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While
recognized as part of the "Internet Coast" along
with Miami and Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach is coming
into its own as a destination for Internet infrastructure.
"A growing number of telecom and Internet firms are recognizing
the West Palm Beach market as an attractive destination
for telecom companies who need access to the South Florida
market, as well as a gateway to international business in
Latin America," said Joseph Suppers Jr., owner of the TQ
Telecom Center, a carrier hotel in West Palm Beach.
 New
arrivals to the West Palm Beach market in the past year
include Qwest Communications, Frontier, Adelphia and USLEC.
They join an established group of existing providers that
include TCG (now AT&T local service), Sprint, Intermedia
Communications, AT&T and BellSouth. FPL FiberNet recently
announced that it would expand its metropolitan network
to West Palm Beach.
With the launch of the Network Access Point (NAP) in Miami,
South Florida is now being referred to as the "Internet
Coast". As one of 5 locations in the US that has a "NAP"
presence, Telecom companies are flocking to the region to
expand their networks and use this location as a springboard
to conduct business in South America, the Caribbean as well
as Europe.
Palm Beach County has experienced strong growth in recent
years, with its population growing by more than 190,000
people (a 23 percent gain) from 1990 to 2000. The area's
projected population for the year 2005 is 1.15 million.
Palm
Beach County's labor force currently exceeds 520,000, including
18,000 workers in the technology sector. The county economy
added 19,100 non-agricultural jobs from June 1999 to June
2000, an increase of 4.1%.
In
1998, Palm Beach County had a per capita personal income
of $40,044, which was 147 percent of the national averages.
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CONNECTIVITY
Palm Beach County offers:
- 91,240
miles of fiber
- 16
telco COs
- 100
percent fiber OC-48 SONET ring backbone network (growing
to OC-192 by 2001)
-
Ready access to South Florida NAP projects under development
TELECOM
PRESENCE
- Qwest
Communications
- Frontier
-
Adelphia
-
USLEC
-
TCG (AT&T local)
-
Sprint
-
Intermedia
-
AT&T
-
BellSouth
-
FPL FiberNet
WEB LINKS
To
learn more about the West Palm Beach market and all it offers,
contact:
Business
Development Board of Palm Beach County, Inc.
222 Lakeview Avenue
Suite 1200
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
(561) 835-1008
FAX (561) 835-1160
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