Downtown’s Emerging Technology Sector

Posted by Bob Gernert on June 27, 2007 at 3:18 pm

I’m not sure if “emerging” is the best word to describe Winter Haven’s technology-based businesses but there is a growing concentration and sophistication in this sector. It’s not new … thinking back 10 to 15 years to Ingram Leedy’s “iThink” dial-up, Josh Hallett’s “webcode” (that designed our first Web site) and Mike Kingham’s “Datalink” off-site data back up service — computer and internet entrepreneurs have been calling Winter Haven home for two decades.

More recently downtown has become the “digital interchange” for a number of major fiber optic network providers including: FPL Fibernet, Level 3 Communications; Time Warner Telecom and Verizon (who are all those people outside my window?!!).

As a result, this resource has attracted companies such as Amstec, CertaData, cnp_studio, ColoFlorida, LLC (Leedy), Cyberlink1, Doculex, Inc., Hyku, Inc. (Hallett), Kingham Software, Inc. (Kingham), Lebhar Friedman, Inc., Nuvox, Prism Technology Solutions, Sprint Nextel and techIT Solutions. (The names in parentheses are those original technology folks mentioned earlier.)

In addition to strong local and statewide client networks, Winter Haven technology companies are bringing their expertise to national brands. We asked our technology members for insight into their client base and you may be surprised by the variety. For example, techIt Solutions/Global Enterprise Solutions has brought their expertise to clients such as The Walt Disney Company, Apple Computers, Nike and the Cork School of Music in Cork, Ireland. Hyku, Inc. has served such enterprises as Yahoo, Sony, Unisys, Sea World, DOW and General Motors. cnp_studio has provided web development for Sea World, Prudential Tropical Realty, Sony and the University of Florida.

And when we asked the sector what they considered their greatest challenges several said, “overcoming the belief that the expertise is not available locally.”

All of this seems likely to be complemented by the potential focus of the new campus planned for Polk County that appears will be named USF-Polytechnic.

That has a nice ring to it.

Cyberlink1

See other entries filed in: Perspective, Success Stories, Technology

REMARKS   1 Remark on this post. Add your own remarks below

  • June 27th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
    GF

    You’re so right - we are very lucky in downtown Winter Haven to have an incredible honey pot of high-tech expertise, which I recently learned while working on a community project that required a high level of this kind of expertise. Not only are these folks highly qualified in their respective specialties and just as good if not better than the “big shots” from out of town, they are LOCAL, which means the dollars you pay them stays in our local economy and turns over multiple times before leaving our economy. So the money you pay them may actually come back to your business or paycheck when those people turn around and buy something from you or the company you work for. Buying local is just good business and it makes good sense for everyone. Not only that, but the personal approach is priceless, and you won’t get that from some faceless national consultant you find elsewhere. BUY LOCAL!

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