Silicone Valley Annex

The hype going around the Orange County business booster circuit is that this is the place for high-tech, and that our northern neighbors are overcrowded and overpriced, with scarce housing, talent and office space.

But at least some Orange County technology companies find they need the connection to Silicon Valley, if only to attract and keep employees.

Aliso Viejo-based ZLand.com Inc. earlier this month opened an engineering and development office in San Jose with three people who would not join the company if they had to move here.

“All three are vice president-level people who are critical to our operation and want to work out of San Jose,” said Glenn Abood, president and chief operating officer of the Internet applications developer. “At the end of the day, that’s where a lot of the engineering talent is. There are only so many down in this area.”

With 15,000 square feet, the company’s San Jose office has ample room to expand beyond its current three members, and ZLand, which has seen its employee ranks grow from 43 at the end of last year to more than 100 now, expects to take advantage of it.

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Jonathan Gaw covers technology and electronic commerce for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7818 and at jonathan.gaw@latimes.com.