WILMINGTON, N.C., March 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The
Wilmington area's growing technology reputation scored another
"first" today as representatives of AT&T*, the City of Wilmington and Wilmington Downton Inc.
announced that the Wilmington Municipal Services District has been
designated AT&T Fiber Ready.
Wilmington is the first
municipal services district in the country to receive the
designation. Last year, the ILM Business Park became the first
international airport business park in the country designated
AT&T Fiber Ready. The Pender County Industrial Park, on the
border of New Hanover and
Pender counties, received the
first AT&T Fiber Ready designation in the state.
In a global economy, connectivity is vital to new employers and
businesses of every type. The AT&T Fiber Ready designation
helps economic development leaders more effectively position their
communities for site selection by emphasizing the availability of
high-speed, fiber-based services.
"For businesses, fiber is the future, and in Wilmington, the future is now," said Mayor
Bill Saffo. "This designation will
be particularly appealing to tech innovators and will help make us
a preferred destination for entrepreneurs looking for business
opportunities coupled with a quality of life that is
second-to-none."
"We are in direct competition with large cities and metro
regions across this country for the technology-driven jobs of the
future," said House Representative Deb
Butler. "Economic growth today depends on the
availability of advanced technology and fiber-optic-based
communications. These certifications tell the world that the
Cape Fear region is ready to help businesses grow and succeed in a
global, online economy."
The AT&T fiber network provides the bandwidth needed to
support data intensive services such as video, collaboration, cloud
services and more through products such as Ethernet, Virtual
Private Networking, Managed Internet Service and AT&T Business
Fiber. Customers can complement their high-speed Internet with
network security options and online backup to help protect and
virtualize their business-critical information.
"While entrepreneurs appreciate the amenities, atmosphere and
history of our downtown, the ready availability of fiber optic
facilities and services is a major concern for businesses of all
sizes," said Ed Wolverton, President
and CEO of Wilmington Downtown, Inc. "This designation tells
existing businesses and new prospects considering a downtown
location that the highways for commerce and success in the
Information Age, fiber optics, are already in place just outside
their door."
In North Carolina, the AT&T
fiber network includes more than 2.3 million strand miles. AT&T
offers business customers high-speed Internet products on its fiber
network in every major metro in the company's 21-state
footprint.
"We are excited to welcome the Wilmington Municipal Services
District to the list of places across North Carolina where AT&T's fiber
infrastructure is in place and ready to help local businesses
grow," said John Lyon, regional
director of external affairs for AT&T North Carolina. "Every
day, AT&T's employees use our billions of dollars of investment
to deliver high-speed Internet for consumers and businesses. Those
investments are possible in large part because of the smart,
pro-investment policies championed by our state leaders and by
local leaders such as Mayor Saffo and Chairman White."
*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by
subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T
brand and not by AT&T Inc.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) helps millions
around the globe connect with leading entertainment, mobile, high
speed Internet and voice services. We're the world's largest
provider of pay TV. We have TV customers in the U.S. and 11 Latin
American countries. And we help businesses worldwide serve their
customers better with our mobility and highly secure cloud
solutions.
Additional information about AT&T products and services is
available at http://about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at
@ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/att.
© 2016 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.
AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service
marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated
companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of
their respective owners.
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SOURCE AT&T Inc.