The rapid adoption of advanced Internet applications is driving businesses to demand access to
optical fiber networks at their office sites, according to a nationwide survey of more than 800
information technology professionals.
A large majority of those surveyed say their businesses are willing to pay a premium for office
space served by high-speed data communications infrastructure, and more than half say they might
consider relocating to new space if such infrastructure does not become available.
The survey was conducted by the San Francisco-based Yipes Communications, Inc., a provider of
scalable Ethernet services. The survey looked at the growing value of high-bandwidth connectivity
options at business locations.
Sixty-four percent of the survey participants say access to fast, fiber-based data communication
networks was "extremely important" or "very important." Twenty-four percent say they already
insist that their businesses lease space with fiber infrastructure in place to support
high-bandwidth applications, while another 41% say they will insist on such availability within
the next 12 to 18 months.
The survey updates a study published by the Building Owners and Managers Association
International in 2000. That survey, "Critical Connections," concluded that building owners
believe there is a strong connection between advanced telecom features, improved tenant retention
and marketability of their buildings.
The association report concluded, "If you are going after large office tenants, your building
must have high speed Internet capabilities."
"In today's networked economy, the old real-estate law 'location, location, location,' must be
amended to 'location, bandwidth, location,'" says Eric Yopes, principal of Foursquare Capital and
former vice chairman of Shorenstein Co., a national real estate company. "Access to fast,
flexible data networks has become as essential to many businesses as proximity to customers,
transportation and skilled labor."
"E-commerce, customer and supplier extranets, Web-based marketing, videoconferencing and a host
of other applications require ample bandwidth that only optical networks can provide," says Ron
Young, co-founder of Yipes. "More and more companies are willing to pay for access to innovative
service providers because they know that legacy phone networks just won't do the job."
For more information, contact Jonathan Marshall at 415-901-2179 or [email protected].
