Call it a culture war between the East Coast "ties" and the West Coast "tees." But just don't call the West Coast a winner when it comes to IT. Not by a longshot.

According to Ascent Venture Partners, Dunkin Donuts gulping East Coast techies have got the latte sipping West Coast geeks beat when it comes to IT investment in cloud, data, security, and mobility.

"A common misconception is the West Coast - with its high-profile consumer technology firms and M&As of companies like WhatsApp for $22 billion – is the center of the universe for IT investments," said Matt Fates, Ascent partner. "The reality is the East Coast corridor from Boston to Washington D.C., has California beat."

Boston-based Ascent's Fates crunched the numbers on key drivers of IT in the enterprise and concluded the East Coast was an oft-overlooked yet thriving "innovation ecosystem with an abundance of opportunity for companies, VARs, and service providers delivering sophisticated IT solutions to the marketplace."  

Fates points out that seven of the top ten U.S. universities pumping out science and engineering grads are located in the Northeast. He also notes that while the West Coast has 42,000 technology companies the Northeast alone has 82,500. "Every metric that counts is weighted in favor of the East Coast. The East Coast represent 32 percent of all R&D spending in the U.S., compared to 22 percent in the West," Fates said.

For solution providers, those are important data points for anyone hoping to capitalize on the country's IT hot spots, Fates said. "If you're a solution provider looking to recruit, sell, and partner with new companies the East is where you want to be," he said.

As examples, Fates point to several East Coast success stories such as Concord Communications (bought by CA), Netezza (bought by IBM), and Vertica (bought by HP). He said if you want to invest in iPhone apps and virtual reality gaming systems go West. "Places like the Northeast offer a vibrant business ecosystem with strong heritage of investing broadly in IT systems, management, and security," Fates said.

Take Massachusetts-based cloud security firm CloudLock, which Fates said has become a rock star among companies and cloud solution providers like Cloud Sherpas. "Cloud computing promises to move the vast majority of IT from on-premise to off-premise public/private clouds. It's not a theoretical discussion here on the East Coast. The time is now and East Coast startups, solution providers, and enterprise are pioneering this next generation of IT," he said.

Ascent said global enterprises spend $4 trillion dollars on information technology each year. SaaS applications and IaaS, Fates said, are enjoying broad adoption by companies. "We expect to see expected 30 percent compound annual growth rate in these important sectors," Fates said.

With 82,500 technology companies and 80 percent of the world’s largest technology companies owning a significant presence in the Northeast, the geography is ripe with opportunity, Fates contends.

"Where are the next generation of IT system management companies going to come from? The East Coast," Fates said.