Petah Tikva is a city in the Central District of Israel, 10.6 km (6.59 mi) east of Tel Aviv. ‘Opening of Hope’. It has a population of around 231,000. It is the third most populous city in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area known as Gush Dan. It was founded in 1878 and became a permanent settlement in 1883 with the financial help of Baron Edmond de Rothschild by religious orthodox Jews, also known as the Old Yishuv.
Industry in the city is divided into three zones, Kiryat Aryeh, Kiryat Matalon and Segula and includes textiles, metalwork, carpentry, plastics, processed foods, tires and other rubber products, and soap. It is the second-largest industrial sector in Israel after the northern city of Haifa.
In recent years many high-tech companies have moved into the industrial zones including the Israeli headquarters for the Oracle Corporation, IBM, Intel, Alcatel-Lucent, ECI Telecom, and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals. The largest data center in Israel, operated by the company TripleC, is also located in Petah The Teva pharmaceutical company also has its headquartered here. Osem food processing corporation opened in Petah Tikva in 1976 and has since been joined by the company’s administrative offices, distribution center and sauce factory. Strauss is also based in Petach Tikva. In addition to hi-tech companies Petah Tikva many communications firms are based here including Bezeq International international phone company and the 012 Smile Internet Service Provider. The headquarters of Tadiran Telecom are in the Ramat Siv industrial zone. The citrus groves that surrounded Petah Tikva have disappeared as real-estate developers bought up the land for construction projects.