The Greater Zurich Area is one of Europe’s finest business locations and provides some of the most conducive operating conditions for your local, regional and global business. In every major infrastructure ranking, Switzerland is among the best. According to surveys by IMD,WEF, EIU and others, the Greater Zurich Area and Switzerland can boast award-winning products and services in real estate, logistic, technological and economical infrastructure. http://www.greaterzuricharea.ch/

1. Greater Zurich Area AG, May 2013: Infrastructure & Real Estate 1
The Greater Zurich Area is one of Europe’s finest business
locations and provides some of the most conducive oper­
ating conditions for your local, regional and global busi­
ness. In every major infrastructure ranking, Switzerland
is among the best. According to surveys by IMD,WEF, EIU
and others, the Greater Zurich Area and Switzerland can
boast award-winning products and services in real estate,
logistic, technological and economical infrastructure.
General infrastructure amenities include the Zurich Air­
port, offering daily flights to virtually all major business
hubs on the globe, a sophisticated and comprehensive
public transportation system (train, bus, tram), and a so­
cial infrastructure including international schools, family
assistance and efficient government administration and
authorities.
The Greater Zurich Area offers a wide range of “Swiss-Qua­
lity” real estate and infrastructure, with building layouts
for the most demanding needs, top-notch equipment,
lighting, wiring, peripheral amenities, parking, postal ser­
vices and transport connections. They amount to the for­
mula for your business success.
Dedicated to Swiss – Infrastructure & Real Estate
in the Greater Zurich Area
Transport infrastructure − destination: on time
All roads in the Greater Zurich Area lead to Zürich – and
from here to the world.
With its superior air, road and rail transportation sys­
tem, comprehensive and punctual at once, the Greater
Zurich Area serves as an ideal foothold to do business
in the Swiss and European markets. Because it is easy
and convenient to reach every corner of the continent,
world-­famous logistics companies such as German trans­
port behemoth Kühne & Nagel and logistics specialists
Rhenus Alpina have chosen the Greater Zurich Area as
seat for their international business.
Among the award-winning highlights of the Greater
Zurich Area’s transport infrastructure are:
• Intercontinental Zurich Airport – a mere 15 minutes
from historic downtown of the city of Zurich, Zurich
Airport offers truly global connectivity. Zurich
Airport has repeatedly won Europe’s Leading
Airport Award, World Airport and World Travel
Award in several categories for many years.
• Switzerland sports a superior system of roads of
all sizes. Efficient roadways connect Northern and
Southern Europe, following the same trade routes
already used during the Roman Empire.
• Reliable, punctual, and safe public transportation:
The public transportation of the Greater Zurich
Area is a real alternative to cars. Switzerland ranks
third in density of its railway network worldwide
(USA: 15th); e.g. using a high-speed train, central
Paris is a mere 4.5h away from Zurich main station.
The Greater Zurich Area offers functional
and top-notch infrastructure and real estate
for all needs.
Using express and local trains, buses, trams,
cable cars and ferries, or private cars, the
average commute to work rarely exceeds
30 minutes from door to door.

