|
|
Dear Colleagues,
At the beginning of May I attended the 2018 Economic Development Summit in Worcester, where more than 500 stakeholders met to discuss economic and growth priorities in the Commonwealth. Governor Baker, Lt. Governor Polito and Housing & Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash each spoke about our state’s economic development strategy. There were also a series of breakout sessions on topics like infrastructure, community-based innovation, workforce training, small business development, and key industry development.
It was an informative way to spend a morning and it is always good to connect with other business leaders in Massachusetts who share our vision of how to build a strong local economy. But my most important takeaway from the summit was that we are already doing progressive, innovative things here on Cape Cod, the Islands and in Southeastern Mass, but perhaps we are not yet sharing our success stories effectively.
Our region is clearly at a tipping point, a transition from a year round hospitality based economy to a economy that is also supported by Innovation, Technology and Economic Development around our proximity to the Ocean. Layered on top of these "blue economy" businesses we also enjoy a lifestyle that is envious to many people who would love to start, build, expand businesses here. In order for that to become reality we need to continue to invest and expand our infrastructure.
The customers we are continually connecting to our 100% fiber optic network are launching exciting, inventive and creative projects and services
AND CREATING JOBS
. Some of our newly connected clients include leaders in IT, healthcare, research and education. The most progressive businesses on Cape Cod and Southeastern MA. know they need to connect to OpenCape to effectively serve their clients and innovate in the hyper competitive marketplace.
I share with you each month spotlights on some of these customers and I also try to highlight pertinent contemporary ideas that are being discussed in telecommunications and technology. But we are also planning a variety of new media platforms to communicate our story: how we are working with ingenious business people, committed municipalities and a variety of passionate community leaders to take advantage of emerging opportunities and support economic growth.
So over the summer look for more from OpenCape ~ we are enthused about what we have to say and excited about what you think.
Best,
Steve
|
|
Taunton Municipal Light Plant
For over twenty years, the historic utility Taunton Municipal Light Plant, which provides electric service to 34,000 customers in the greater Taunton area, has been offering Internet service to its customers. And TMLP Online (as its ISP is known) choses OpenCape to connect them. “It’s a great partnership,” says Ken Bell, the Internet Services Group Supervising Engineer at TMLP, “ We are a municipal nonprofit, so we like working with another nonprofit entity and sharing ideas.”
TMLP serves state and local government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, as well as small businesses and residential customers. They connect the entire Taunton school system and Morton Hospital, so reliability is key. “We had no issues during the winter storms,” says Bell. “ We kept the lights on, and OpenCape kept our network up and running.”
Bell especially appreciates that he has direct access to the techs and other staff at OpenCape. “I can always just pick up the phone and speak to a human. I can talk to an engineer at any time,” he says. “It’s great.”
For TMLP, the excellent OpenCape customer service is matched by excellent speeds and reliability and a shared mission to serve the community. “ I think the relationship is stronger than it would be with a for-profit provider,” says Bell. “And it just keeps getting better.”
|
|
These are just some of the customers on Cape Cod, the Islands and Southeastern Mass that we connected this month:
You could be next! Reach out to our Director of Client Solutions
Angela Hurwitz.
|
Pie in The Sky - Woods Hole:
featuring a delicious assortment of handmade treats, great coffee and sandwich's to kill for. Now you can enjoy all of these wonderful things while surfing their dedicated and symmetrical Internet service.
|
Urology Associates of Cape Cod & Cardiovascular Consultants of Cape Cod
Two medical practices that are on the forefront of technology and utilizing the OpenCape network to share detailed imaging with experts around the Globe as needed, eliminating the need for patients to drive into Boston or Providence for further review.
|
ZUDY - Harwich and Miami
Based on CapeCod, Zudy is a visionary software company with the world’s only NO-CODE AppDev Platform, Vinyl. Vinyl enables enterprises to build highly configurable Enterprise Ready Applications in weeks
not months and years.
|
|
Driving the Economic Development Discussion
OpenCape CEO, Steve Johnston answers questions on panel with Undersecretary John Chapman, Mass Development's Jay Pateakos and Maria Marasco from the Mass Office of Business Development at the June 4th Harwich Chamber's Annual Meeting at Wequassett Resort in Harwich.
There were many great questions from attendees on challenges and the overall climate for both large and small companies. As 64% of the businesses on Cape Cod have between 1 and 4 employees, we need to work harder to support small business efforts and provide the tools and infrastructure that will allow them to compete in today's marketplace.
|
Growth Incentive Zones, Main Street & Beyond
"Main Street" seems to be all the rage these days as towns and communities compete to attract business, residents, development, and culture to their central downtown areas. OpenCape is currently working with leadership in Falmouth, Hyannis and Brockton, among others, to address the lack of fiber-based connectivity and how that is impacting these Main Street development initiatives. There will certainly be more to come on these locations.
|
OpenCape Continues Public Safety
Connection Initiative
O
ne of OpenCape's areas of FOCUS in 2017 and 2018 is connecting Police, Fire, EMS and other related organizations who are looking for significant service upgrades and who
MUST BE CONNECTED 24/7/365
. The storms from this Winter were a wake up call to many departments who hadn't thought about redundant service. Throughout all four of the storms, OpenCape service remained up, we did lose clients but only those who did not have a redundant power source. OpenCape is making this a priority and we continue to connect public safety locations. We just finished connecting the New Hyannis Fire Station in Hyannis and have three or four locations already scheduled to built out in July.
|
We know that many of you are eager to get residential service in your own homes and the homes of your customers. We are too! It takes a village to provide residential Internet service and there is much we can do as a community to make Fiber to the Home an affordable reality for the residents of Cape Cod, the Islands and Southeastern Massachusetts.
Here is an inspiring story from Ohio that suggests ways our own business and community leaders can encourage municipal fiber initiatives and bring the decision to the voters: https://bit.ly/2tX5Rva
|
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, residents of a small Welsh town have been literally digging their way to residential Internet access:
https://bit.ly/2KC8sBE
We may not need to get this down and dirty to bring affordable reliable Internet to our homes here, but you can let your town representatives know you want a choice when it comes to Internet!
|
|
OpenCape Corporation
P.O. Box 1148
Barnstable, MA
02630-2148
www.opencape.org
508-362-2224
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
