that world," said Prof. Jason Hong of CMU's School of Computer Sciences.
Hong said many were surprised when Facebook purchased the virtual reality company Oculus a few years ago.
"Virtual reality and Facebook don't seem like they have much in common on the surface, though there are a lot of people that suspect Facebook is very interested in new modes of connecting people together and possibly even new modes of gaming, too," Hong said.
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That could include making people chatting thousands of miles away feel like they are in the same room.
"Instead of doing videoconferencing or emailing," said Hong, "you might be able to put on these glasses and make it really feel like we are talking face to face."
Oculus won't confirm what exactly will go on in this building owned and built by the Elmhurst Group, but the building is almost ready for them and other tenants.
"Hopefully we will have it all finished and ready for occupancy in about three months," said Elmhurst CEO Bill Hunt.
Hunt says Facebook's Oculus presence is exciting for the city.
"I think it's very good news for Pittsburgh. It's definitely an advancement in the technology sector, so that's good for everybody in Pittsburgh."