LOOKING FOR A HOOK-UP
Fibre optic network key for Amazon
Amazon’s search for a second home for its planned $5-billion corporate headquarters’ spinoff is considered by many municipal leaders across North America to be the trophy deal of the century.
And why wouldn’t it be? The tech giant’s current Seattle HQ has attracted tens of thousands of young, educated and tech-savvy professionals to the area and helped transform stretches of the city into urban oases of hip coffee shops, restaurants and bustling residential neighbourhoods. Amazon estimates that it has given Seattle’s economy a $38-billion boost.
With the promise of as many as 50,000 new highly paid jobs on the line with another corporate centre, it’s no wonder Canadian cities joined those across the continent in pulling together proposals to meet the company’s Oct. 19 deadline.
But what’s it going to take to stand out in this sure-tobe-crowded field?
At minimum, viable candidates must offer Amazon a populous locale with a dynamic business climate. But that’s just going to be table stakes.
To attract a cutting-edge company, it’s going to take a cutting-edge city — and to do that, it’s going to take cutting-edge connectivity.
It only makes sense for a company that is built on the internet to ensure its new headquarters is in a city pre-wired for the future with fibre optics.
Today’s talented, techsavvy workforce — the very demographic Amazon needs to attract in droves to fill 50,000 new jobs — is very much awake to the possibilities of a fibre-connected city.
Innovations such as connected homes, driverless cars and smart-city services are going to be powered off a backbone of fibre.
A recent survey of American renters found that millennials, in particular, already value high-speed internet more than any other home feature.
A network that connects Amazon employees to fibre at work, at home and throughout their communities will help support a mobile workforce, reduce productivity-killing commutes and offer a substantially higher quality of life — perks that will be gamechangers when it comes to attracting, and keeping, top talent.
Amazon will also need a new home that is supported by an excellent tech-focused educational ecosystem.
Not only will fibre-enabled schools offer a pipeline of emerging talent, but they will also offer enhanced education opportunities for little Amazonians.
Fibre is revolutionizing classrooms from kindergarten to grad school by turbocharging education with interactive whiteboards, video conferencing, automatically updated digital textbooks, virtual field trips, and remote learning with the world’s leading universities and teachers. A next-generation school system will fuel Amazon’s success for years to come.
And when it comes to selecting a city that offers an extraordinary quality of life, we’ve yet to even scratch the surface on how fibre will transform our health care system and provide communities with advanced services that lead to superior health outcomes.
With more than 100 cities attempting to woo Amazon, forward-thinking communities with fibre optic networks, like Vancouver, will stand apart from the rest.
Each hair-thin strand of Fiberglas enables more wireless capacity and dramatically increases internet speeds to homes, businesses, schools and hospitals. Moreover, this fibre infrastructure offers nearly unlimited capacity to support data demands for generations to come, so as next-generation technology is developed with massive bandwidth requirements, a fibre city is wired and ready to support the innovations a forwardthinking company like Amazon has yet to dream up.
With the Oct. 20 deadline for bids now passed, Amazon is tasked with reviewing pitches from plenty of eager and willing cities from across the continent.
How they will choose between so many worldclass cities remains to be determined, but one thing is certain: fibre-connected cities will have a huge competitive advantage.
Jeff Bezos and his Amazon team have built an empire shaping the future of how we live and work.
They need a city that is in lock-step with their vision and, more importantly, has the network in place to power creativity and attract the best and brightest tech minds.
Of course, Amazon is not the only prize on the horizon.
There are plenty of other startups and innovators emerging in our growing digital economy and, like Amazon, they are all looking for a future-forward city to put down roots. It’s part of the drive behind Telus’ current multi-billion investment to connect homes and businesses in Vancouver to our future-proofed fibre optic network.
Regardless of where Amazon chooses for its new home, our investment is laying the foundation for the smart homes, businesses and cities of tomorrow, and it will be a force in powering job creation and economic growth.
We applaud and support our civic leaders for having the vision and forethought to partner with us as we transform Vancouver into a connected community that will be a beacon to innovative business leaders and the investment that follows — now and for generations to come.
To attract a cutting-edge company, it’s going to take a cutting-edge city . ... It only makes sense for a company that is built on the internet to ensure its new headquarters is in a city pre-wired for the future with fibre optics. Tony Geheran, senior executive at Telus Forward-thinking communities with fibre optic networks, like Vancouver, will stand apart from the rest.
DOUGLAS TODD WILL RETURN