2. Greater Zurich Area AG, May 2013: Infrastructure & Real Estate 2
E-infrastructure – in the fast lane of the virtual
highway
Home to a thriving IT developers’ and suppliers’ indus­
try, the Greater Zurich Area’s award-winning e-infra­
structure satisfies the highest demands for high-volume
and high-speed data transfer.
Seeing their data communication and e-infrastructure
needs fully addressed, leading Internet companies such
as Google and Kayak have established major operations
in the Greater Zurich Area. Google runs its main Euro­
pean engineering center out of Zürich, Microsoft has
developed major VoIP-based media applications here
and Disney has opened a visualization and animation
R&D institute at the ETH Zurich.
Many SMEs, R&D spin-offs and start-ups complement
these global players of IT companies. At the Red Her­
ring 100 Global, IT start-ups from the Greater Zurich
Area have routinely represented a high share of win­
ners every year. Companies such as Collanos, semantic
systems, Hocoma AG and many more have established
the Greater Zurich Area as an important start-up loca­
tion IT world.
Accordingly, Fortune magazine named the city of Zurich
as top of the 7 Best New Global Cities for start-ups in its
October 2012 issue:
“When Google looked to set up its European engineer­
ing headquarters, it turned to Zurich, and Yahoo
followed suit. The U.S. tech giants liked Zurich’s ro­
bust broad­band infrastructure, but the real appeal is
the local talent (…) the effort seems to be paying off.
Zurich is home to hundreds of start-ups, including calen­
dar software maker Doodle and Wuala, a cloud storage
company.”
Best quality of overall and e-ready infrastructure
When it comes to infrastructure and e-Readiness, Swit­
zerland and the Greater Zurich Area are consistently
ranked among the countries offering the best infra­
structure services worldwide, according to brand-name
industry surveys and research, boasting:
• Best quality of overall infrastructure (acc. to World
Economic Forum, Competitiveness Report, 2011/2).
• Third worldwide in air transportation infrastructure
(IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2011).
• Switzerland ranks second only behind South Korea
when it comes to business use of broadband
(2011, OECD, Broad Band Portal).
• 6th
best availability of latest technologies worldwide
(IMD 2012).
• Best connectivity and technology infrastructure
worldwide (Economist Intelligence Unit 2008 study).
• Rank 6 in quality electricity supply (WEF 2009 – 2012).
Real estate: prime locations within a prime location
The Greater Zurich Area spans a large area of Switzer­
land, from mountain peaks to the streets of urban Zu­
rich. The Greater Zurich Area’s real estate inventory is as
diverse, and offers everything from a downtown office
space to spacious production and research facilities.
Commercial real estate prices vary accordingly, but are
generally under pressure as vacancy rates change from
location to location. Compared with other European
locations, office rents in Zürich and the Greater Zurich
Area are highly competitive.
The Greater Zurich Area offers state-of-the-
art e-infrastructure and data technologies
that have attracted leading IT players such
as Google, Kayak, Microsoft, and IBM.
High-speed fiber: ewz.zürinet
In September 2012 the City of Zürich has
approved the second phase of building
a free-of-charge basic public highspeed
fiber network, for highest data speed and
volume requirements.
ewz.zürinet is constantly expanding
Switzerland’s fasted fiber network
within the city, from today’s 30,000 to an
estimated 240,000 individual connections
by 2019. A wide array of Swiss online
service providers is available on ewz.
zürinet allowing for highly competitive
prices.
www.stadt-zuerich.ch/ewz

3. Greater Zurich Area AG, May 2013: Infrastructure & Real Estate 3
Office space: renting made quick and easy
Business premises are finished to high standards, with
an IT infrastructure to match. No restrictions apply to for­
eigners to rent or buy real estate for business purposes.
On average, negotiations lead to a signed lease within
4 to 6 weeks for new developments and standard rental
properties. Standard business rentals are offered with
preliminary finish, providing:
• Fully developed operative areas/staircases.
• Raw rental area equipped with utilities and
functionalities including ventilation, IT, electricity,
water.
• Installations of previous tenants if desired.
• New properties may have funds allocated for
ceiling/wall/floor finishes.
• While not a climatic or legal requirement of the
Greater Zurich Area, central air conditioning and
sprinklers are becoming more frequent.
The Swiss are a nation of renters, also when it comes to
residential real estate. Nearly three quarters of the po­
pulation live in rented spaces. Swiss rentals enjoy luxury
standards of convenience and individuality. A complete­
ly appointed kitchen, state-of-the-art sanitary facilities,
cable and/or phone/Internet hook-ups are a matter of
course.
Rental prices vary greatly in the Greater Zurich Area, as
do vacancy rates depending on the location within the
Greater Zurich Area.
Please note that in Switzerland the entire living space
(i.e. bedrooms, living room, dining room) is included in
the description of property size. They count as rooms in
an apartment.
Compared with the world’s top real estate
locations, Zurich is competitive
Market Occ Cost
(In EUR per sqm per annum)
Hong Kong���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1,420
Tokyo���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 900
Paris������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 740
Moscow������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 710
London������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 700
Peking��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 500
São Paulo���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 540
Singapore��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 540
Stockholm��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 530
Zurich���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 400
Frankfurt���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 360
Source: Colliers International, June 2012
Office space
(in CHF/sqm. p.a.)
Zürich city 125 – 410
Net average 208
Greater Zurich Area 100 – 410
Price range (median) of production and
storage premises
(in CHF/sqm. p.a.)
Zürich, Produktionsstätten 80 – 275 (150)
Zürich, storage premises 60 – 150 (90)
Greater Zurich Area, storage 30 – 230 (n/a)
Source: Colliers Office Report, 2011

4. Greater Zurich Area AG, May 2013: Infrastructure Real Estate 4
Switzerland
Greater Zurich Area AG
Limmatquai 122
8001 Zürich / Switzerland
Phone +41 44 254 59 59
Fax +41 44 254 59 54
info@greaterzuricharea.ch
www.greaterzuricharea.ch
USA
Greater Zurich Area Inc.
swissnex building
730 Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111 / USA
Phone +1 415 912 5909
CHINA
Jianping Gao
Representative China
Phone +86 21 6149 8208
Have we sparked your interest?
Would you like to get to know your options in the
Greater Zurich Area in more detail?
If yes, please contact your nearest Greater Zurich
Area representative for more information.
We are happy to assist you in every aspect of
expanding your business to the Greater Zurich
Area!